Twelve years after setting the National High School record in the mile, Alan Webb is among the stars in Friday night’s national men’s 1,500-meter at the Prefontaine Classic. Webb will be joined by several members of his Portland training group as the field brings together several former collegiate stars attempting to get back into the conversation at the United States Outdoor Championship in Des Moines. 

Webb will drop down in distance after opening his season with two 5,000-meter races at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational and Oxy High Performance meet. Neither went particularly well as he finished 21st at Stanford behind six collegiate athletes and 21st overall. Things were slower the second time out with a 13:46.53 16th place finish in Eagle Rock. 

His new career focus appears to be the 5,000-meter distance as Webb has not run the 1,500-meter since his 3:39.04 at the 2012 Adidas Grand Prix. The 2012 season came to an end after Webb failed to advance to the 5,000-meter finals at the Olympic Trials and opted not to run the 1,500-meter race. 

If he were to hit his time from the 2012 Adidas Grand Prix better on Friday night, Webb would be the second oldest runner under 3:40 in 2013 behind Nathan Brannen of Canada. 

When Ryan Fenton interviewed Webb in January, the Nike athlete cited the love of the sport as of one the key motivating factors keeping him on the track. Going back to the middle distance races, he’s hoping to rekindle the fire in his career from the days when the sport adored him. 

For now, it is just a matter of finding himself on the track again. 1,500-meters may be the start in the search for a comeback. 

Chris Chavez is a staff writer for Flotrack and a journalism major at Marquette University. He once beat Joey Fatone of NSYNC in a half-marathon. Feel free to to reach him with any questions, comments, or feedback on Twitter or by email.