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Johnson Hurdles His Way to Meet Record

Allen Johnson

On a night of surprises at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Allen Johnson of North Carolina pulled the biggest.

Johnson, a junior out of Lake Braddock (Va.) High School, ran away with the 55-meter hurdles in the meet-record time of 7.07 seconds, erasing the mark of 7.08 shared by Roger Kingdom and Tony Li.

Johnson also supplied the only championship for the Washington area, as defending champion Diane Guthrie of George Mason placed second in the long jump and Steve Holman of Georgetown finished fourth in the 5,000 meters.

Johnson was not highly regarded because he had an inconsistent indoor season and was second to Clemson's Larry Ryans -- fifth tonight -- in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships. But Johnson said he has been refining a new technique for his start and it paid off, as he was in front out of the blocks and never was challenged.

"If you would've told me at the beginning of the indoor season that I could win this race, I would've told you that you're crazy," Johnson said. "But my confidence grew as the season went on and I thought I had a good shot coming in."

Johnson became the first Tar Heel to win an NCAA track title since Tony Waldrop took the indoor mile in 1974. Waldrop also won the indoor 1,000 in 1973 and the only other NCAA track champion from North Carolina was Bill Albans in the 220-yard low hurdles outdoors in 1950.

Jackie Edwards of Stanford, who already has qualified for the Bahamas Olympic team, recorded the three best efforts in the women's long jump, winning with a leap of 21 feet 8 3/4 inches that matched her outdoor best. Guthrie settled for second at 21 feet after leading through the first three of six jumps. She fouled twice.

"I just couldn't get my mark," Guthrie said. "It must be the difference in runways. This one was very fast and I had to adjust. But I don't feel disappointed. She {Edwards} had a very good jump."

Jon Brown, an Englishman representing Iowa State, won the 5,000 in 13:42.93. Holman, who led until the last 300 meters, tied up down the stretch and placed fourth in 13:47.63. He was competing just 2 1/2 hours after anchoring Georgetown into Saturday's 4x800-meter final.

The saddest story at tonight's meet was one more failure for Michelle Freeman, collegiate track's fastest female. Far ahead in the final of the women's 55-meter hurdles, the Florida senior clipped the fourth hurdle and crashed through the fifth, virtually coming to a stop.

She wound up fourth in 7.61 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second behind the winner, fellow Jamaican Gillian Russell of Miami of Florida, the world junior champion.

Freeman, who set a world best of 7.34 three weeks ago, had set a meet record of 7.41 in the quarterfinals today. She caught the fifth hurdle with her trail leg in the semifinals but still managed to qualify.

That marked a breakthrough of sorts, since she had fallen over hurdles and out of contention in the semifinals of both the indoor and outdoor NCAA meets last year.

Tracy Dahl of Iowa was the first champion crowned tonight, winning the women's 5,000 in 15:56.27. Georgetown's Christi Constantin, sixth in 16:09.07, and Mary German, eighth in 16:23.73, earned all-America honors.

James Trapp of Clemson, third in the ACC meet, improved his time by more than a half second to win the 200 meters in 20.66. His victory helped the Tigers take the first-day lead in the men's team race with 18 points. UCLA is the women's leader with 14.

Georgetown's Rich Kenah captured a roughly run 800 semifinal in 1:50.60, qualifying for Saturday's final. Bumped at the start, Kenah was last for much of the four-lap distance but gradually worked his way to the front.

"That was terrible," said Kenah, the IC4A champion. "My reaction time to the gun is not that good and the worst scenario happened. I got out slow, fell behind and was in and out and all over the place.

"The big thing was not to panic. The best seeds were in my race and it figured to go fast. I had to stay calm and pick my spots. I'm just glad I got into the final."

Georgetown opened defense of its 4x800 championship in fine fashion, winning its heat in 7:20.29, not far off its American record of 7:19.86 set here a year ago.

Holman's 1:48.5 anchor leg pulled it out for the Hoyas, who were third behind Arkansas and Florida at the final baton pass. Preceding Holman were Dan Sexton (1:52.5), Paul Whittaker (1:49.1) and Kenah (1:50.2).

Although last of four in her 400-meter heat, Stephanie Smith of Georgetown advanced to Saturday's final with a time of 53.96. Qualifying was strictly on a time basis and Kellie Roberts, the Southwest Conference champion from Texas and Central (Md.) High School, was eliminated despite winning her heat in 54.10.

The Hoyas women guaranteed themselves a bundle of all-America certificates by qualifying for the finals of both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.

Kari Bertrand had a 2:06.6 anchor 800 in the 4x800. Judith Owen, AAronda Watson and Joline Staeheli were the other runners as Georgetown was timed in 8:40.40.

The 4x400 team of Erica Stanley, Batanya Poole, Owen and Smith slipped into the eighth and last qualifying berth in 3:40.54.

Greg Keller of Navy was the fastest American and fourth overall in advancing to Saturday's mile final in 4:04.38.

Two heats were contested in the women's 3,000 to eliminate only three of the 15 entries. Among the unlucky trio was Kim Saddic of George Mason, last in her heat in 9:38.72. Claire Forbes of Virginia advanced to Saturday's final with the third best time of 9:18.80 and Catherine Feeney of Georgetown was the No. 12 qualifier in 9:32.89.