Clay comes through in clutch, tied for first

By Charles Whisnand

Appeal Sports Editor

EUGENE, Ore. " If this wasn't Tracktown USA, it's a moment that would have hardly been noticed by anyone. But it could go down as one of the most important moments of the 2008 Olympic year.

In front of a nearly packed crowd, Bryan Clay was on the verge of possibly not even making the U.S. Olympic team on the first day of the decathlon. Clay had failed in his first two attempts at 6 feet, 0 1/2 inches in the high jump and had one last jump to keep his Olympic dream alive. Like a champion when he need it the most, Clay came through with flying colors.

Not only did Clay clear the height on his final attempt, he went on to tie for first in the event at 6-9 3/4. The effort propelled him into first place after the first five events of the decathlon on Sunday at Hayward Field.

While nothing can be taken for granted " especially after what happened in the high jump, Clay appears to be well on his way to Beijing. The top three finishers advanced to the Olympics after today's five events and Clay, Tom Pappas, another athlete who is given a shot at Olympic gold, and Trey Hardee are in command of the three spots.

Clay leads with 4,476 points, Hardee is second with 4,454 and Pappas is third at 4,405. Jangy Addy is way back in fourth at 4,249.

"It was scary," said Kevin Reid, a 1983 Carson High graduate, who coached Clay at Azusa Pacific and remains as Clay's head coach.

Reid described the day "pretty disappointing." Clay said the day went "horribly." And this coming from the guy who leads. While Clay isn't cocky, he's confident and summed up his feelings.

"My bad day should still have me in first place," Clay said. "I feel like I'm better than everybody else out here. I shouldn't have done as badly as I've done today. I'm ready to break the world record."

What was confusing about Clay's "bad" day is his training went so well.

"My training has gone absolutely amazing," he said.

The day got off to an outstanding start when Clay won the opening event, the 100 meters in 10.39 seconds.

"This is going to be great," said Reid about what he thought the day would be like. "We're just going to kind of roll from here."

But then Clay struggled in the long jump, going only 24-3. The struggles continued in the shot put where Clay went just 49 9 1/2. Then came the fateful high jump where Clay went from almost a literal flop to on his way to possible Olympic gold.

Reid put the day in perspective. Despite "3 1/2" bad out of five events, Clay was still just 120 points off her first day personal best.

"Not bad," Reid said. "I think that shows what he's made of."

Both Reid and Clay said Clay should put today behind him. Clay said he feels he'll be strong in all five events today.

"We can come back and be solid and have fun and enjoy the day tomorrow," Reid said.

Clay admitted he wasn't ready to struggle after training so well.

"Mentally I wasn't as prepared as I needed to be," Clay said. "Right now the main focus is to be top three. You make the team. I didn't put it together the way I should have."

"It was a little bit harder [than expected]," Reid said. "It's the trials. It's not supposed to be easy."

Clay was in thrown off in the long jump when he had to move his approach six feet farther back but he wouldn't use that as an excuse.

"I'm not used to making that big of a change," Clay said. "I'm usually pretty good about making adjustments. They just we're very, very bad for me. I should have jumped farther."

Pappas laid down the gauntlet in the long jump, leaping a personal best 25-6. Then came his shot put where he threw a personal best 54-6 1/2 and then shattered that by throwing 56- 7 1/2.

But the turning point came in the high jump where Pappas, who routinely jumps over 7-0 went out at 6-4. Then came the final event of the day, the 400 in which Clay ran 48.41 seconds, not bad considering it was the first outdoor 400 he's run in competition this year.

Clay, who is from Hawaii, has been able to take the lead against Pappas, who's from the Eugene area, in Pappas' own backyard.

"It would be like me having a meet in Hawaii," said Clay on what he told Pappas, jokingly.

For his part, Pappas was generally pleased with the first day.

"Overall I'm happy with it," he said. "Obviously I would have loved to have done better in the long jump."