SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The country’s best 5-kilometer runners will compete tonight for the right to represent the United States at the Summer Olympics in Athens.

Yarmouth’s Matt Lane and Ellsworth’s Louie Luchini are among the 16 men who will race for that honor at the Spanos Sports Complex. The race begins at 11:55 p.m. EST.

Lane and Luchini, who both live in Palo Alto, Calif., and run for Nike, are among the favorites. The 26-year-old Lane finished fourth in the 2000 Olympic trials. Luchini, 23, is running in his first Olympic trials.

In some respects, the task before them is simple: finish among the top three. But in one important respect, it’s a lot more complex. Not only do Lane and Luchini have to outrun the fastest men in the country, they also have to outrun the clock.

Lane and Luchini would be guaranteed spots on the Olympic team only if they finish among the top three and run the Olympic A standard of 13 minutes, 21.50 seconds. Just one athlete competing tonight, Jonathon Riley, has run the A standard.

Countries are permitted to send more than one athlete to the games only if all of the qualifiers have achieved the A standard. If there is not more than one athlete with the A standard, a country may send just one competitor, provided the athlete has the B standard (13:25.40).

Lane’s and Luchini’s top times heading into the race are 13:27.06 and 13:25.19, respectively.

The sport’s governing body, USA Track & Field, must name a four-man team (three competitors and one alternate) for the Olympics by July 19. If any of those four athletes do not have the A standard, they then have until Aug. 9 to achieve it in another race.

If only Riley has the A standard by Aug. 9, then the highest-placing finisher who has the B standard will be the only one selected for the team. That means if Riley does not win the trials and no other athletes achieve the A standard, Riley would not go to the Olympics. The trials winner, provided he has achieved the B standard, would go to Athens.

The complexity of the process has some heads spinning, but Lane hopes the outcome of the race will simplify matters.

“The selection process is complicated enough. I think it will take a result list and they’ll [USA Track & Field] probably use some level of subjectivity [to select the team]. Hopefully we’ll run fast enough and sort it out,” Lane said.

If they do run fast enough, Steve Prefontaine’s Olympic Trials record of 13:22.8 set in 1972 will be in jeopardy.

Riley (13:21.11) and Jorge Torres (13:24.17) have the fastest times heading into the final, followed by Luchini and Lane. Torres, however, looked shaky in Monday’s semifinal heats. He was not among the six automatic qualifiers from his heat and advanced only on time.

Two other serious contenders, Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdiraham, opted not to compete in the 5K at the trials after finishing first and second, respectively, in the 10,000 earlier in the meet. Adam Goucher, the 2000 Olympic Trials 5,000-meter champion, did not advance from the heats.