Slaney, on Record Pace, Forced Out by Leg Cramp

New frustrations arose for Mary Decker Slaney Saturday night in the U.S. Olympic Invitational track meet at East Rutherford, N.J., when a leg cramp forced her to withdraw from the women’s 1,500-meter run while she was on a record pace.

Earlier, Carl Lewis completed an unusual double by winning the 55-meter dash and then singing the national anthem, and Eamonn Coghlan capped the evening by overtaking Sydney Maree to win the mile in 3 minutes 52.37 seconds, the best indoor time of the year. Maree finished in 3:52.40.

Triple Olympic gold medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks set an American indoor record by winning the women’s 400 meters in 52.63.

In the meet’s biggest upset, Ruth Wysocki defeated Olympic champion Maricica Puica of Romania in the women’s 3,000 meters. Wysocki, who upset Slaney in the 1,500 meters in the U.S. Olympic trials last summer, was clocked in 8:49.93.

Puica, who won the Olympic 3,000-meter final when Slaney fell after bumping Zola Budd, was timed in 8:53.53. Slaney holds the indoor record at 8:47.3.

In the 1,500, Slaney appeared to be headed for the first sub-four-minute clocking by a woman when, with just more than two laps to go, she pulled up.

Dick Brown, her coach, said later that she had suffered a cramp in her right leg.

“The doctor said it might have been her potassium level,” Brown said. “If there is no injury she’ll probably run next week. She’s a very positive person. She came off a good week of training. Perhaps we erred in not making her drink enough fluid.”

Slaney limped off the track in mid-race and sat in the infield with tears running down her face before being carried off in the massive arms of her husband, English discus-thrower Richard Slaney.

Wysocki, who has been critical of her rival in the past, said of Slaney’s tears this time: “It’s too late. They nominated for the Academy Awards yesterday.”

After Slaney dropped out, Diana Richburg went on to win the race in 4:08.57. Slaney’s world record is 4:00.8, set in 1980.

In the men’s 55 meters, Lewis came from behind to win in 6.15 seconds. Then, after catching his breath, he did a near-perfect job of singing the anthem.

He made only by two minor mistakes--saying as instead of at and for instead of o’er . But his voice was loud and clear.

Other men’s winners included Doug Padilla in the men’s 5,000 in 13:26.18, Jeff Buckingham in the pole vault in a meet-record 18 feet 8 3/4 inches, Jimmy Howard in the high jump at 7-5 3/4 on fewer misses over Tyke Peacock, who cleared the same height, and Earl Jones in the 800 in a meet-record 1:48.42.

Former NCAA champion Cletus Clark of Houston won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.09 over a watered-down field that did not include flu-stricken Greg Foster or Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom, who was late for his heat.

Meet officials later allowed Kingdom to compete in a special hurdles race, which he won in 7.03 over Mark McKoy of Canada and Clark.

In the Mason Dixon Games at Louisville, Ky., three-time Olympian Larry Myricks set a meet record of 26-4 1/2 in the long jump.

In the high jump, Brian Whitehead, formerly of Ball State, set a meet record of 7-5. The previous mark of 7-4 was set by Dwight Stones in 1975.