BOSTON -- One-hundredth of a second.
That's virtually nothing flat. But it represents the world to Joel Brown.
The former Woodlawn High and Ohio State star ran his fastest 60-meter high hurdles race of the winter season - a 7.54 performance in the final of the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships last night at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center - only to look up at the giant scoreboard after crossing the finish line to see that he had been nosed out for second place.
In a race won by Howard University grad David Oliver in 7.47, Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Outdoor championships winner, came up with a desperation lean over the finish line in 7.53 to edge Brown.
So barring late changes, Oliver, who trains with Brown in Orlando, Fla., and Johnson will be the U.S. entries in the world indoor championships March 7-9 in Valencia, Spain, and Brown will stay home. In a five-man blanket finish, two others - Antwon Hicks (7.56) and Dexter Faulk (7.58) - were right on Brown's heels.
"I know I hit the first hurdle, but I was still in it," Brown said. "Sure it's a letdown, but I know I can run well, and run with anyone. I'm happy for my training partner [Oliver] and thought we both were going to make it.
"No excuses. It was all on me. I just didn't do what I had to do, didn't run my race. But that's track."
Brown had equaled his 2008 season best of 7.61 running second to Hicks' 7.60 in the first semifinal. But the revelation of the semifinals was Anwar Moore, ex-star at St. Augustine's College of Raleigh, N.C., who led all qualifiers in 7.50, the fastest time by an American this year - until Oliver's 7.47 in the final.
For Matthew Centrowitz, the heralded University of Oregon freshman out of Broadneck High, the event was a learning experience.
Centrowitz, whose father, Matt, was a two-time Olympian and American record-holder in the 5,000 meters and is now head track coach at American University, was the nation's finest high school distance runner in 2007, winning everything in sight and reaching all of his goals but one - beating 4 minutes for the mile.
But now he's taking on some veterans of the distance running game, and it's a new world. Running the men's 3,000-meter final Saturday night, Centrowitz ran 8:13.19 to place 12th in a 16-man field.
