Hawai'i's Clay finishes third in USA decathlon

Advertiser Staff and News Services

EUGENE, Ore. — Despite two more personal records and his highest score ever, Hawai'i's Bryan Clay finished in third place in the USA Track and Field men's decathlon championship yesterday.

CLAY: Had five personal bests in the 10 events

Clay, 21, is a 1998 Castle High graduate and a junior at Azusa Pacific University in California.

He set personal records yesterday of 153 feet, 3 inches in the discus throw and 4 minutes, 38.93 seconds in the event-ending 1,500-meter run. His other marks were 14.16 seconds in the 100 high hurdles, 190-2 in the javelin throw and 14-9 in the pole vault.

The pole vault was one foot under his career best and cost him the meet. Janvrin and runner-up Phil McMullen of Indiana both vaulted 17-0fl.

Clay, the highest collegiate finisher, qualified for the World Games in Edmonton, Alberta, and the World University Games in Beijing, both this summer. He finished with five personal bests in the 10 events.

The 35-year-old Janvrin became the oldest national decathlon champion, winning for a world record 33rd time by taking the final event, the testing 1,500 meters.

In the 10th event of the two-day competition, Janvrin burst down the final straightaway to beat McMullen by more than two seconds at 4:14.96. Janvrin finished with 8,241 points to 8,220 for McMullen, the runner-up.

"I had an all-time second-best day," Janvrin said. "Does that make sense — two weeks from being 36?"

Defending champion Tom Pappas, the leader after seven events in the decathlon, withdrew before the pole vault. Pappas has not thrown or vaulted this year following surgery on his left shoulder.

Even without Maurice Greene and Marion Jones, America's sprint corps showed its remarkable strength last night.

Greene, who ran only in Thursday's 100-meter preliminaries as a requirement to be eligible to defend his titles in the 100 and 200 at the World Championships in August, and Jones, the world 100-meter champion, did not compete in the 100 finals.

Jones will run in the women's 200 today and tomorrow to fulfill her eligibility requirement. She pulled up lame in the 200 semifinals at the 1999 World Championships.

With their absences, Olympian Tim Montgomery won the men's title at a wind-aided 9.95 seconds, and two-time Olympic relay gold medalist Chryste Gaines took the women's title at a wind-aided 10.89, the fastest under any conditions in the world this year. Those were the first national titles for Montgomery and Gaines.

Completing the men's team for the World Championships — in addition to the automatically qualified Greene — were Bernard Williams (9.98) and Curtis Johnson (10.01).

Greene congratulated the top three finishers, high-fiving each in the media tent.

"That's my team!" he shouted.

Montgomery was thrilled with his victory.

"It was very overwhelming because the United States has a strong history of sprinting," he said. "To win this race is a huge accomplishment. Even though Maurice Greene didn't compete, Bernard Williams and Curtis Johnson made this an exciting race."

Joining Gaines on the women's team — along with Jones — were Kelli White (10.93) and three-time NCAA champion Angela Williams from Southern California (11.01).