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EUGENE, Ore. - A mixup with a water jump barrier cast controversy over the women's steeple- chase at the U.S. track and field championships.
Olympian Jennifer Barringer easily won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title on Sunday, two days after qualifying for the event was marred by the barrier being set too high.
Barringer, the American record holder, ran the event in 9:29.38, well ahead of second-place finisher Anna Willard.
"Over the last 48 hours, there's been a lot of drama in our sport," Barringer marveled.
In the preliminary round Friday night, Nicole Bush took a spill after hurdling the water barrier and fractured her right foot. Bush, who had just finished her senior year at Michigan State, tumbled into the water on the third lap. Amazingly, she still finished the race.
It was later determined the barrier was set as many as 6 inches too high, perhaps at the men's level. The barrier is at 36 inches for the men and 30 inches for the women.
USA Track & Field CEO Doug Logan said he takes responsibility for the mistake.
"It's disappointing what happened," he said. "It's human error. I won't go any further than that."
Logan said he sought out Bush on Saturday to personally apologize and offer support with medical treatment and rehabilitation.
"She's definitely in our plans for the future and I wanted to reaffirm that," Logan said. "I indicated to (Bush and her coach) that I was going to do all in my power to make sure that human error did not occur again in any event."
Willard finished Sunday in 9:35.01, and Franek in 9:36.74.
Barringer also had the top qualifying run in 9:47.94. And despite her fall, Bush still qualified for Sunday's final in 9:57.06.
Bush will need up to 10 weeks to recover, said Logan, who was stunned she finished.
"I told her it was a valorous race, she showed an extraordinary amount of courage and extraordinary amount of sportsmanship and gumption to finish despite the fact she was hurt," Logan said.
Barringer won the steeplechase at the NCAA championships earlier this month in Fayetteville, Ark., with Bush taking second.
