NEW YORK (AP) With a field including the world's two top-ranked hurdlers, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a 10-time meet winner, Courtney Hawkins couldn't help but be overlooked.
When the 60-meter hurdles race ended at the Millrose Games on Friday night, those other prestigious other hurdlers all were looking at Hawkins - who was in front of them.
The often neglected Hawkins - no relation to the NFL player of the same name - whipped across the finish line in 7.64 seconds, adding his name to the large U.S. list that will be competing for the three spots on the U.S. Olympic team this summer.
"We could send two teams to the Olympics and probably take the first five places," Hawkins said after his surprising victory, his first in four tries at the Madison Square Garden meet, sponsored by Chemical Bank.
When the race began, Hawkins was in the obscure lane one. When it ended, he was in the limelight, and thriving on it.
While a couple of floors upstairs, Steve Scott, a two-time winner of the Wanamaker Mile, was signing autographs for about 100 fans, a few athletes from a girls high school team in New York was surrounding Hawkins, asking him to sign their bibs.
"I'll stay here and sign these," he said. ``The kids understood this. They know who's worthy of respect. They know what this means."
What it meant for Hawkins was respect and recognition.
"If you're a track and field fan, it means something to win at Millrose," he said. "It's part of history.
"It's time I proved to others that I'm someone to worry about."
Hawkins gave an indication that he was someone to worry about last year when he won the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships.
He had missed the 1992 Olympic trials after spraining an ankle while fooling around with the pole vault. And he missed the World Championship team last year because of a controversial false start.
Now, the 28-year-old Hawkins' confidence has risen sharply, after beating No. 1 ranked Mark Crear, world indoor and outdoor champion and No. 2 Allen Johnson, double Olympic gold medalist and No. 4 Roger Kingdom and 10-time Millrose winner and three-time world outdoor champion Greg Foster.
"They can't count me out," Hawkins said. ``There is little to stop me from making the (Olympic) team this year."
In addition to those he beat Friday night, Hawkins will have to contend for a spot on the three-man team with Olympic bronze medalist and No. 7 Jack Pierce, No. 8 Terry Reese and Olympic silver medalist and No. 9 Tony Dees, among others.
While Hawkins will have to fight for a berth on the U.S. team, there is no question that Sergei Bubka will be on Ukraine's team.
The world's premier pole vaulter's position is as secure as a Yale lock.
Bubka, winner of virtually every prestigious meet in the world except for the Millrose Games, finally added that to his resume Friday night.
And he did it in commanding fashion, leaping a meet-record 19 feet, 2\ inches.
"In other years, this has always been an unhappy competition for me," said Bubka, the world indoor and outdoor record-holder, nine-time world champion (five outdoors, four indoors) and 1988 Olympic gold medalist.
"There are always so many things against me in this meet. It's not easy to jump with jet lag. And the runway is complicated; each step is difficult.
"It's almost impossible to jump here."
It's also been difficult for Bubka to get motivated this early in the year.
But "when the announcer said, Sergei never has won in the Millrose Games, and the crowd cheered, that gave me motivation," said Bubka, who had no-heighted in the 1986 Millrose Games and finished second last year, clearing the bar only once.
After clinching the victory Friday night, Bubka made three unsuccessful attempts at 19-8\, which would have been a record for a clearance in the United States. He came close on his third try, brushing the bar with his chest on the way down.
Other impressive meet winners were Gwen Torrence in the women's 60 in 7.02, Donovan Bailey in the men's 60 (6.56), Niall Bruton in the men's mile (4:00.58), Kevin Lyles in the men's 500 (1:02.68), Joetta Clark in the women's 800 (2:03.20), Kathy Franey in the women's mile (4:36.46), Mark Carroll in the men's 3,000 (7:44.77), Lance Deal in the men's weight throw (79-6}), Michelle Freeman in the women's 60 hurdles (7.93) and Charles Austin in the men's high jump (7-7\).
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