National Sports Festival : As It Rains, Joyner Pours It On for Fast Start in the Heptathlon

A downpour sent baseball to the showers Saturday, but the resulting drop in temperature helped propel Jackie Joyner to a record pace in the heptathlon during the first full day of competition at National Sports Festival VI.

The late afternoon thunderstorm soaked the baseball diamonds, and the two games were rescheduled for Tuesday. But Joyner, a silver medalist in the 1984 L.A. Olympics and a two-time NCAA champion from UCLA, enjoyed the rain, which dropped the temperature to the high 70s at Mumford Stadium on the campus of Southern University.

After four events--100-meter hurdles (13.32 seconds), high jump (5 feet 11 1/2 inches), shotput (48-3 1/2) and 200 meters (23.59)--Joyner had 3,942 points, well ahead of the American one-day record of 3,903 set by Jane Frederick in 1984.

“I’m grateful things are going so well,” Joyner said. “The rain really helped cool things off. I didn’t lose too much fluid and I felt strong. Even if it’s hot tomorrow, it won’t be a problem.”

Joyner’s biggest problem in recent years has been a nagging hamstring injury, which cost her a possible American record in the 1983 World Championships at Helsinki, Finland, and was troublesome again in Los Angeles.

Her coach, Bob Kersee, may have solved the problem earlier this season when he had Joyner run the 400-meter hurdles.

“Whenever I pushed too hard, I’d feel a tingle, especially in the long jump, then I’d know I had to back off and I couldn’t really work the second day,” said Joyner, who still faces the formidable task of completing the long jump, javelin and 800 meters. “But running the longer hurdle event put less pressure on my leg and also made me stronger. I felt good.

“But I’m taking nothing for granted. All the events are hard. I used to think some were easy and got myself goofed up.”

Another of Kersee’s athletes who didn’t goof Saturday was Valerie Brisco-Hooks, who easily won the open 200 in 22.57 and ran a leg on the West’s winning 400-meter relay team.

Brisco-Hooks, a triple gold medal winner at Los Angeles, is gearing up for a September in Europe, where she hopes to take on East Germany’s best.

“I haven’t run in a meet since May 25, but I’ll be getting ready for the best they have to offer,” she said. “I want to go in in top condition because then I feel I can beat anyone.”

Brisco-Hooks feels she has an edge in that Kersee is a tough taskmaster. But even if she doesn’t win, she is planning to have a good time.

“Bobby would fit in good over there--he’d love that system,” she said with a laugh. “Getting you up at 6 and making you work all the time. He’d be perfect.

“But the shopping over there is great. Last time, I had to buy two suitcases just to bring back what I bought.”

Two other Californians were poised on the verge of Festival titles. Brian Boitano, the heir apparent to gold medalist Scott Hamilton, opened a commanding lead after the figure skating short program. Boitano, of Sunnyvale, drew an enthusiastic response from a Centroplex Exhibition Hall crowd of 1,600 as he skated through a nearly flawless program.

Boitano, the defending national champion, had 81.10 points and 7.0 ordinals to 79.30 and 15.0 for Chris Bowman of Van Nuys.

In the women’s competition, favorite Debi Thomas, second after of the compulsories, moved past Caryn Kadavy as her athletic program drew high marks from five of the seven judges.

“I guess I was feeling the pressure a little Friday,” said Thomas, of San Jose, who will attend Stanford in the fall. “Either that or my brain was fried or something. Today, I just went out and skated.”

Her program was called Relax , and Thomas, ranked fifth in the world, and second in the United States behind Tiffany Chin, did exactly that, drawing continuous applause.

The West basketball team opened play dismally with a 72-53 loss to the South. Former Crenshaw High star John Williams, now at LSU, led the South with a game-high 18 points, and former Long Beach Poly star Chris Sandle, who will play for Arizona State, led the West with 11. Mater Dei prep All-American Tom Lewis, heading to USC in the fall, had no points and one rebound but played only nine minutes.

In the other men’s game at the F.G. Clark Activity center, Ricky Calloway, heading to Indiana, scored 22 points as the North beat the East, 90-77.

In women’s diving at the LSU Natatorium, Michele Mitchell of Mission Viejo outdistanced her nearest rival by nearly 50 points to pick up the gold.

Festival Notes

The first athlete to arrive in Baton Rouge was team handball player Kevin Gibson of Muskego, Wis. He checked in on the 18th. . . .The West volleyball teams both rolled to straight set victories. Barb Fontana of Manhattan Beach had 17 kills for the women, while Tom Duke led the men with 13 kills.