Marion Jones struggled in her return to competition on Sunday, finishing sixth in the women's 400 meters.
		By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Jones, who had entered a competitive field of quarter-milers at the tradition-rich Mount San Antonio College Relays for her first race of 2005, finished dead last with a pedestrian time of 55.03 seconds in a 400 meters race won Sunday by Novlene Williams in 51.49.

The top five runners were within 1.85 seconds of each other. Jones was another 1.69 seconds back before some 6,000 at Mount SAC stadium.

What Jones, dogged by doping accusations for more than a year, made of her sluggish performance before a small but enthusiastic crowd at a sun-splashed stadium at Mt. San Antonio Community College, she kept to herself and her entourage.

Maybe she didn't want to bother giving a group of reporters her explanation. Maybe she had none to give.

After promising to the organizers repeatedly that she would appear at the media tent for a news conference, she skipped out without a word.

Not more than 10 minutes after her last promise to the meet's media official, Brian Yokoyama, that she would answer questions, she left the premises with her boyfriend, sprinter Tim Montgomery, and a mini-van full of others.

Running the 400 meters, an event she doesn't particularly like but runs early in the season for training purposes, turned into a torture chamber for her. The last 50 meters, it looked like she might just stop.

Jones' new coach, Steve Riddick, had said before the race that Jones was fit and would be prepared to run fast — perhaps even under 50 seconds.

Jones, 29, ran a blazing 49.59 400 meters here in 2000, the year she won five medals, three gold, at the Sydney Olympics.

Last year at Mt. SAC, she ran the 200 and finished fourth. Later, she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team in the 100 meters and 200 meters. She competed in the long jump and the 4 x 100 relay in Athens, failing to medal in either event.

Jones has a scheduled court hearing Friday in her $25 million defamation lawsuit against BALCO founder Victor Conte. Jones filed the suit after a nationally televised interview in which Conte said he supplied Jones with banned performance-enhancing drugs and injected her.

Shortly after her race Sunday, she sat exhausted in the infield, consoled by Montgomery. Then she walked unsteadily down the infield toward a cool-down track. It was there that she eventually made a right turn toward the parking lot instead of a left turn toward the media tent.

Montgomery, who is the father of Jones' 21-month-old son and is equally beleaguered by drug allegations, made a surprise appearance at the meet, running a leg in the 4 x 100 meters relay.

Montgomery, who is scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in June and whom the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is seeking a lifetime ban for drug use, declined to speak to reporters after his race, too.

Maurice Greene, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meters, also ran a relay leg and declared afterward that, despite his disappointing third-place showing in the Athens Olympics, he feels he has another world record in him.

"But I don't chase world records," he said. "I just run the race and let the time happen."

Greene, who turns 31 in July, set a world record of 9.79 in 1999. Montgomery took the record in 2002 with a 9.78, but that record could be stricken depending on the results of his drug case.

Greene said Sunday that it took him a long time to get over not winning in Athens. "I had to get away and let my mind recover from the Olympic Games," he said. "That was a big letdown for me. I went in believing I'd win and expecting to win."

Greene continues to kick himself for his strategy in Athens. He eased up in the semifinal heat and ended up in Lane 7 in the final, won by Justin Gatlin.

"If I had been in the middle," he said, "I could have felt what was happening in the middle and maybe I would have won."

Green plans to run in the Kansas Relays next week, then perhaps a 100-meter race in Martinique a week later.

Jones has the same schedule, but now, one must wonder.