Sport: Oregon Flash

U.S. milers, once the world’s best, have been an indifferent lot in recent years. But in Los Angeles last week, a lithe (6 ft. 1 in., 155 Ibs.) sophomore from the University of Oregon proved that the U.S. might at last have a miler who could run with the Australians and Europeans. His name: Dyrol Burleson.

Competing on a tricky board track for the first time in his young career, 19-year-old Miler Burleson faced Sweden’s Dan Waern, who had six times broken four minutes (Burleson’s best: 4:06.7). At the gun, Burleson was content to stay back in the pack. As he ran, he gulped cheekfuls of air (see cut) gently exhaling them in a fashion he claims helps his rhythm. He loafed along with his smooth stride until the last lap. Then, with a dashman’s acceleration, Burleson snatched the lead from George Larson, his Oregon teammate, flashed across the line in a creditable 4:06 while the gasping Waern finally finished in fourth place.

Back home in the lumbering town of Cottage Grove, Ore. they remember Dyrol Burleson as the spindly-legged kid who was always running—to the grocery, around the reservoir, or just down the road, with his mother pacing him in the family car. Burleson developed so fast that he set a national record of 4:13.2 for the mile in high school. Last year Burleson warmed up by making a national mile record for freshmen (4:06.7), then switched to the 1,500 meters to set an A.A.U. championship record (3:47.5) and thump Russia’s best in the dual meet in Philadelphia.

Despite his record breaking, the easygoing history major (B-minus grades) has never yet really been pushed, has finished some races looking back at the field with a laugh on his face. At the Olympics in Rome this summer, Burleson will get plenty of pushing from such stars as Czechoslovakia’s Stanislav Jungwirth (3:38.1 for the 1,500 meters) and Australia’s Herb Elliott, record holder of the mile (3:54.5) and 1,500 meters (3:36). Says the confident Burleson: “If I can keep within 20 yards of the leader of a race, I figure I can outkick anyone.”