Lane, Luchini fail in bids for Olympic team

SACRAMENTO – Former Yarmouth high school star Matt Lane helped to push the pace from the outset in the final of the 5-kilometer run Friday at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Spanos Sports Complex at California State University. But with 400 meters to go, Tim Broe pushed a little harder.

Lane battled home in fourth in 13 minutes, 32 seconds. He was also fourth at the Olympic trials in 2000. Ellsworth’s Louie Luchini finished 12th in 13:50.64.

Broe’s last lap strung out a pack that included Lane, Jonathon Riley, and Bolota Asmerom en route to a 13:27.36 victory. Riley (13:30.85) and Asmerom (13:32.77) were second and third.

Lane shared the lead throughout, attempting to keep the pace honest as the runners chased not only the top three places, but the elusive Olympic A standard (13:21.50). Olympic rules state that countries are allowed to send more than one athlete to the games only if they all have the A standard.

Broe does not have the A standard. That means that Riley, the only American athlete with the standard, will not go unless Broe or Asmeron run the A standard.

“I’m severely disappointed,” said Lane. “To be fourth for the second year in a row – it’s the worst feeling in the world.”

In the 1,500-meter race, former Kennebunk High School star Erik Nedeau was philosophical after what he considered a tactical error kept him from advancing to the final of the 1,500 meter run.

The 32-year-old Nedeau, running in his third Olympic trials, placed eighth in the first heat of the semifinals in 3 minutes, 44.41 seconds. The top six runners from each heat advanced to Sunday’s final.

Nathan Robison won the heat in 3:39.74. Michael Stember won the second heat in 3:39.74.

The race was slow and tactical, as is usually the case in qualifying heats. Nedeau hung in the back of the pack until 200 meters to go, and then tried to make his move.

“I feel like I did the right thing. I made a strong move at 200. Usually when I make a move I try to stay [in the] inside [lane]. Today, at 100 meters to go, I hopped out to lane [five]. Maybe if I had stayed inside – I dont know. But [moving outside] was kind of costly. I thought I had it,” Nedeau said.

Nedeau was a late entrant to the field. He had not achieved the automatic qualifying time prior to the trials. Now the track and cross country coach at Amherst College in Massachusetts, he received a telephone call on Tuesday informing him that he would be included in the field.

Nedeau had advanced to the semifinals after finishing seventh (3:42.90) in his quarterfinal heat on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Marion Jones returned to the track a night after her emotional victory in the long jump at the U.S. Olympic trials, and looked downright ordinary in the 200 meters.

Jones faded to last in her five-woman qualifying heat Friday night, slowing to nearly a trot on the final straightaway. But she still easily advanced to Saturday’s semifinals, because only one of the 19 women entered in the quarterfinals was eliminated.

It was unclear whether Jones, the reigning Olympic champion in the 200, was struggling in the final meters of the race or whether she knew she could qualify without much effort. She declined to talk with reporters after the race.

The fastest time in the quarterfinals was 22.60 seconds by Torri Edwards, who placed second in the 100 last weekend. But Edwards’ chances of going to the Athens Olympics depend on the results of an arbitration hearing in a drug case.

Edwards acknowledged this week that she had a positive test for a banned stimulant this year, but claims she took the drug inadvertently and is trying to avoid a 2-year ban that would knock her out of the Olympics.

In the men’s 200, Shawn Crawford, Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay ran three of the four fastest times in the world this year in the qualifying heats.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.