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August 15, 2004 3:03 pm

Notebook: Multi-tasking hurdler

By GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

ATHENS, Greece -- Brenda Taylor, a 400-meter hurdler from Chula Vista, Calif., didn't take up track and field full time until college, but even then it was hardly a one-track pursuit. She attended Harvard and graduated magna cum laude with a major in cognitive neuroscience.

``It's the focus on the psychological underpinnings of behavior,'' Taylor attempted to explain, adding that she intends to go to law school and business school and work on health-care reform.

But those plans have been on hold for a bit longer than she anticipated.

``Honestly, in 2001 I thought I was done with track and field,'' she said. ``I won NCAAs, then made the world championship team. I traveled all over Europe, competing that summer, and I thought `maybe I can do this for a while.' `'

Official boatwright Carl Eichenlaub of San Diego is known to the U.S. sailing team as ``fixer of all things,'' a label he's earned through six Olympics and six Pan American Games, dating back to 1979.

Eichenlaub is 74 and travels to international events with a 40-foot container that holds, among other things, a swedging machine, drill press and a microwave oven for curing resin. Eichenlaub's expertise is often sought out by foreign athletes with mechanical problems.

At last year's Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic, Carl was selected by the U.S. team captains to be the U.S. flagbearer for Opening Ceremonies. It was the first time a U.S. Pan American team had selected a non-athlete for the honor.

``Carl embodies the Olympic spirit more than anyone I know,'' said sailing team manger Jonathan Harley.

John Dunn of Chula Vista, Calif., a 20K race walker, acknowledges that his sport is among the lower profile events in track and field, but from his perspective, it's not the most unusual.

``I find it humorous,'' he said. ``For example, triple jump to me is such an odd sport. I can't jump three times like that, and I don't take anything away from it, but it just seems so odd to me.''

Bret Erickson, the shooter from Buena Vista, Ga., whose heart stopped beating for two minutes six weeks ago, faded to 13th place in the men's trap shooting with 118 points, three short of reaching the final six. Erickson entered Sunday tied for third place.

Lance Bade of Colorado Springs, Colo., finished fifth after entering the final six tied for second place.

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