McAdams comes up short in 3,000-meter steeplechase

BEIJING - By the middle of the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase race Saturday morning at National Stadium, Josh McAdams knew his Beijing Olympics track experience would be held to that one single outing.McAdams, who won the 2006 NCAA steeplechase while at BYU and later added the 2007 U.S. Outdoors and 2007 Pan American Games titles, wasn't able to deploy his patented late-race kick and finished ninth in Saturday's third and final heat with a time of eight minutes, 33.26 seconds.South Africa's Ruben Ramolefi won the heat at 8:19.86, and Ethiopia's Yakob Jarso posted the day's best time at 8:16.88. The top four in each of the three heats advance to Monday night's finals, along with the next three fastest finishers overall."It went perfectly, the race was just the way I wanted it  it went out slow, playing to my kick," said McAdams. "But with three laps left, I justdidn't have it. My legs . . .  I don't know if it was the heat, and I think part of it, I may have been a little dehydrated. By now, I should have knownbetter."McAdams started the race toward the back of the pack in the field of 13, staying within 10 to 15 meters of the leaders for the first five and a halflaps.  It was only with less than two laps left that gaps became more substantial — and more difficult to overcome. "I tried picking it up the last lap," he said. "As soon as I finished, I could feel that my calves weren't there."Just minutes after his race, McAdams was grinning from his Summer Games debut. "A fantastic experience," he said. "I'm not going to let it (the race results) spoil my Olympics experience. Just to make it here was a great feat. I've got two or three days here with my family, and I'm going to make the best of it."