Martin Misses Olympic Berth By A Step

Fourth place. That's where Ryan Martin finished Monday in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Third place. That's where the former runner at Santa Margarita Catholic needed to finish in order to earn a berth to London for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Running the 800 meters on the University of Oregon track in Eugene, Martin clocked 1 minute 44.90 seconds, a quarter-second behind third-place Duane Solomon Jr., who finished in 1:44.65.

He, along with the rest of the field, was blitzed by Nicholas Symmonds' charge from the back to finish in 1:43.92. Khadevis Robinson (1:44.64) took second place.

Second place and fourth place were separated by 26-hundredths of a second. 

That stings if you're Martin.

Third-place Robinson, 35, made the Olympic team this year after failing in 2008 in a photo finish. This time, the shutter favored him as Martin's late sprint fell just short.

Mission Viejo's Martin, wearing the colors of UC Santa Barbara—from which he recently graduated—might have made the Olympic team had he not been boxed by a pair of runners with about 120 meters remaining.

"I had great position with 200 to go, let myslef get boxed a bit with 120 so I had to go a lot more wide than i thought i was going to have to," Martin said. "i was closing well but fourth place just doesn't make it there (to London).

"There was not really much I could do, with 120, they came on both sides. Just a little unfortunate. That late in the race it's tough to come back from a tight spot. Couple feet and I was there. I was kicking as hard as I could."

Martin, the state runner-up in high school during his senior year in 2007 and the school's second-most accomplished boys' track and field athlete, went into the meet with the nation's fourth-fastest time in the U.S.

Fourth, though, just wasn't good enough.