NCAA TRACK AND FIELD : USC Delivers Kiss of Death in Hammer

USC’s Balazs Kiss, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound junior from Hungary, won his third consecutive national title with a toss of 261 feet 3 inches on the opening day of the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Tennessee’s Tom Black Track on Wednesday.

Kiss, who set a national college record of 268-10 in the Pacific 10 Conference meet two weeks ago, put together the best series of throws in collegiate history.

On four of his five legal throws, Kiss bettered the previous NCAA meet record of 257 feet, set by Ken Flax of Oregon in 1986. Kiss, who has never lost a college event at USC, recorded his best mark on his fourth toss, which was nearly 20 feet better than that of Texas El Paso’s Alex Papadimitriou, second at 241-9.

Kiss, 23, is one title away from joining distance runners Suleiman Nyambui of UTEP and Steve Prefontaine of Oregon and hammer thrower Scott Neilson of Washington as the only male athletes to win four consecutive NCAA championships in the same event.

“It feels real good to reach this level, but I know that I’ve had to work real hard to get here,” said Kiss, who plans to compete for Hungary at this summer’s World Championships in Sweden. “My first two years, I developed physically and with my technique, but I struggled mentally. Now, everything is coming together.”

Kiss’ effort in the early afternoon heat put USC in first place in the team competition, but pre-meet favorite UCLA, which has not won a team title since 1988, made its charge in the evening rain.

UCLA’s John Godina won the discus for the second consecutive year, with a toss of 202-4. Godina, a favorite to win the shotput Saturday, took only two throws because he didn’t want to risk injury under wet conditions.

UCLA’s other two-event favorite, sprinter Ato Boldon, easily qualified in the 200 meters in 20.67 seconds by finishing second behind Rohsaan Griffin of Louisiana State in his heat. USC’s Ed Hervey had the third-fastest qualifying time overall (20.56).

Track and Field Notes

Arkansas, the three-time defending champion, had a strong opening day with Godfrey Siamusiye winning the 10,000 in 28:59.60. . . . The Razorbacks also had the fastest mark in the 800 in Brandon Rock’s 1:46.67. . . . The UCLA women qualified only Karen Hecox in the 3,000. USC’s only women’s qualifier was LaTima Jones in the 200 after the Trojans dropped the baton in the 400-meter relay.