BATON ROUGE, La. -- Walter Davis of LSU won the long jump in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday night, the beginning of what he hopes will be a week of multiple triumphs in his college farewell.

On his home track, the 2000 Olympian won with a jump of 26 feet, 6¾ inches. Before he began his jumps, he ran the first leg of the LSU 400-meter relay team that had the fastest time in the qualifying heats of 38.32 seconds.

Davis -- an NCAA runner-up in the long jump in last year's outdoor championships and the last two indoor meets -- also is aiming at the triple jump on Friday.

At the top of the agenda is the team championship, but the Tigers face an uphill fight against defending champion Tennessee.

"I'm just excited,'' Davis said. "This is my last collegiate meet and it's at home. I've been at the hotel just sitting down and waiting, just couldn't wait until it's time, and it's time right now.''

The Atlantic Coast Conference picked up a pair of victories.

Jamine Moton of Clemson set a collegiate and meet record in the women's hammer at 220 feet, 6 inches.

Sophomore Kristin Price of North Carolina State won the women's 10,000 in 34 minutes, 26.63 seconds.

Despite an ailing lower back, Tracy O'Hara of UCLA won her second NCAA pole vault title by clearing 13-9¾ in a jump-off against Andrea Wildrick of Liberty.

"My back is killing me right now,'' she said, "but when you're running down the runway and when you're vaulting, you really don't feel anything. I erase it out of my head completely when I'm out there.''

NCAA indoor champion Amy Linnen of Arizona protested when the bar came loose on her final attempt at 12-7½. She cleared the bar, but her pole knocked it loose. She filed a protest, but it was denied.

"I went to push the pole away, but I wasn't strong enough and it came back and knocked the bar off,'' Linnen said. "We thought it was the wind and tried to protest it, because the woman before me from Florida State (Lacy Janson), the same thing happened to her. But they said no and said it's a judging rule.''

The UCLA women, favored in the team competition, suffered a setback when Tiffany Burgess failed to qualify for the 800 final. Burgess, who entered the meet with the fastest time of all competitors at 2:03.73, struggled to sixth in her heat. Her time of 2:05.04 was 10th-fastest. The top nine qualify.

"What we've been emphasizing with our team is that this is a roller-coaster ride,'' UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden said. "We're going to have some ups and downs. ... Overall, we came out of the day OK.''

UCLA got a fourth place finish from Cari Soong in the women's hammer to finish the day with 15 points and the early lead in the team competition.

Southern California, the defending women's champion, advanced Aleksandra Deren to the 800 final. She won her heat and was third-fastest overall at 2:06.93. Tyrona Heath of Georgetown was by far fastest at 2:03.81, her personal best by nearly two seconds.

Andras Haklits of Georgia wrapped up his college career in dramatic fashion by winning his third NCAA hammer title on his final throw.

The Croatian, a 2000 Olympian, lost the lead when Libor Charfreitag of SMU unleashed a throw of 252-7. But Haklits, the last competitor, responded with a 253-8 throw to defend his title in the first final of the four-day NCAA meet at Louisiana State University.

Haklits won his first NCAA championship as a freshman at Louisiana-Monroe before transferring to Georgia.

"It happened when I was a freshman, on my last throw,'' he said. "Now it's happened again.''

Haklits said he was confident as he went into the circle for his final attempt.

Charfreitag, a Slovak who beat Haklits for the NCAA title two years ago, said he had struggled throughout the day, never feeling comfortable.

"On my last throw, I didn't even scream. It wasn't a long throw. It was decent,'' he said.

In the men's 400 relay preliminary round, favorite Tennessee won its heat in 39.71 seconds despite a shaky first exchange between Sean Lambert and Justin Gatlin.

Gatlin, a sophomore and defending NCAA champion at the 100 and 200, easily won his 200 heat in a stadium record 19.98 seconds.

Gatlin said he was a little worn out after staying up too late with family members.

"It took a little bit out of me,'' he said. "I had to concentrate a little bit extra, more than I usually do. We just sat around talking and time slipped away. Next thing I knew it was 1 a.m., or 12 o'clock. I was like, `Uh oh, I've got to go home.'''

Gatlin can compete collegiately but is suspended from international competition until July of 2003 after testing positive for amphetamines last July in the World Junior Championships. The drug was contained in medication he had taken for years for attention deficit disorder. He has appealed the suspension and it could be cut short.

Mississippi State and TCU, both expected to be contenders in the 400 relay, dropped the baton and failed to advance. The Texas women's 400 relay team was disqualified for passing the baton out of the exchange zone.