NCAA Track and Field : Wendy Brown of USC Wins Heptathlon Despite Slow 800

With only one event, the 800 meters, remaining in the women’s heptathlon at the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. track and field meet Thursday, USC’s Wendy Brown was almost assured of winning.

Brown was 271 points ahead of Boise State’s Crystal Young and was only concerned about finishing and getting a decent time.

The Trojan senior finished, all right--last in her heat. Her time of 2 minutes 37.4 seconds couldn’t be considered decent, but it didn’t matter.

Brown won her first NCAA title with 5,701 points, and Young was second at 5,659, on a day when a storm blew in from the Oregon coast and drenched the athletes.

“The weather at the end made it difficult,” Brown said. “I just wanted to have a nice easy race. I knew I just had to finish the race to win.”

Brown didn’t come close to her personal heptathlon record of 5,896 points, but she was satisfied, considering that she had to qualify for the open triple jump--which she did--between heptathlon events.

She realizes, though, that she’ll have to get in the high 6,200- or 6,300-point range to make the Olympic team at the July trials in Indianapolis.

Otherwise, form prevailed, as UCLA’s favored men’s and women’s teams qualified most of their athletes for all final events that will be held today and Saturday at Hayward Field.

The only downer is the weather, with more rain forecast the next two days. It’s unseasonable, the natives say, even for Oregon.

“Everything is going well,” said Bob Larsen, UCLA’s men’s coach. “Our goal was to get as many people qualified as possible and not get anyone injured.”

The Bruins have sent 10 athletes to the finals in individual events with Anthony Washington, the only nonqualifier in the 400 meters. Larsen said it would have been a longshot if he had qualified.

UCLA’s women kept pace with the men, led, of course, by multi-talented Gail Devers, who won her qualifying heats in the 100 and 100-meter hurdles. Devers had an exceptionally good time, 13.01, in the hurdles, considering that she was running in the rain and into a slight head wind.

She is, of course, the co-American record-holder in the 100-meter hurdles at 12.61 seconds with Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Devers even hit a hurdle in her race, but she recovered. “I bounced around a little bit, and used my whole lane, but I didn’t slip,” she said. “You just can’t let the rain, or other things, bother you.”

Devers, who qualified for the long jump final Wednesday, got a respite Thursday. She wasn’t required to run a leg on the 1,600-meter relay team, but the Bruins qualified without her. She’ll be available, though, for the final.

As expected, UCLA’s 400-meter tandem of Danny Everett and Steve Lewis were impressive in qualifying for the final. Everett won his heat, easing up, with a time of 45.24. Lewis, a freshman, had the fastest time, 45.00, of any qualifier.

Everett recorded the best 400-200 double ever May 22 at the Pacific 10 Conference meet with times of 44.34 seconds in the 400 and 20.23 seconds in the 200.

John Smith, UCLA’s sprint coach and former world class quarter-miler who shares the school record with Everett, implied the best is yet to come for the junior from Fairfax High School.

“He has yet to reach down for something extra in the 400,” Smith said. “Danny has taught all of us to run within yourself and not break apart.”

Curiously, Everett likes the 200 better than his speciality, the 400.

“The problem is that I’m always running the 400 before the 200, so I have to concentrate on the 400,” Everett said. “I haven’t reached down yet for something in the 400 as I have the 200.”

He may have to reach in Saturday’s final against his teammate, Lewis, who is the junior world record-holder at 44.65.

Track Notes

It was a squeeze for UCLA sprinter Mike Marsh, but he qualified for the 100 final by finishing fourth in his heat with a time of 10.29. He was third in last year’s meet. Marsh said he was distracted at the start when he inadvertently slammed a finger on his starting block. . . . USC’s Robert Reading qualified for the 110-meter final by finishing second in his heat in 13.74 when the wind and rain affected the hurdlers. . . . USC’s Yvette Bates joined teammate Wendy Brown in qualifying for the triple jump final. Bates had three foul jumps in the long jump Wednesday and didn’t make the final. “I was devastated by that, but it’s not the end of the world. I still have the Olympic trials,” Bates said.

Other UCLA qualifiers Thursday included Dave Wilson, 214-4, and John Knight, 205-11, in the hammer throw and Wilson and Brian Blutreich, 57-2 and 57-1 1/2, in the shotput. UCLA’s Janeene Vickers failed to qualify in the 400, but she has already qualified in the 400 hurdles. USC’s Michelle Taylor qualified in the 400 in 52.55 seconds. . . . Wendy Brown said she got the cushion she needed in the heptathlon by scoring 725 points in the javelin, the sixth of seven events, with a throw of 141 feet.

An outside lane isn’t usually the preference of sprinters and hurdlers. But UCLA’s Kevin Young, the defending champion in the 400-intermediate hurdles, says he feels comfortable running from Lane 7 as he did in winning his qualifying heat Wednesday. “The turn isn’t as sharp from out there, and I can come off it ahead of the others,” he said.