After a 48-hour “rest” period, the USA Olympic Team Track and Field Trials resume tonight in Eugene, Ore. The action is in the 400-meter dash. Historically, on an international level, the event has been dominated by American men (losing Olympic gold just once in the previous 52 years, excluding the 1980 boycott in Moscow.) Jeremy Wariner, the gold medalist at Athens in 2004, has breezed through the heats, and his only competition should come from LaShawn Merritt, who defeated Wariner in Berlin four weeks ago. Wariner is seeking to duplicate the feat of his mentor, Michael Johnson, the only man to win consecutive gold medals in the 400. Sanya Richards, the Kingston-born American record holder in the 400, has been pushed hard in the trials. Her health is an issue: She’s battling a disease that causes lesions in her mouth. Is it time for the stars to shine on Brooklyn’s own, Natasha Hastings? The 21-year-old, a graduate of Manhattan’s A. Philip Randolph High School, ran the fastest time in NCAA history last year as a junior at South Carolina. Mary Weinberg has run smoothly during the heats.

Temperatures in Eugene have been hovering in the mid-90s all week, with California wild fires raising the air pollution levels. A smoky haze occasionally descends on Hayward Field, although it hasn’t bothered the athletes. Smoke from the track will rise when the talent-laden 200-meter heats begin tomorrow. Tyson Gay, winner of the 100, looks to double here with Walter Dix, second in the 100, on his heels. Shawn Crawford, the defending Olympic champion, and Wallace Spearmon Jr. (American indoor record holder) have had erratic outdoor seasons, while running mostly 100-meter events. Xavier Carter is the “X” factor here: He’s a gifted athlete (playing football at LSU), and two years ago he became the first collegian since Jesse Owens in 1936 to win four titles at a single NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship. Later that year, he ran 19.63 seconds, the second-fastest time in history behind Johnson. Yet last Sunday, he finished last in the 100 final. What’s next? One Thomas Jefferson knows. The 200-meter bronze medalist at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles told The New York Sun that lane assignments could make the subtle difference between a trip to Beijing and a ticket home.

The women’s 200-meter dash features the top three from the 100 finals: Surprise winner Muna Lee, along with Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams. Most eyes, though, will be on Allyson Felix, silver medalist in Athens. Coming into the trials, she is the female face of USA Track. With a little less luster after a fifth-place finish in the 100, this race is squarely on her to back up the mostly deserved hype of the past four years. A sleeper here may be Porscha Lucas, the Texas A&M frosh, who has the fastest time by an American this year.

Roger Kingdom, the two-time Olympic champion in the 110-meter hurdles and one of track’s great clutch performers, told the Sun he thinks that Terrence Trammell’s experience will help him overcome David Oliver’s speed. Oliver has the fastest time by an American this year, clocking 12.95 in May in Qatar. Kingdom noted that Trammell, the two-time Olympic silver medalist, runs with the fluid confidence needed in big meets. Kingdom also had praise for Jason Richardson, the NCAA champ from South Carolina. Richardson, Trammell, and 1996 gold medalist Allen Johnson (still an elite competitor at 37), all trained under South Carolina’s hurdle maestro, Curtis Frye.

In the field events, women’s pole vaulting has been dominated nationally by Jenn Stuczynski. Two months ago, she became the first American woman to clear 16 feet. The men’s high jump, while short on elite athletes, does have Dusty Jonas, the 22-year-old from Nebraska who has 2008’s best jump. As Norm Tate, the 1968 Olympian in the triple jump, mentioned to the Sun a few days ago, the weak fields for most of the jumping (long, triple, high) events can be tied directly to the lack of any developmental money given to these events. Developmental money, so crucial to the under-the-radar-screen athletes (age 15-22), is meted out by the USATF to more glamorous events. Until this procedure changes, America will lag behind in developing new talent, aside from the high school phenoms who garner NCAA scholarships or lucrative shoe contracts.

The men’s 1500 final closes the trials on Sunday evening. Alan Webb might possess the fastest time recently by an American at 3 minutes, 30 seconds, but it would be a huge upset if Bernard Lagat doesn’t win the event. Experience, tactics, and a few mind games are thrown together in the longer distance races. Webb was poised for greatness after winning the Olympic trials in 2004, just three years removed from his sub-four-minute mile stunners in high school. In the first round at Athens, though, he bombed out. However, in 2007, Webb finally put it all together. He ran the world’s fastest 1500 and set the American record in the mile (3:46.9). Yet it’s hard to pick him against Lagat, a two-time medalist for Kenya, who became an American citizen in 2005. Lagat, who won the 5000 trials on Monday, captured both the 1500 and 5000 titles at the world championships last year. His fluid running style, typical of the Kenyans, and an unflappable personality are starkly contrasted by the tempestuous Webb, whose mood shifts during races can be read by his facial contortions. A strong candidate for a spot in Beijing is Leonel Manzano, the recently crowned NCAA champ at 1500. This one-man wrecking crew from the University of Texas spent several weekends easily winning races and splits at all distances a few months ago at the Armory on West 168th Street.

Finally, I cannot let the Sun’s coverage of the Olympic trials conclude without a word about the embarrassing television coverage provided by NBC. Lead announcer Tom Hammond, after all these years, still calls a track event like a horse race. The graphics are beyond bad — they’re nonexistent. Wake up NBC (and USA/Telemundo/Universal): Track and field is a sport determined by heights, distances, and times. All numbers. NBC rarely shows a graphic informing the audience about an American, trials, or world record in any event. This destroys any sense of perspective about each event, as there’s no measuring stick to compare past performances. Perhaps the exorbitant marketing budget can’t cover a Telestrator, a device that would be so effective in showing where an athlete made their move in a running event or their adjustment in a field event. Listening to Hammond babble uncontrollably after Gay’s 9.68 in the 100 missed a crucial point: It was wind-aided and simply doesn’t count in the scope of world records. (Who remembers Obadele Thompson running 9.69 in El Paso in 1996 with a 5 mph wind? Not many.) Hammond knows his hoofs and oats; I’m certain he’d welcome running the 2012 Olympic Team Track and Field Trials at Belmont.

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