Riley wins thrilling 100 meters

| June 9, 2012 9:00 PM

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - For a precious few seconds following the men's 100 meters at the NCAA outdoor championships, nobody knew whether Illinois' Andrew Riley, Auburn's Harry Adams or Florida State's Maurice Mitchell would be declared the winner.

Well, almost nobody. Riley knew his lean was just enough to make him a national champion.

Riley crossed in 10.272, two-hundredths of a second ahead of Adams and five-hundredths faster than Mitchell in a mild upset Friday night at Drake Stadium.

"I knew it was going to come down to a lean," Riley said. "I remember my coach telling me to just punch my arms as hard as you can and open your stride. I did that and the lean and I got it. I knew I had it."

The meet concludes today with the LSU and Oregon women tied for first with 40 points apiece. The Florida men lead by eight points over Virginia Tech as they try for their first outdoor title after capturing the last three indoor crowns.

Oregon's English Gardner didn't need to lean to take the women's 100, powering to the lead out of the blocks and holding off a charging Kimberlyn Duncan to win in 11.10

Gardner took pride in being able to finish the last 40 meters strong. That had been a problem in the past for the sophomore, who faded late and finished seventh in the NCAA meet in 2011.

"I worked so hard last year and fell so short. I wanted to just come back and redeem myself," Gardner said. "I definitely came out here with a lot of fire and a lot of intensity and wanted to win."

In the men's 800, favorite Charles Jock of UC-Irvine used the memory of losing by four-hundredths of a second in 2011 as fuel to push him to a convincing win.

Jock took charge early in the race and dared the field to try to chase him down. They didn't, as Jock won in 1:45.59 with Iowa's Erik Sowinski second in 1:45.90.

Florida's Tony McQuay (44.58) and Illinois's Ashley Spencer (50.95) both set collegiate marks for 2012 in winning their respective 400s.

Arizona junior Brigetta Barrett cleared 6 feet, 4 inches to win the women's high jump for the second straight year, while Oklahoma's Tia Brooks won the women's shot put at 60-6.

Southern Utah's Cameron Levins swept the 5,000 and 10,000 races, winning the 5,000 on Friday night in 13:40.05 - including a 54.4 in his final 400 meters.