By MICHAEL RUBINKAM -- Associated Press  PHILADELPHIA -- Trying to whip up a bit of Olympic fever, the Penn Relays will feature a format of the United States vs. the world.
 
 The country's elite runners will don the USA uniform and compete against national teams from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean on Saturday in the 106th running of the Penn Relays, one of track and field's oldest and most prestigious meets.
 
 Executives hope the new format will spread to other track events leading to the Sydney Olympics and beyond.
 
 "This is part of our strategy to capture the excitement and feeling of Olympic and world championship competition by having our national team appear in other settings," said Craig Masback, chief executive of USA Track & Field.
 
 Marion Jones, Maurice Greene, Michael Johnson, Inger Miller and Gail Devers are among the stars headlining the meet at Franklin Field.
 
 The United States will enter two teams in each of the men's and women's 4 x 400 and 4 x 100 races. A fifth event, the men's 4 x 1,500, had to be scrapped after Britain dropped out and the Kenyan team encountered visa problems. Nike, a sponsor, is trying to put together a women's 4 x 200 team.
 
 Tentatively running against the Americans are Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Thailand, Sierra Leone and a team of Caribbean all-stars, although not all teams are competing in every event.
 
 Antonio Pettigrew, who will run the 400 relay, said he's excited to shed his club uniform in favor of his country's.
 
 "It's three letters and the letters are USA, and that's a powerful statement," said Pettigrew, a member of the U.S. team that set a world record in the 400 relay in 1998. "It's a feeling of, 'Hey, don't let your country down and don't let your teammates down."
 
 Johnson, Tyree Washington, Jerome Davis, Angelo Taylor and Calvin Harrison are among other athletes in the pool for the men's 400 teams.
 
 Greene, the defending world champion and world record holder at 100 meters, is competing in the 100 relay with 1996 Olympic 4 x 100 silver medalists Jon Drummond, Tim Montgomery and Tim Harden and four others.
 
 On the women's side, Devers, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, will run the 100 relay with Carlette Guidry, the current national champion, Miller, the world 200-meter champion, and Jones, the two-time world 100 champion.
 
 The U.S. women's 4 x 400 team that many say could win Olympic gold.
 
 Shanelle Porter, national indoor 400 champion Suziann Reid, Kim Graham, Michelle Collins, 1996 Olympic 400 hurdles bronze medalist Tonja Buford-Bailey and former world champion Jearl Miles-Clark are in the pool.
 
 "Whenever you get any four U.S. women running, I think it's going to be a fast time," said Miles-Clark, who will anchor one of the 400 teams.
 
 In men's college events, Arkansas remains the team to beat. The Razorbacks captured their 35th NCAA championship and seventh consecutive men's title last month.
 
 Despite losing four of their stars from last season, the Razorbacks have lots of talent. Their top performers include triple jump champion Melvin Lister, former high jump champion Kenny Evans, and James Karanu, Ryan Travis and Murray Link, all in the mile and 3,000 meters. Arkansas won three events at last year's Penn Relays.
 
 TCU, which has the season's fastest college time in the 4 x 100, Clemson and Florida are top contenders in the sprint relays.
 
 For the women, LSU, Texas and South Carolina will battle in the sprint relays. Texas, the defending champion, is relying on a team of talented freshman this year. LSU, anchored by Joyce Bates, won the 4 x 100 at the Penn Relays four years running before being unseated by the Longhorns last year.
 
 Villanova will try to reclaim past glory after being shut out the last two years. The Wildcats' best chance appears to be in the 4 x 1,500 relay, which will be anchored by 1997 title winners Carrie Tollefson and Carmen Douma. The Wildcats consider the Penn Relays their home meet.
 
 A record crowd of 96,358, including 44,639 on the final day of competition, attended last year.
 
 About 7,200 athletes from a record 271 colleges are competing. The relays also feature 11,000 athletes from 851 high schools.