Hawai'i junior Annett Wichmann blew by the competition in the final lap to finish fourth in the pentathlon at yesterday's 26th annual NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. It is the highest finish at an NCAA track meet by a Rainbow Wahine since Gwen Loud won the long jump at the 1984 Outdoor Championship.

After a disappointing long jump, Wichmann had fallen from fourth to ninth. She got it all back on the final lap of the 800 meters, passing several runners to finish fourth in the race and the five-event pentathlon before collapsing on the field.

"My goal for her was top eight and her goal was top six," UH coach Carmyn James said. "When she went into the 800, the Notre Dame girl was only four points ahead of her and the Texas Tech girl was nine points ahead so she knew if she could beat them she'd at least be seventh, and she really wanted sixth. She was running on the Tech girl's shoulder for three laps, then Annett just changed gears and was picking off people left, right and center."

When her name and place was posted on the board at Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center, Wichmann broke down in tears of joy. After a long jump of 18 feet, 2 1/4 inches that was some six inches off her personal best, and an 800 time (2:19.68) that was also slower than her goal, she was worried she would wind up closer to last year's 11th-place finish.

Even James grew concerned when she didn't see Wichmann among Nos. 6, 7 and 8 on the board. But her finishing kick past most of the field gave her a total of 4,177 points — 138 more than her previous best. The winner was Arizona State senior Jacquelyn Johnson with 4,496 points.

"It was such a magical moment," James said. "She was on Cloud 9."

"I could hardly believe it," said Wichmann, who is from Germany. "And I was so happy about scoring more than 100 points better than before. I was so relieved and happy all at the same time. I didn't expect that high of a score. I thought if everything works well I can make 4,100 points and I was close to 4,200."

Wichmann opened with a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles (8.95) and a pentathlon-event best shot put (46-3 1/2), and tied her personal pentathlon record in high jump (5-8 3/4).

"I learned I just have to believe in myself," Wichmann said. "I always knew I could do those things, reach those goals. To put it together is the biggest thing."

The two-time WAC pentathlon and heptathlon champion also broke the school record for most appearances at an NCAA Championship meet with four. She is the only Rainbow Wahine to ever compete at Indoor Championships.

The UH outdoor track and field team officially opens its season at the Hornet Invitational Saturday.