May 31, 2002

BATON ROUGE, La. - Utah State's Brett Guymon finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 49.84, while Joel Johnson is tied for 14th place in the decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship meet here on Friday.

Thunderstorms and lightening delayed the meet for an hour after two events in the decathlon and the men's discus competition were completed.

Guymon, a native of Huntington, Utah, earned all-American honors for the first time in his outdoor career with the fourth-place finish. His time was his second-fastest of the season, and the fourth-place finish is the senior's best in his three trips to the national championships in the event. Florida's Rickey Harris ran a 48.16 to win the event, while Bennie Brazell of LSU finished second (48.80). Auburn's Fred Sharpe edged Guymon for third.

Johnson, a junior from Brigham City, Utah, scored 3,715 points in the first five events of the decathlon. Johnson is tied with Missouri's Knut Sommerfeldt entering Saturday's final five events. Johnson scored 888 points in the 100 meters, running the event in 10.88, taking sixth among the 18 decathletes. He also added 804 points in the 400 meters, and 799 in the long jump, with a distance of 22-9.25 feet (6.94 meters).

Johnson will compete in the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500-meter run Saturday. He currently stands 245 points out of eighth, the last place that scores team points. Johnson entered the meet with a season-high score of 7,586, the seventh-best in the country. He finished 16th in the decathlon at last year's NCAA championships.