AREA ATHLETES : JOYNER-KERSEE SHOWS THAT OLD-TIMERS CAN HAVE HOOP DREAMS, TOO.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Her days as an Olympic track star are down to one, today, but Jackie Joyner-Kersee's athletic career is far from finished.

Don't be surprised to see Joyner-Kersee, a former UCLA hoopster and resident of Canoga Park, in the women's professional basketball league sometime soon.

``She's looking at the pro league,'' said her coach/husband, Bob Kersee. ``(Wednesday) she went to the women's game and talked to the players. She was thrilled to talk to Lisa Leslie (an ex-Trojan) and Sheryl Swoopes.

``Jackie has always played basketball as part of her training. She has said it would be great to end her career the way it started, and it began playing basketball and running track at Lincoln High,'' he said.

Joyner-Kersee qualified for today's long-jump finals with a leap of 21-feet-11-3/4.

Proud parents: Last month USC's Inger Miller qualified for the U.S. Olympic team by .001 seconds.

Thursday night, she missed a bronze medal by .03, as Nigeria's Mary Onyali edged her at the tape in the 200-meter finals.

``I did the best I could,'' Miller said. ``I can't complain. It's more than my wildest dreams.''

Miller, whose coach and father, Lennox Miller, won two Olympic sprint medals for Jamaica, was in good shape off the turn and held her own on the straightaway, but she couldn't match Onyali's lunge.

``I know my dad has to be proud,'' she said. ``He has to be.''

Mr. Everyman: Simi Valley's gold-medal-winning archer Justin Huish has become a media darling and minor celebrity with his pony tail, cool sunglasses, backward baseball cap and (former) goatee.

``I think it's because people see someone like Michael Johnson and his ripped stomach, and then they see me, and I'm someone every kid can relate to,'' he said. ``Every kid wears their cap backwards and has cool sunglasses.''

With his semi-grunge look, Huish would have been well-cast as an extra in the movie ``Singles.''

That's all, folks: Ventura canoeist Joseph Harper finished last in his 1,000-meter semifinal race Thursday - a whopping 26 seconds behind the winner, Ivan Sabjan, of Croatia. (The next-best finisher was 13.8 seconds behind Sabjan.)

Harper, who was last in his preliminary heat Tuesday, is more accomplished in the 500-meter sprint, but failed to qualify for the U.S. team in that event.

Tears and pain: It wasn't a good day for former UCLA field athletes not named Joyner-Kersee.

First, high jumper Amy Acuff injured her ankle and could not attempt her final qualifying jump at 6-feet-2-3/4.

Acuff, ranked No. 1 in the U.S. last year, said she tore ligaments and possibly chipped a bone on her second attempt at the height.

``It felt like I stepped on a firecracker,'' she said. ``Nothing like this has ever happened to me.''

She tried to recover - to ``liven it up'' - but could not.

``It happened for a reason,'' said Acuff, who has one more year at UCLA. ``I have several more Olympic Games ahead of me.''

The same may not be true for Marieke Veltman, a long jumper who attended UCLA in 1993. After two poor jumps, Veltman appeared to hit her qualifying distance on the third and last leap. But when the official raised his red flag (she had fouled by a toe), she slumped to her knees in the sand.

A moment later she walked to the shade bench, put her elbows on her knees and a hand over her face - and wept uncontrollably. It was a moment that turns the tired cliche ``agony of defeat'' into brutal reality.

``To say I'm disappointed just scratches the surface. I've sacrificed so much,'' she said, tears in her eyes. ``The fact that we started so early and it rained in the middle I guess hurt my rhythm. But the same thing happened to me in the world championships last year: two bad jumps and a foul.

``When I was in the pit it seemed like a bad tape playing over and over. I kept expecting to open my eyes and have the jump over again.''

When asked if she'll try for Sydney, Veltman said: ``I'll have to reassess.''

On his own: You don't have to hang out in the Olympic Village to enjoy the Summer Games experience, says UCLA sprinter Ato Boldon, who's staying in a condominium.

``I've totally missed the Olympic Village experience, but I had enough of it in Barcelona,'' he said. ``My enjoyment this time comes from being well-prepared for my events.

``But I've seen (fellow Bruins) John Godina and Suzy Powell, and I'm sure they're having fun because they're in the village.''

Spotted: By reporters, Pasadena's trap-shooting silver-medalist Josh Lakatos playing video games at Dave and Buster's in Marietta, Ga. - proudly wearing his medal.

Lakatos plans to switch to skeet shooting and try for Sydney 2000. But first, he'll marry fellow U.S. shooter Nancy Napolski.

What's next? A softball gold medal in hand, Sherman Oaks' Dot Richardson returns to her full-time job as an orthopedic surgeon at USC Medical Center. Woodland Hills' Sheila Cornell is a physcial therapist in Diamond Bar, and UCLA's Lisa Fernandez will join the Bruins staff as a volunteer assistant coach.

All three will play for the Commotion in the American Softball Association.

The big 2-6: Former UCLA gymnast Chainey Umphrey turns 26 today.

Close calls: Thursday was the fourth anniversary of perhaps the closest 100-meter race in Olympic history - when Gail Devers edged Jamaica's Juliet Cuthbert by .01 seconds for the gold.

It marked the third straight time the woman's 100-meter champ hailed from UCLA. (Evelyn Ashford and Florence Griffith-Joyner are the others.)

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Photo, Chart

PHOTO Ventura's Joseph Harper shows his disappointme nt after finishing last in a semifinal of the canoeing 1,000 meters. It's not his strongest event.

Associated Press

Chart: Keeping watch on Area Athletes