National Sports Festival : Jackie Joyner, Louganis Win Their Events

Olympic silver medalist Jackie Joyner turned in the top heptathlon performance in the world this year Sunday but fell short in her quest for the American record at the National Sports Festival.

Joyner’s compiled 6,718 points in the seven-event, two-day ordeal which concluded with the 800-meter run as the evening’s track and field program began.

The opening weekend of the Festival concluded with a series of outstanding performances including another unbeatable showing by Greg Lougains in platform diving and wins by Brian Boitano and Debi Thomas in figure skating.

Louganis recorded his third highest total ever on the platform (675 points) and except for a poor score on his next-to-last dive could have gone over the 700-point mark for the first time.

Boitano, the national champion, recorded the first perfect score of 6.0 of his career in winning the men’s figure skating competition. Runner-up Christopher Bowman also had a 6.0.

Joyner came to the final event of the heptathlon needing a time of 2:05.69 in the 800 meters to set the American record and in the heat and humidity fell short of that.

“I don’t know if the heat took its too that much,” said Joyner, “but I tried to run the third 200 meters too fast. That was a mistake.”

After dangerous thunderstorms delayed much of the festival’s outdoor schedule and reduced crowds Saturday, generally clear skies and larger gatherings greeted the athletes Sunday.

The turbulent weather Saturday capsized several of the craft taking part in the yachting competition on Lake Pontchartrain, but Sunday those same boats were having a hard time finding enough wind to sail.

Twenty-two sports were contested Sunday and among the highlights were a perfect softball game thrown by Jimmy Moore of Merced, Calif.; two sisters meeting each other in judo competition; Mike Pinocci’s victory in the shortened marathon and a rowing heat won by a 14-year-old from Madison, Wis.

Sarah Garner, the youngest participant in the competition, won a repechage heat in the junior women’s single sculls and will be in the finals Monday.

Sisters Teresa and Kathleen Vondrasek of Owosso, Mich., met in the second round of the women’s open judo division and Teresa came out the winner, making her the favorite for the gold in that competition.

On the basketball court, the men’s South team, coached by Davey Whitney of Alcorn State, remained unbeaten in two games with a 75-71 decision over the East, coached by St. John’s Lou Carnesecca.

Louganis had qualified third on the platform in Saturday’s preliminaries, and with three dives to go he was being challenged by Meyer, eight-time Southwest Conference diving champ.

But Louganis, winner of two Olympic gold medals, earned three perfect scores from the seven judges with his final dive and finished with 675.15 points to 608.07 for Meyer. It was the third consecutive sports festival that Louganis had swept the springboard and platform events.

“I felt like today was going to be either real good or real bad,” said Louganis, who has been bothered by soreness left behind from a dislocated left shoulder. “I’m just happy I can dive.”

Early in the day the shortened marathons were run in addition to the women’s 70-kilometer road race which was captured by Betsy King only one week after completing the grueling Tour de France.

Late last week track and field officials decided to reduce the marathons scheduled for Sunday morning to half marathons because of Louisiana’s heat and humidity, but conditions were a little cooler than normal when the races were actually run.

Pinocci, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., won the men’s mini-marathon in 1 hour 7 minutes 32 seconds, and Kathy Pfeifer of Albuquerque, N.M., captured the women’s version in 1:18.24.

“Actually,” said Pinocci, a casino card dealer, “I’m glad it was changed. I don’t think I would have done as well if we had gone the distance.”

The 30-kilometer walk, reduced from 50 kilometers, was started at 5:45 a.m. to escape the worst of the weather and Carl Schueler of Colorado Springs, Colo., won it in 2 hours 23 minutes 36 seconds.

King finished a respectable 20th in the talented international field that took part in this year’s Tour de France, and she averaged about 23 miles per hour Sunday to win the women’s road race.

She and two other competitors broke from the pack early in the race, and King was able to produce an 11-second gap over second place Katrin Tobin at the finish line.

“I really prefer hilly course on which to break away,” said King of Farmington, Conn. “But this was a fun course. I’m not tired at all after competing in France. I forced myself to relax. If you can just relax, especially when you go through the turns, then you will usually do all right.”

Moore, a member of the California Kings from Merced, Calif., and representing the West in the Sports Festival, retired all 21 batters in his team’s 1-0 victory over the South. He struck out 12 of the 21.