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--> --> NCAA track meet wide open after first day stumbles EUGENE (AP) - As evening settled onto Hayward Field, Jonathon Riley slipped farther behind in the men's 10,000. By the end of the race, he was in 10th place, and Stanford's hopes of repeating as NCAA champion were all but gone. The Cardinal's downfall in the distance events topped a list of surprising stumbles at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships Wednesday. LSU's hopes faded when star decathlete Claston Bernard was disqualified after one event. And the UCLA women threw away points when its 400 relay team botched its first handoff. Stanford's most serious misstep occurred when Gabe Jennings, an Olympian and NCAA champion in the 1,500 last year, did not qualify for the 800 final. He finished fourth in his heat, and his time of 1 minute, 48.58 seconds was the 11th-fastest time overall; only the top eight advanced. "I think he just made a judgment error," Stanford coach Vin Lananna said. "Instead of blasting off the final turn, I think he thought he was in a better position than he was. By the time it was time to go, he just ran out of track." The coach said Riley is not a 10,000 runner, despite having the nation's best time in that event this year, and that he only entered the race to help his team. The Cardinal, which scored 23 points in the 10,000 meters last year, got zero this time. The saving grace of the competition's first day was a fast set of 200 qualifying heats, even if they were wind-aided. Freshman Justin Gatlin of Tennessee won his preliminary heat in 19.86, the fastest in the world this year under any conditions. TCU's Kim Collins took his heat in 20.08, second fastest in the world, and Tennessee's Leonard Scott was a heat winner in 20.10, tying the third fastest time. "I've always wanted to run a 19, and I came out here and did it," Gatlin said. In Wednesday's finals, Notre Dame's Ryan Shay won the men's 10,000 in 29:05.44; Oregon's John Stiegeler took the men's javelin at 252 feet, 10 inches, the best by a collegian this year; Southern California's Dennis Kholev won the men's pole vault with a career-best 18-6 1/2; Arizona's Brianna Glenn took the women's long jump at 21-6 1/4; and Idaho's Katja Schreiber won the women's discus at 197-11, the longest throw by a collegian this year. In the men's 400 relay prelims, heat winners Tennessee (38.66) and TCU (38.70) both broke the Hayward Field record of 38.88 set by the Horned Frogs in 1991. The problems for Bernard began when he injured his left hamstring in the opening 100 meters. He hobbled across the finish line, then collapsed. Bernard was helped off the field on a gurney and treated by a doctor for the meet and two LSU trainers. "He said he felt a pop at 50 meters," assistant coach Boo Schexnayder said. "He's very upset." After about 50 minutes, Bernard hopped gingerly off the medical table and began limbering up. A few minutes later, he felt ready to compete again. However, by that time, the second event of the decathlon, the long jump, had begun, and Bernard, the first jumper in one of the two sections of the competition, missed the start. When the jumpers went through the rotation, and it again was Bernard's turn to jump, the officials denied him the opportunity. The head long jump official at the decathlon cited a multievent rule that states: "An athlete failing to start in any event of the competition shall be considered to have abandoned the competition and shall not be allowed to participate in any following event." LSU protested, claiming the physicians prevented Bernard from getting to the long jump area in time for the first round. The head multievent official, Shirley Crowe, rejected the protest, and it was forwarded to the NCAA Games Committee, which also turned it down. "When my hamstring gave, my first instinct was to finish the race and get treatment to see if I could get back for the long jump," Bernard said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to continue." Bernard was the leading collegiate decathlete this season with 8,024 points in winning his third consecutive Southeastern Conference title. He was the runner-up at last year's NCAA Championships. "I don't think I could have won the event, but I still could have contributed some points to the team." Tennessee's Stephen Harris led after five events, by 254 points over Oregon's Santiago Lorenzo. UCLA, the women's Pac-10 champion with the help of a dropped baton by Southern California, had the same misfortune Wednesday when leadoff runner Hasani Roseby and Sheena Johnson, both freshmen, failed to connect on the handoff. UCLA coach Jeannette Boldon said it was a combination of Roseby not getting the baton there fast enough, and Johnson not presenting a clear target. "It's probably my fault as much as anything. I just haven't put those young ladies together on a regular basis, so I take full responsibility. My bad, as the kids say." Johnson, the collegiate leader in the 400 hurdles, also failed to advance to the final, finishing sixth in her heat. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing