Mixed day at races

A sluggish start dooms UNC alum LaTasha Colander in the women's 100. American Lauryn Williams wins silver

LaTasha Colander, a Garner resident and former University of North Carolina track athlete, made it to the Olympic 100-meter final Saturday but was slow out of the blocks and last at the finish line in a race won by Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus.

Nesterenko, a newcomer in a suddenly wide-open 100, won the gold medal with a time of 10.93 seconds. Lauryn Williams, the 20-year-old NCAA champion for Miami, captured silver with a personal best of 10.96.

Williams leaned at the wire to nip Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, who finished in 10.97. Colander finished in 11.18, well off the personal best of 10.97 she ran to win the U.S. Olympic trials in July.

"Really, I wanted to be in the 10s again, but I'll take the 11.18 and I'll take the eighth if God gave me that. I did my best, and I did it to win. That's all I can ask for," said Colander, who will turn 28 on Monday.

On the men's side, Triangle contenders appear poised not only to win medals in the 100 but to threaten Donovan Bailey's Olympic record of 9.84 in today's semifinals and final.

Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin -- who train together in Raleigh under coach Trevor Graham -- easily advanced Saturday. Each broke 10 seconds without being pushed in the first two rounds.

Gatlin, 22, said he wanted to work on his finish in Saturday's heats, and he got a positive result, winning both.

"I just pulled away from the field," Gatlin said. "I felt great. I felt strong."

Today will feature a blistering showdown on a fast track between Crawford, Gatlin, defending Olympic gold medalist Maurice Greene, Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Francis Obikwelu of Portugal.

"We're going to have a party tomorrow. Everybody's invited," Greene said.

Crawford, 26, especially looks like a man threatening to pop the Olympic record. The former Clemson runner from tiny Van Wyck, S.C., had the day's fastest qualifying time, a 9.89 that brought a roar from the crowd at Olympic Stadium. Greene and Obikwelu ran the next fastest times at 9.93, and Gatlin was fourth of 15 semifinals qualifiers with a 9.96.

Powell, running in the same heat as Greene, with the fifth to break 10 seconds at 9.99.

In the men's 400, Derrick Brew of Raleigh looked confident and strong in winning his semifinal heat in 45.05. His time was the seventh best of eight qualifiers, but he slowed toward the end of the race once his win was assured.

"I was just running relaxed. All I was thinking about getting to the final," he said.

Brew, whose success has come in relays, is having a breakthrough year in the 400. He said he owes it to a switch in coaches to Raleigh's Antonio Pettigrew, a former world champion at the distance.

"He's a veteran in that race, and it's been working out good for me all year," Brew, 26, said.

Two other athletes with ties to Triangle universities had differing results Saturday. Former UNC runner Monique Hennagan advanced to today's women's 400 semifinals, winning her heat in 51.02. But former Duke track athlete Jillian Schwartz was eliminated in the women's pole vault.

Schwartz, the Olympic trials runner-up, was part of a meltdown that saw all three U.S. women vaulters, including Stacy Dragila, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist, fail to get past the qualifying round.

Dragila missed three attempts at the qualifying standard of 14 feet, 5 1/4 inches, well below her best of 15 feet, 10 inches. After her third miss, she shook her head in dismay, seemingly stunned.

"This is something I should be able to do in my sleep," she told The Associated Press later, between sobs.

Also Saturday, Carolina Kluft of Sweden won the heptathlon with a score of 6,952. American Sheila Burrell placed fourth.

Colander's race also was among the day's disappointments, but she sounded an Olympic theme here where the Olympics began. She said what matters is competing. She struggled to make the final field, getting in with the slowest semifinals time of 11.18.

After the semifinals, Colander met with her coach, Graham, and made a plan to get out fast and hold on. Instead she got off slow and tried to catch up.

"My start was slow. I got out a little slow, and first thing I knew I was running trying to get back into the race," she said, "The key was to get out fast."

Colander, a former hurdler and gold medalist in the 4x400 relay at the Sydney Olympics, was a surprise winner at the U.S Olympic trials in July but was not favored to win a gold medal here. She may yet get one in the women' 4x100 relay.

"What can I say? I came in 2000 and didn't make it any individual event and I made it [here] in the finals of the 100. I mean that's amazing. For someone to come from the hurdles to the [400 meters] then go into the 100 meters, I'm excited and I made it here to the Olympic Games," Colander said. "I hope I increased somebody's faith and helped inspire them that they can do anything."