EUGENE, Ore. — It took more than four months to mold the LSU men’s track and field team into a title contender for its first NCAA Outdoor title in 11 years. Just over 11 seconds into the NCAA Outdoor Championships, that dream took a serious blow.
In an unfortunate turn of events, LSU’s Claston Bernard was disqualified from the decathlon after suffering a hamstring injury in the 100-meter dash on day one of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The disqualification of Bernard loomed over an otherwise very successful day for the second-ranked Tigers and fifth-ranked Lady Tigers, as both teams advanced extremely well in preliminary action.
“Obviously Claston’s situation was a very difficult barrier to overcome today but I think everyone responded,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “It’s just a terrible break for someone who deserved much better. As a team, however, we kept things together and still had a very productive day.”
Bernard got out of the blocks well in the 100-meter dash and grabbed the lead at the 60-meter point. Shortly after, however, he suffered a grade two strain of his left hamstring and dropped from first to sixth, struggling to make it across the line. He finished with a time of 11.32, well off his season best.
The LSU training staff worked furiously on Bernard to evaluate the severity of the injury and determine his status for the rest of the competition.
Bernard made an attempt to rejoin the competition and made his way out to the long jump area for the second event. He reported after his first attempt was to take place, however, and therefore was disqualified.
Bernard was disqualified under NCAA Rule 9-2, Article 8, which states, “An athlete failing to start in any event of the competition shall be considered to have abandoned the competition and shall not be allowed to participate in any following event or be included in the final placing or scoring.”
Henry appealed the decision based on his injury and the necessary time to evaluate and treat the injury, but his appeal was eventually denied.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for Claston. The ruling is not the troubling part to me, the real problem is that we have a great athlete that got hurt and that’s more critical than any ruling,” said Henry. “Their interpretation is a little different than mine, but I know that I’m biased here.”
Bernard, the 2000 NCAA runner-up and three-time SEC champion, took the news in stride.
“I was well prepared, I came out of the blocks well (in the 100-meter dash),” said Bernard. “When my hamstring gave my first instinct was to finish the race and get treatment to see if I could get back for the long jump. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to continue. Everything happens for a reason and I will deal with this and move forward.
“I felt that if I could get one jump in that I could get myself into the competition. I don’t think I could have won the event but I still could have contributed some points to the team. It’s an unfortunate situation, but I’ll be back next year.”
The rest of the day went much better for LSU. The Lady Tigers posted the top time in the preliminary rounds of the 4×100-meter relay, while the Tigers advanced in the men’s short relay as well.
Sa’Donna Thornton, Stephanie Durst, Myra Combs and Muna Lee came up with three solid exchanges to post a time of 43.35, the fastest time in the nation in 2001. The Lady Tigers will now aim for their first title in the event since 1997 on Friday.
Lee and Combs advanced to the final of 200-meter dash in preliminary action on Wednesday. Lee posted the fastest qualifying time of the day, running a wind-aided time of 22.53 to win her heat with ease. Combs finished second in her heat but ran the fifth fastest time on the day, advancing to her first individual track final with a time of 23.01.
Durst and Ronetta Smith were not able to make it out of the preliminary round of the 200-meter dash. In other action on the track, Susanne Strunz missed advancing to the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase by one spot despite running the second fastest time of her career, a time of 10:20.62.
The Tigers advanced in the 4×100-meter relay as well, as Devery Henderson, Robert Parham, Pete Coley and Dwhyte Barrett registered a time of 39.55, the sixth fastest time of the day, to advance to Friday’s final.
Action continues on Thursday with a busy day for LSU athletes. Walter Davis will compete in the men’s long jump , while Javier Nieto will compete in the hammer. In preliminary action, LSU will have both the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays in action, as well as several sprints.