Greene’s Party Ends Early After a Blur of Activity

He made a false start, and on the second try didn’t get the powerful burst he wanted. His acceleration and form weren’t ideal. He eased up at the end to look in the stands. “I shouldn’t have done that,” Maurice Greene said, smiling.

Although he insisted he made a bevy of mistakes Thursday in his heat of the 100-meter dash at the U.S. track and field championships, Greene was timed in 9.90 seconds, setting a Hayward Field record and tying the U.S. championships record he shared with Leroy Burrell. It was the fastest time in the world this year.

And then, as promised, he withdrew in protest of USA Track and Field’s decree that athletes must compete in the national championships in order to compete at the World Championships, no matter if they were world champions and had been granted byes by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Greene’s stance elicited some boos when he was announced, but his performance drew applause from the 4,726 fans in the sun-baked stands.

“Truthfully, I need the rest,” Greene said, holding an ice bag on his left knee but dodging questions about whether he is injured. “I’ve been doing a lot lately, traveling, a lot of appearances and trying to run. The rest will do my body good. I need to be sure I’m 100% ready for the World Championships.”

He offered no apologies for his decision, which he said was supported by fellow athletes. However, Marion Jones and pole vaulter Stacy Dragila said earlier Thursday they felt obligated to be here and compete until the finals. “Even if I had not won the 200, I guarantee you I’d be here and running all the rounds,” Jones said.

Craig Masback, the USATF’s executive director, said the policy--formulated to ensure elite U.S. athletes would not skip the meet--might be reconsidered.

“What’s great is Maurice came to the meet and performed great,” he said. “I appreciate the fact that he’s here. The important thing is winning the world championship. He knows what he needs best to win the world championship.”

Said John Smith, Greene’s coach at the HSI club of Los Angeles: “On one hand, he shouldn’t have come. But if he hadn’t come, he wouldn’t be in the world championships. What do you do? We will endure this and survive.”

If it’s rest Greene needs, it’s curious he’s running the 100 next week at the Golden Gala in Rome. “I personally don’t worry about the politics of these things,” he said of the USATF’s policy. “I have to go along with what the USATF says. I abide by the rules. I have more things to concentrate on.”

Bernard Williams, Greene’s HSI training mate, qualified second at a personal-best 9.96 seconds. “I still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I can go faster than 9.96.”

Alan Webb, who last month broke Jim Ryun’s high school mile record with a time of 3 minutes, 53.43 seconds, qualified for Saturday’s 1,500 finals with a time of 3:45.77. However, Ryan Hall of Big Bear, another promising miler, missed the cut with a time of 3:53.03.

Webb resisted being boxed in during the second lap and ran the final 200 meters in 25.5 seconds. “I made my way to the outside and just ran my race from there,” he said. “I closed real hard--obviously you have to in a race like this. I’m just glad to get this race out of the way so I can focus on what I have to do Saturday.”

Former UCLA standout Meb Keflezighi, who set a U.S. record in the 10,000 last month, was hampered because of a sore left Achilles’ tendon and lost his U.S. title to Abdi Abdirahman, a Somali native who lives in Tucson. Abdirahman won with a time of 28:23.82, with Keflezighi at 28:39.64. They and Alan Culpepper qualified for the world meet.

“My foot did bother me,” said Keflezighi, who missed two weeks’ training. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to nurse it. . . . [A friend did some research] and he said if I ran one lap and dropped out I could earn a spot, but the competitive side of me took over.”

Seilala Sua, a four-time NCAA discus champion at UCLA, won her fourth consecutive discus title with a throw of 207 feet 10 inches but was dismayed because she committed two fouls and didn’t match last year’s 216-2. “I just couldn’t pull it off,” she said. “I haven’t had very good practices. It’s something to work on.”

Kim Batten, world record holder in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, withdrew because she said she wasn’t fit. Ysanne Williams of UCLA and Frances Santin of Cal State Northridge won their heats and advanced to today’s semifinals. Williams had the third-best qualifying time, 57.34 seconds; Santin’s time of 57.45 was fourth-best. . . . Calvin Harrison’s time of 44.97 seconds in winning his heat of the men’s 400 meters was the fifth-fastest time by a U.S. runner this season. The semifinals will be today. . . . Jones skipped the 100, leaving Inger Miller to record the fastest qualifying time, 11.09 seconds. Angela Williams of USC also qualified for today’s semifinals with a time of 11.25 seconds.

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Today

Highlights of today’s events at the U.S. track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

* Semifinals: women’s 800; men’s 800; women’s 400; men’s 400; men’s 100; women’s 100; women’s 400-meter hurdles; men’s 400-meter hurdles

* Finals: women’s hammer throw, 3:10 p.m.; men’s high jump, 3:30 p.m.; men’s shotput, 5:10 p.m.; men’s long jump, 5:40 p.m.; women’s 100 meters, 6:52 p.m.; men’s 100 meters, 7 p.m.; men’s 5,000 meters, 7:08 p.m.