They Will Share Rent, but Not Victory Medal : Track and field: Roommates Ashley Selman and Paula Berry will compete in the javelin at the U.S. Olympic Trials, starting today in New Orleans.

Like most college students, Oregon javelin thrower Ashley Selman has divided the rent with a variety of roommates: high jumpers and heptathletes, golf team members and football players . . . but few who fully understood her event.

Now, Selman has found somebody who gets the point--javelin thrower Paula Berry.

When Selman, who transferred to Oregon after three years at USC, won the NCAA javelin title in 1990, it was Oregon’s Berry who finished second. Last year, Berry claimed the NCAA crown; Selman finished second.

From sharing the national spotlight to sharing pots and pans? It can work, the Eugene, Ore., roommates say.

“It kind of makes me laugh sometimes,” says Selman, a former track and field and basketball standout at Foothill High School. “I mean, sharing a place with someone you compete with is different.”

Apparently, it can also be helpful.

Since winning their collegiate titles, Selman and Berry have experienced their share of post-glory blues. Now, with the Olympic trials at New Orleans just ahead--women’s javelin preliminaries are today, finals are Monday--Selman and Berry are counting on each other for moral support.

For Selman, the trials represent a chance to prove to herself, as well as others, that she hasn’t lost her touch. A two-time All-American at USC, Selman placed sixth at the NCAAs as a freshman and won the title as a sophomore, out-throwing Berry, 186 feet 3 inches to 174-9.

But Selman’s junior year was a disappointment. An abdominal strain hampered her training. USC’s throws coach, Mike Bailey, switched to the jumps, so Selman practiced much of the time on her own. Plus, she was becoming disillusioned with life at USC.

“There are of a lot of image-conscious people there, people with a lot of money. . . .” Selman said. “I was tired of it, and burnt out on L.A.”

Her confidence also waned. The pressure to defend her national title, Selman said, was playing havoc with her competitiveness. She started to feel smothered by expectations. Though the season was only a little more than half over, Selman decided she would take the next year off.

“I wasn’t the same person,” Selman says. “Going into meets, I was intimidated to compete. That’s not like me. Usually I’m completely fired up.

“I just felt like since I’d won nationals the year before, everyone was watching to see how I’d do. But inside, I knew I wasn’t going to throw far. Finally, I was like, ‘Why am I doing this if I’m not going to do well?’ I think a lot of people go through that after having a real successful year. It’s such a mind game.”

To which Berry could relate. That spring, at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, Berry competed while Selman, injured and depressed, sat and watched. Aside from exchanging a few words at track meets, the two throwers had never really met.

After Berry placed third in the meet--a performance she considered sub-par--she and Selman sat in the stands and commiserated.

“She was kind of down in the dumps then,” Berry says of Selman. “It was her birthday, she was injured, and she couldn’t compete. We talked a lot, and later I sent her a belated birthday card.”

They met again two months later in Eugene, at the NCAA championships. The day before the meet, Berry pulled Selman aside.

“I said, ‘Ashley, you have three days left (before the javelin competition). Forget what you’ve done this season. You kicked my butt last year. You still have it in you.’ ”

A pep talk from a rival? Said Berry: “I knew I was going out on a limb.”

And out with a victory. Berry won with a throw of 188-5. Selman was second with 182-3.

Selman was pleased with her finish, considering her state of mind, but she was also still intent on taking a year off from school. When Oregon javelin coach Sally Harmon invited her to train with the Ducks over the summer, Selman accepted.

“It started out like a joke,” Selman says. “Like, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be great to train up here?’ But then I thought about it more and more. I figured the change would be good for me.”

Three months later, she decided to transfer. USC agreed to release her from her scholarship, and Selman and Berry went house hunting. They rent a large three-bedroom, two-bath house one mile from campus.

“A lot of people say, ‘Gee, isn’t that hard since you’re competitors?’ ” Selman says. “But we have a pretty good team attitude. Actually, it’s fun. I’ve never lived with anyone who’s in the same event before.”

Not that the javelin is all they talk about. Berry likes to tease Selman about her obsession with daily to-do lists; Selman kids Berry about her eating habits, topping her pancakes with peanut butter, for instance.

One of the rooms in the house contains a weight-lifting set. Two cork boards, filled with photos, news clippings and motivational slogans, hang on the walls.

“Our ‘Inspirational Boards,’ ” Selman says. “You know, all the typical ‘On The Road To Barcelona’ stuff.”

But their best inspiration seems to be each other.

“We talk to each other during meets,” Selman says. “The attitude is less, ‘I try to beat her,’ than ‘I try to throw far.’ It’s kind of cool. I’ve never put track in that kind of perspective before. This way, you have someone there to celebrate with, or someone who understands when you have a bad day.”

Or a bad season. Since winning the NCAA title last year, Berry says she has been going through a confidence crisis similar to Selman’s. Though she set a lifetime best of 202-1 last May, Berry has yet to better 180 this year.

“The trials come closer and it’s like you start to panic,” Berry says. “People are coming up saying, ‘How are you going to do in the Olympics?’ That’s what’s frustrating. I’m going to meets where there are 5,000 people who believe I’m going to do well every throw. Inside I’m feeling, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to let them down.’ ”

At least Selman doesn’t face that kind of pressure. Though Berry is well-known among Eugene’s track and field aficionados, Selman is still a fairly new face. Besides, unlike the past when she sometimes worked out eight hours a day, Selman says she has discovered a more balanced life up north.

“I’ve been doing a lot more outdoors,” she says. “Fishing, floating on the river, cross-country skiing in the winter, hiking. I’m not so serious about things. I used to do track and nothing else. I was afraid of getting hurt. This year, I’m doing stuff like playing basketball and jumping off bridges into the Willamette River. It’s a rush.”

Making the Olympic team would be even better. Selman’s best mark this season, 175-3, ranks her among the nation’s top 10. But finishing in the top three at the trials doesn’t guarantee a berth. Javelin throwers must meet the Olympic qualifying standard (201-5).

“Other people who don’t know me probably say, ‘Oh, she’s not doing very well,” Selman says. “But in my mind, I’m happy. I don’t know what’ll happen at trials. I’ll either pop a big one or throw in the 170s again.

“The important thing is, finally I’m getting some confidence back. Finally, I’m beginning to believe I can throw again.”

And that’s an attitude worth bringing home.