Posted: February 3, 2006

Athletics: Charting New Territory, Barber Starts As Favorite Tonight At Millrose Games

By Bob Ramsak
© 2006 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved

After a dazzling 2006 debut at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games last Saturday, Me'Lisa Barber will find herself in somewhat unfamiliar territory at this evening's 99th edition of the Millrose Games: she'll be starting as the favorite in a loaded 60m dash field.

In Boston, Barber made her first outing of the season a notable one with a brisk 7.09 win, a massive personal best and the second fastest performance in the world this year. In the process, she handily relegated Lauryn Williams, the reigning world champion at 100m, to the runner-up slot.

"I was pleased with the event [at Boston]," she said. "That was my goal, to run 7.09."

In New York City's Madison Square Garden tonight, Barber will again face Williams along with Jamaican Veronica Campbell, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 200m and last year's 100m silver medallist at the World Championships. Campbell opened her season with a 7.15 performance last Saturday at the Norwich Union International in Glasgow, Scotland, finishing fourth. This will be Barber's second appearance at the premiere American indoor competition.

"I love the Millrose Games, I've been watching Millrose since high school. I've always wanted to come run here. I was here two years ago, and I was the last lane. I didn't do too well, I hurt my hamstring. But this year, I plan to win. It's a great field."

Barber, 25, known primarily as a full-lap specialist while at the University of South Carolina, moved down in distance in 2005, and sped to immediate success. Last February, she took third in the 60m at the national indoor championships, clocking 7.18, on the same Boston track where she stunned the field last Saturday. Her 7.09 win is currently the second fastest performance in the world this year, just 1/100 of a second shy of Russian Yuliya Tabakova's world-pacing mark.

Outdoors last year, she claimed the U.S. title with an 11.04 win, another personal best. Tendonitis in both knees limited her post-US nationals training, but she still managed fifth place finishes at both the World Championships in Helsinki and at the World Athletics Final. In the Finnish capital, she ran the third leg in the victorious 400m relay quartet, adding to her international gold medal collection that began at the 2003 World Championships, where she led off the winning 4x400 squad.

Barber's shift last year to the short dash coincided with another decision: whether she should continue her athletics career.

"I've always been a sprinter but people know me as a 400-meter runner," she said. "I wasn't doing that well. I wasn't happy in the 400. I think my passion was the sprints. Last year I call my make-it-or-break-it year. I was getting older. I thought if I don't do well this year, I'll have to use my degree and get a job." At South Carolina, Barber majored in Retail Management with a minor in Business. One day, she hopes to run her own hair salon and spa. For now, her business ventures will have to wait.

She characterized her collegiate career as "average," but decided not to immediately hang up her spikes.

"I knew there was something more. I knew I wasn't giving it 100 percent, or even 90 percent. If it didn't work last year, I knew that would be it. I just felt that there was more of me."

Barber trains under the tutelage of Trevor Graham, who guides among others, world and Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin. Her regimen with Graham was much different than what she was used to.

"Trevor specializes in a lot of technical work. He wants everything to be perfect, from your hands to your fingers to your toes." She trains six days a week, and said her group lifts weights on five of those days.

Besides physical strength, Graham has also helped instill another aspect into his young charge.

"I'm mentally stronger," Barber said. "That's one of the main things that's changed. I'm older, I'm wiser, I've learned a lot from my mistakes. I have more confidence in myself. Before, since I didn't really know what I wanted to do, I wasn't real confident in my race."

Driven by that newfound confidence, Barber now feels that the sky is the limit.

This indoor season, the world indoor title is her top priority, "and I'm off to a great start," she said. "Hopefully, each race, I can drop my time and hopefully go for the world record." That record, 6.92, was set by Irina Privalova of Russia in 1993. The last time the seven second barrier was breached was 1999. The Millrose Games record is a sturdy one as well. Gail Devers ran 7.00 in 1994.

"I saw the mistakes I made [in Boston] and hopefully I can come close to (the world record)."

Barber's performance last weekend landed her atop the standings in the Visa Championship series, in which athletes compete for a season-capping $25,000 bonus. Last year, shot putter John Godina and sprinter Angela Daigle were the series' inaugural winners. After Boston, the first of the four-meet series, shot putter Reese Hoffa leads the men's standings.

ESPN 2 will broadcast the Millrose Games on Sunday, Feb. 5 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. eastern.

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