Bryan Clay, the 2008 world indoor heptathlon champion and 2005 world outdoor decathlon champion, leads after the first day of the decathlon competition, with Trey Hardee and former Lane Community College athlete Tom Pappas in second and third, respectively.
Oregon sophomore Ashton Eaton is in fifth.
Despite his lead, Clay had an up-and-down day and wasn’t very happy about his performance. He started out strong in the 100 meters but stumbled in the long jump and shot put before pulling himself back together.
“It’s one of those things where I expected to come out and do certain things,” he said. “I wasn’t mentally prepared to fight for everything, but it started to come around toward the end. Hopefully tomorrow it will go better.”
Eaton, the 2008 NCAA champion, posted similar marks to those he had the first day of the NCAA meet but is in fifth, not first like he was his last time out.
It’s a different atmosphere, Eaton said, comparing his last two decathlons.
“Definitely the intensity is higher, just with the crowd,” he said. “The learning curve out there is incredible. Just observing the older athletes and the veterans like Clay and Pappas and just getting another (decathlon) under my belt helps a lot. I’m getting a pretty good education out there from the older fellas.”
Eaton, a member of Oregon’s NCAA-qualifying 4x400m relay team, won the 400m by more than half a second.
The final five events begin this morning with the 110m hurdles at 11:30 a.m. and culminate with the 1,500m at 8:35 p.m.
Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt cruised into the 400m semifinals. The two have the fastest times in the world this year – 43.98 and 44.03, respectively – but ran rather pedestrian times today, saving energy for the later rounds.
Par for the course, Merritt said.
“That’s the first round for you,” he said, watching on a TV as Wariner slowed to a jog as he crossed the line. “See, that’s what you want to run,” he added, when Wariner’s time of 46.04 flashed up on the screen.
Merritt, who has had tough luck in championship races over the years – he lost by a combined .06 seconds at the last two U.S. Championships and was .03 seconds away from making the World Championships team in 2005 – said he’s ready to go.
“I got the first round out of the way and feel good,” he said. “’08 is my time. I’ve waited four years for this; I’m ready to show up.”
Two collegians, Lionel Larry of USC and Quentin Iglehart-Summers of Baylor, won the other two heats.
There were no big surprises in the women’s 400m quarterfinals. Mary Wineberg, Natasha Hastings, Sanya Richards and Dee Dee Trotter each won their heats to advance to today’s semifinal.
Richards, who is the American record holder at 48.70, was the heavy favorite in last year’s U.S. Championships in Indianapolis. She finished fourth and didn’t make the U.S. team for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
“I came out motivated,” she said. “I got fourth place last time, and I haven’t forgotten.”
Hastings said she recently made some changes to her training and just wanted to see how she felt.
“I am really out here kind of testing things out at the same time, so for me to run and feel the way I felt today, I am very confident going into the semifinals,” she said.
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