Having never met the kid who smashed his 36-year-old national record for the mile, Jim Ryun couldn’t help but wish Alan Webb would do it again Saturday at the Kansas Relays.

“With Alan breaking my record, you could see the expectation building that there might be another breakthrough in track and field,” Ryun said Saturday while watching the marquee event of the lightning-shortened 76th annual Relays at Memorial Stadium. “Something like that is what you need to have to regenerate interest in track and field.”

The men’s invitational mile certainly provided excitement Saturday, when former Kansas All-American Charlie Gruber held off Webb down the home stretch to win the event with a time of 4:05.21 at Jim Hershberger track.

But few fans were in the stands watching — which wouldn’t have happened during Ryun’s running days in the 1960s and ’70s, a high point for American middle-distance runners.

“It’s just a different world than what it used to be,” Ryun said.

The evidence of that shows in the competitors involved in Saturday’s race.

Webb, who broke Ryun’s prep mile record in 1999 as a high school senior, ran for Michigan for one season before forgoing his collegiate eligibility for professional earnings.

Adam Perkins, who took third Saturday with a time of 4:10.12, gave up his senior season this year at Liberty (Mo.) High because Missouri State High School Activities Assn. rules ban long travel for its athletes.

Perkins, who will attend Arkansas next year, wanted to compete in elite meets such as the Relays, and he said he felt his best opportunity to improve was to run unattached.

Ryun, however, won’t criticize Webb’s or Perkins’ decisions.

“There’s a lot to be gained,” Ryun said. “I had a college coach (former Wichita East and KU coach Bob Timmons) while I was in high school, and that was an ideal situation. Theirs is different.”

Despite those differences, Ryun said improved training techniques and advanced diets, plus the recent success of many American milers, might be enough to bring track fans back.

“I sure hope so,” Ryun said.