Joanna Hayes and Melissa Morrison, the 100 meter hurdles gold and bronze medallists from last summer's Olympic Games, highlight a strong 60 meter hurdles field at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 29, organizers announced today.

The 27-year-old Hayes was ranked the No. 1 hurdler in the world for 2004 after her Athens victory, setting an Olympic record of 12.37 in the process. Morrison, the Athens bronze medallist, duplicated her finish from the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Joining them will be Sheena Johnson, fourth in Athens in the 400 meter hurdles [for more on Johnson, see TPR# 184]; Jamaican Vonette Dixon, the 2000 NCAA 60 meter hurdles champion and 2002 Commonwealth Games 100 meter hurdles silver medalist; and Athens 100 meter hurdles finalist Angela Whyte of Canada.

Bernard Lagat, the Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 meters, leads the field in the mile. Lagat, the reigning World Indoor champion in the 3000 meters, was the fastest metric miler in the world last year after his 3:27.40 performance at Zurich's Weltklasse TDK Golden League Meeting. Bahraini Rachid Ramzi, the middle distance revelation of 2004 who ended Hicham El Guerrouj's 29-race win streak last July in Rome, is in the field as well, along with Kenyan Laban Rotich, the third fastest ever indoors at 1500 meters. Also in the field is Canadian Nate Brannen, a two-time NCAA indoor 800-meter champion from the University of Michigan.