Decathlon

BOISE, Idaho -- Mount St. Mary's Rob Pendergist placed second in the decathlon last night at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.Pendergist, who earned All-America honors for the second time in his career, finished with 7,837 points. Nevada-Reno's Enoch Bordzinski won with 7,870.The Mount graduate student entered the final event, the 1,500 meters, 98 points behind Bordzinski, meaning he had to better his rival by 16 seconds to win. Pendergist led most of the race before placing second in 4 minutes, 23.34 seconds.

Yesterday, Dan O'Brien went out and knocked off a few 200-meter --es in 21.5 seconds. And he's not even a sprinter, really. Then he did some jumping with a fiberglass pole, clearing 17 feet consistently. That's on a leg that's not 100 percent right now."I'm prepared mentally and physically, and that's got me worried," Dan says. "I usually need to be hurting to go into a competition and do well."The competition is the World Championships of track and field Saturday through Aug. 22 in Stuttgart, Germany, and Dan O'Brien, in case you haven't been paying attention, is the uncrowned world's greatest athlete.

LOS ANGELES -- So tell us, Dan O'Brien. How did you feel the first time you competed in the pole vault after the stunning no-height debacle that kept you out of the Olympic decathlon competition?4 Nervous, O'Brien says. How do you think he felt?O'Brien felt especially nervous when, at an invitational decathlon meet in Talence, France, last September, he failed to clear his first vault at the opening height. Could it be happening again? Was he about to embarrass himself for the second straight time?

BARCELONA, Spain -- It ended with seven of the strongest men in the world sprawled across the track. Some wept. Others were so exhausted they simply rested their heads on the cushioned Tartan surface as the crowd roared and camera flashes popped like fireflies in the night.But Dave Johnson of the United States would not fall. His last race, the 1,500 meters, was over, but still he limped around the track on a right ankle that was throbbing because of a stress fracture.He stripped off his shirt and gave it to a fan. He signed autographs.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Dave Johnson trained for the decathlon by throwing rocks at cars, breaking into buildings, hauling away beer kegs and leaping over bushes as he was being pursued by police.The man bidding to become the world's greatest athlete was once a bush-league juvenile delinquent. Nothing real serious. Just a little weekly theft from a beer distributor in his hometown of Missoula, Mont."Pre-decathlon training," he said. "I didn't even know it."From beer to Barcelona, Johnson has pulled himself up by his Reeboks, and enters the 1992 Summer Olympics as the favorite for the decathlon gold.

Until recently, Jason Fullmer considered himself a novice decathlete. Lately, however, he's been turning in efforts that are shocking people -- especially himself.In his first decathlon competition at Auburn (Ala.) University last weekend, the 6-foot-6 South River High senior placed fourth in The Athletic Conference's National Youth Athletic Championships, taking first place in the 110-meter hurdles and in the 100-meter dash.And after the first five events of the Amateur Athletic Union regional meet yesterday, Fullmer -- the defending Class 3A state champion in the 110 and 300 hurdles -- was leading the field with 3,270 points.

NEW ORLEANS -- Dave and Aric and Rob?It doesn't exactly have the same ring as Dan and Dave, but it will have to do for the U.S. Olympic decathlon team.Yesterday, while Olympic gold-medal favorite Dan O'Brien flopped in the pole vault and sank to 11th, new stories and careers were fashioned.Dave Johnson established a second-day world record of 4,455 points to win with 8,649. Aric Long, a 22-year-old who attends the University of Tennessee, was second with 8,237 points. And Rob Muzzio, a George Mason University graduate with a history of injuries, took the third spot at 8,163.

NEW ORLEANS -- All that stands between Dan and Dave are two Chrises and an Aric.But don't worry.Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson are on course after Day One in the decathlon at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.As expected, yesterday belonged to O'Brien. The reigning world champion was ahead of the world-record pace with 4,698 points after five events.Johnson, the strongest second-day decathlete in the field, was fifth with 4,194 points. Bunched between O'Brien and Johnson were Chris Huffins (4,262)

NEW ORLEANS -- You've seen their baby pictures, sweethearts and mothers. You've seen them face off like gunslingers in an Italian western, pump iron in high-tech gyms, and match drives with golf's most notorious frequent flier, John Daly.Now, you actually can watch them compete.Dan and Dave: The ad campaign comes to life.When the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials resume today, Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson will play starring roles in the %o decathlon, the two-day, 10-skill test that determines the unofficial title of world's greatest athlete.

LOS ANGELES -- The most exclusive club in American sports is looking for a few new members.Bob Mathias, Milt Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey and Bruce Jenner are America's living Olympic decathlon champions, men who were once proclaimed the world's greatest athletes. But since 1976, the club has been closed, as America's modern-day decathletes fell far short of Olympic gold."We'd welcome a new kid on the block," Toomey said. "For this country to win another Olympic gold would be like regaining a mantle that has been long lost.