Gray Is Impressive Winner in 800

Johnny Gray received a standing ovation before he toed the starting line Saturday night, and he didn’t let the fans down.

The popular four-time Olympian from Agoura Hills led wire-to-wire in his 800-meter specialty and won with ease in the revival of the San Diego Indoor Games at the San Diego Sports Arena. His time was 1 minute, 50.28 seconds.

“It was amazing,” said the 38-year-old Gray, referring to the crowd of 7,200. “I was just taking my warmup lap when the people started clapping. What a wonderful welcome!”

Gray’s time was two seconds over the 1:48 he had projected, but he had a good explanation.

“I found out just before the race that my spikes were too long,” he said. “For some reason, the shoe company put on spikes that are perfect for an outdoor tartan track but much too long for this one. It was kind of scary. I had to make sure I didn’t catch my spikes in the wood and end up falling.”

His struggle with the wrong cleats notwithstanding, Gray satisfied himself that he was off and running in his bid to become the first American male track athlete to compete in five Summer Olympics. Carl Lewis was on five Olympic teams, but the United States boycotted the Moscow Games in 1980.

“I’m very pleased,” Gray said. “This early, I don’t worry so much about my time as I do my rhythm and the way I felt. All in all, it was great.”

Olympic decathlon champion Dan O’Brien reacted the same way after winning the long jump at 24 feet 2 inches and finishing third in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.26 seconds. Eugene Swift won the hurdles in 7.24.

“Actually, the fact that I didn’t have great marks inspires me to get into better shape,” O’Brien said. “It tells me what I have to do to get back on track.

“This was the first time I had jumped off wood, and by the time I got in sync, I got tired. In the hurdles, I got off to a bad start. The boards were a little slippery. But I was coming on, and if I’d had a good start, I would’ve had a double win.”

O’Brien, 32, is a strong candidate to join Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson as two-time gold-medal winners in the Olympic decathlon.

Another reigning Olympic champion, high jumper Charles Austin, made good on a prediction that he would set a meet record of 7-7. He broke Dwight Stones’ mark of 7-6 1/2, set in 1978.

A second meet record fell when Lawrence Johnson soared 19 1/4 in the pole vault. Johnson, who finished eighth in the 1996 Olympics, topped the mark of 18-9 1/2, set by Billy Olson in 1982.

Mark Hauser of UCLA won the men’s mile in 4:01.46. Regina Jacobs, a three-time Olympian, won the women’s mile in 4:33.66.

Tiffany Lott of Brigham Young, who holds the women’s world record of 7.30 in the 55-meter hurdles, won her event in 7.60.