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Photo from AP Pete Julian, right, had the 10,000 meter lead, but faded down the stretch. Julian places fifth; Berryhill makes finals By DON HUNT EUGENE -- With five laps to go, Pete Julian was precisely where he wanted to be: leading the 10,000-meter run at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The pace was a bit slow and Julian had never felt so good. And so he bolted from a tightly-grouped pack of runners and shot into the lead, seemingly on his way to a national championship and, by virtue of a top-three finish, a trip to the World Championships later this summer in Seville, Spain. But, inexplicably, Julian, a former Ashland High star, faded like an overworked racehorse over the final 400 meters and had to settle for fifth place. Before a spirited crowd of 6,600 at Hayward Field Thursday, Alan Culpepper won the race in 28 minutes, 22.46 seconds, outkicking Stanford's Brad Hauser down the backstretch. Hauser hung on for second in 28:24.32, followed by Arizona's Abdi Abdirahman in 28:28.26, Mebrahtom Keflezighi in 28:29.27 and Julian in 28:31.29. The men's 10,000 was one of five finals contested on the opening day of the four-day meet. "Everything felt great with two laps to go, but on the last lap my tank went empty," a visibly distraught Julian said a few minutes after the race. "I was right where I wanted to be pretty much the whole way. I threw in a 66-second lap and took the lead because I was feeling so good. "I'm the fittest I've ever been and I trained so hard for this. There is no way to explain what happened. I'm in shock." Julian had run a lifetime best of 28:05.4 at a meet at Stanford on May 7 and had outkicked most of the runners who on Thursday passed him by. "Other than Culpepper, I've outkicked all of those guys," said Julian, a former standout runner at the University of Portland. ``I ran a 58-second last lap at Stanford, but today it was more like 68. I've never been so frustrated." Julian finished third in the 10,000 at the USA Championships two years ago but failed to make the World Championships because he failed to make the qualifying time. He had the qualifying time in the bank Thursday, only to watch a trip to Seville, Spain, Aug. 21-29 slip through his grasp on the final lap. "I've had great workouts, I was well-rested, I was never more prepared," Julian said. "I don't know what else I could have done to get ready for this meet." No less than eight runners had the lead at one time or another. And in the end, the relatively slow pace favored a big kicker like Culpepper, who never had the lead until the final lap. "I didn't take any lead duties, and that was selfish of me," Culpepper said. "But my plan was to win." Meanwhile, former Crater High standout Bryan Berryhill made it through the preliminaries of the 1,500-meter run and into Saturday's finals. Only the top four finishers in each of the two heats were guaranteed advancement into the finals. Berryhill flirted with trouble, taking fifth in his heat, but moved on by virtue of his time. Berryhill was clocked in 3:42.42, the equivalent of a 3:59 mile. Matt Holthaus won the heat in 3:41.38 and posted the fastest time of the day in the event. Steve Holman won the other heat in 3:44.60. "I was in fourth place coming off the final turn and thought I was in good shape," Berryhill said. "But then with 50 meters to go, another guy passed me. "When I crossed the finish line I said, damn, that's not very smart. But when I looked up at the clock I had a good feeling my time would get me into the finals." In fact, all four of the at-large qualifiers came from Berryhill's heat. Seneca Lassiter blasted out to a 57-second first lap but couldn't shake anyone. With a lap to go, nine runners were within a meter or two of one another. The tight grouping took a toll on the back of Berryhill's legs. Each was cut by the spikes of other runners. "It just goes with the territory," Berryhill said. "No one was being dirty." Track and Field News, one of the top authorities on the sport, made a prediction on the top 10 finishers in each event. Berryhill's name didn't appear on the list of 1,500 meters. "It's kind of a slap in the face," Berryhill said. "I mean, I was sixth at this meet last year, I was third at the NCAA meet a couple of weeks ago and I've got the fastest mile time indoors (3:56) by an American this year. "But I'm using (the omission) as a motivator." Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.