RUNNING / JOHN ORTEGA : Jacobs Bids to Live Down Reputation in Olympics

The verdict is still out on middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs of Oakland.

Jacobs, a 1981 graduate of Argyll Academy (now Campbell Hall High in North Hollywood), won the women’s 1,500 meters in the U.S. Olympic trials in New Orleans last month, but she still must prove herself at the international level.

Jacobs, 28, had qualified for three other U.S. national teams, but each time she performed poorly in meets overseas.

In 1987, she won the 1,500 in The Athletics Congress championships for the first time, but she was eliminated in her qualifying heat in the world championships in Rome.

A year later, she failed to advance past the heats of the Olympic Games in Seoul, and in 1989, she placed ninth--and last--in the World Cup meet in Barcelona, site of this year’s Olympics.

“Before, I wanted to do so well in the Olympics and world championships that I ended up trying too hard and not running well,� Jacobs says. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m older, or because I took a couple of years off, or I’m just more mature, but I feel really confident going in. I’m excited about the Olympics, not nervous. I know what I can do now. Before, I was always so intent on racing well that I would just get too nervous.�

A year-and-a-half hiatus from racing gave Jacobs a more relaxed attitude toward her sport.

After racing in a handful of 800 races in 1990, she began work that fall on her Master’s degree in business administration at California.

“I figured when I started that it would just be like having a part-time job,� Jacobs says with a laugh. “I figured I would have plenty of time to train. . . . Wrong! “

Keeping up with schoolwork made it impossible for Jacobs to train consistently. On those rare occasions when she got in a high-quality workout, she was so fatigued afterward that it had a negative effect on her studies.

“I’d come home from workouts and fall asleep,� she says.

To give herself more time to train in the spring, Jacobs took a summer-school class last year and a heavy class load last fall. The plan paid dividends in May when she ran a then-nation-leading time of 4 minutes 8.11 seconds in the 1,500 in the Santa Monica Distance Classic.

“That race gave me a lot of confidence,� Jacobs says. “I kicked well, but I still had a lot left afterward.�

Jacobs graduated with an MBA shortly thereafter, and a month later, she won the trials in 4:03.72, ahead of PattiSue Plumer, two-time TAC champion Suzy Hamilton, and U.S. record-holder Mary Slaney.

“I really feel like I can (finish in the top three) at the Games,� Jacobs said. “I feel like I can run 3:58 under the right conditions. . . . I think it will take a 3:59 under tactical conditions to win the Games, but I have a lot of strength right now, and I’m healthy. I feel good and fresh.�

The first round of the women’s 1,500 will be run Wednesday, followed by the semifinals Thursday and the final next Saturday. Jacobs must perform well in the final if she is to dispel the notion that she withers in the heat of international competition.

Olympic forecast: Quincy Watts of USC, Jacobs, and Denean Howard of Newhall are picked to place among the top six finishers in their events in the Olympics in the latest issue of Track & Field News.

Watts, a three-time state sprint champion at Taft High, is picked to finish third in the men’s 400 behind U.S. teammates Danny Everett and Steve Lewis.

Jacobs is tabbed for sixth in the 1,500, and Howard, a four-time state sprint champion at Kennedy High, is picked to earn a silver medal as an alternate on the U.S. 1,600 relay team.

Trivia question: If Watts wins a medal in the 400 in the Olympics, he will be the first male sprinter with ties to the region to have done so since which athlete?

Time flies: TAC’s Junior Olympics, which began Tuesday at Mt. San Antonio College and conclude Sunday, mark the five-year anniversary of one of Watts’ finest meets during his high school career.

Watts won the 100 in 10.30 and the 200 in 20.50 in the 1987 Junior Olympics at Brigham Young while competing for the Canoga Park-based West Valley Eagles after his junior season at Taft.

Those times remain Watts’ personal bests and they put him 12th and eighth, respectively, on the all-time U.S. high school performer lists.

Grabbing the spotlight: Aminah Haddad of Long Beach Poly High and Drue Powell of Reseda are highly decorated track and field athletes, but they might be overshadowed by West Valley Eagle teammate Michael Granville during the Junior Olympics.

Haddad finished second in the girls’ 100 and 200 in the state championships last month, and Powell finished third in the boys’ 110 high hurdles. But Granville, who just turned 14, has run eye-opening times of 48.79 in the 400 and 1:56.3 in the 800 this season.

Granville is entered in the boys’ 400 and 800, and 400 and 1,600 relays in the Junior Olympics in the youth (athletes born in 1978 and ‘79) division. However, West Valley Coach Roger Lipkis listed him as questionable Wednesday because of fatigue.

Trivia answer: Mike Larrabee, a 1952 graduate of Ventura High, won the 400 and anchored the victorious 1,600 relay team in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Like Watts, he competed for USC as a collegian.