Everybody in the (relay) pool

Angela Williams of Ontario, a four-time NCAA champion at 100 meters at USC, and Monique Henderson of San Diego, who was the 2005 NCAA 400-meter champion at UCLA and part of the Athens champion 1,600-meter relay, were added to the relay pool for the U.S. Olympic track and field team.

Williams, this year's world indoor champion at 60 meters, was added to the 400-meter relay pool. She was a member of the Athens relay pool, but the U.S. team was disqualified because of a bad baton pass. Henderson was added to the 1,600-meter relay pool.

Javelin thrower Breaux Greer, who didn't make the finals, was added to the men's team by the USA Track and Field chair, per a  rule that allows an athlete who was injured during the trial to be added to the team if he has previously achieved the Olympic "A" standard. Check out the complete list of who made the team.

--Helene Elliott

Photo: Angela Williams at the U.S. Olympic trials. Credit: Kirby Lee / Image of Sport-US Presswire

Comments

[Bill Baldwin, Jr.]

I am so pleased to hear that Angela Williams has been selected for the 4X100 relay pool. She should be selected to run the first leg and then mix and match the rest of the team during the heats, hopefully leading to the final.

I remember the first time I saw Ms. Williams run. It was 1999 at the USC-UCLA dual meet at USC and Williams, a Freshman, was leading off for SC. I was sitting right at the starting blocks area and could see the turn ahead of the two runners. Angela Williams exploded, and that's the best word I can use, exploded out of the blocks and left her Bruin opponent in the dust after 20 meters. I turned to a couple of guys who were yelling encouragement, as I was, and yelled out "Who the hell was that?"

I've seen a lot of great sprinters since the first LA TImes track meet I attended in 1960, but none has impressed me more than Angela Williams. From that opening relay leg in 1999 to when she finished her career at USC, having done something no man or woman has ever done or is ever likely to do, winning the NCAA 100 meters four years in a row, Angela Williams has been a class act. She deserves to get that illusive Gold Medal, all things being equal, and if the Olympic Team coaches know anything about clutch performers, they'll take Williams out of the "relay pool" and declare her as the lead off runner, period.