WOMEN'S 100

FINAL

Inger Miller false started. Angela Williams got her usual great start and led early, but Chryste Gaines and Kelli White moved past the NCAA champ mid-race. Gaines and White, in lanes 3 and 4, were neck and neck, until Gaines gained a slight lead at 70m and held it to the finish, winning 10.89w-10.93w (wind 3.5).

Williams held on for 3rd in 11.01w , with a tight 4-7 spread: Torri Edwards 11.09, Shakedia Jones 11.14, Brianna Glenn 11.5 and Inger Miller 11.18.

Gaines's time is the fastest in the world this year under all conditions. This is her first national title after runner-up finishes in '97 and '98.
/Roy Conrad/

HEATS

For a definition of almost a complete waste of time, one need look no farther than the first round of the women's century. The worst possible set of circumstances, 17 entries, meant that three heats were run simply to eliminate a single runner.

Last in the first heat was Michelle Bookman at 11.71. A decent candidate for expulsion, but she was in as soon as the second heat was run, Jimyria Hicks sitting on the bubble after her last-place 11.73. Hicks too escaped to run on Friday as Juan Ball capped the last race at 11.86.

Despite no real need for the winners to run particularly fast, the top times in each heat were no mere walkovers. Torri Edwards used an illegal 4.2mps wind for an 11.10 in the first heat, Chryste Gaines matched that with a legal (1.3) in the second, then Inger Miller won the last in the day's fastest time, 11.09, with an illegal 2.4. Miller looked very smooth, confounding the opinion of experts who earlier in the month judged her to be out of shape and unlikely to do well here. The only other sub-11.20 time of the day went to heat II runner-up Shakedia Jones (11.13).

Three-time NCAA champ Angela Williams, who won her latest title on this track two weeks ago, qualified comfortably at 11.25w and said, "I feel real relaxed. I feel like I'm at home."

Marion Jones was not in the races because as the defending World Champ she already has an automatic entry into the meet in Edmonton in August so long as she competes in some event here. That event will be the 200, starting on Friday.