TRACK AND FIELD / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Boldon’s False 100 Start Probably Stops UCLA

Sprinter Ato Boldon simply picked the wrong time to be impatient.

With UCLA’s plan for winning the NCAA men’s outdoor track and field title going exactly as planned up to that point, Boldon was ruled to have false-started in his 100-meter semifinal, ending any realistic chance the Bruins had of upsetting three-time defending champion Arkansas at Tom Black Track.

Boldon, a pre-meet favorite in both the 100 and 200, flinched ever so slightly and was disqualified under the NCAA’s one false-start rule. Boldon had entered the meet with a season-best mark of 10.01 seconds, and the fastest semifinal time Friday was 10.22 by North Carolina’s Tony McCall.

“I’m not bitter at all, because I’ve never false-started in a competition--and I still haven’t,” said Boldon, who later had the fastest qualifying time, 20.40, in the 200 meters. “First of all, there was a lot of noise when I was in the blocks, and then the runner next to me came up very slow in his stance. I flinched, but my hands never left the ground and my feet never came out of the blocks.”

UCLA Coach Bob Larsen filed a protest but it was denied, despite widespread belief that the race should have been started over without a disqualification.

“Losing [Boldon in the 100] hurt because we had been moving along pretty well,” said Larsen. “I’ve never seen anything like that before in a meet like this.”

UCLA began the day with a dramatic victory in the javelin by senior Greg Johnson, who surpassed USC’s Nils Fearnley with a final throw of 244 feet 3 inches.

Fearnley’s second, at 238-8, and a fourth by USC’s 400 relay team of Anthony Volson, Ed Hervey, Udeme Ekpenyong and Bryan Krill, who ran 39.10, helped the Trojans move into third place with 26 points. USC will have a chance to add to this total today with Hervey, who qualified in the 200 in 20.60; Ekpenyong, who is in the 400 final, and its 1,600 relay team, which recorded the second-fastest time in school history, 3:02.59, in a Thursday heat.

For Arkansas, which has 43 1/2 points after 13 events, it was business as usual as Brandon Rock won the 800 and Jerome Romain finished second in the triple jump. Tennessee is second with 31 points; Louisiana State is fourth with 25, and UCLA and Rice are tied for fifth with 20 apiece.

In the women’s competition, UCLA leads with 24 points after receiving a strong effort from Karen Hecox, who finished third in the 3,000 in 9:14.86. The Bruins’ Shelia Burrell is fifth after the first day of the heptathlon.

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NCAA Notes

LSU, nine-time defending women’s champion, is fourth with 16 points after winning the 400 relay in 43.10. The Tigers have three finalists in the 100, two in the 200 and two in the 400, and expect solid points in the triple jump, high jump and 1,600 relay. . . . Le’Gretta Hinds of Long Beach State finished sixth in the women’s 400 hurdles. . . . USC’s Sau Ying Chan qualified for the 100 hurdles final with a 13.63 for third place in one semifinal.