Foster Sets Hurdles Record; Nehemiah Third

It was just like old times. Greg Foster and Renaldo (Skeets) Nehemiah hadn’t competed against each other since the 1982 indoor season, but the rivalry, to put it mildly, still lives.

Foster beat Nehemiah and a world class field in the 60-meter hurdles of the Sunkist Invitational Friday night at the Sports Arena. He also set a world indoor record of 7.36 seconds, but it was tainted to a degree.

All of the competitors in the race--Foster, Nehemiah, Tonie Campbell, Roger Kingdom and Milan Stewart--said they false-started. Nonethless, the starter didn’t fire the recall gun.

Foster, the world’s No. 1-ranked hurdler, was dominant. Nehemiah and Stewart were out fast, but Foster drew even by the second hurdle.

Then, he simply blew away the field while finishing strongly. Campbell was second in 7.54 and Nehemiah third in 7.59.

Foster raised his hands in jubiliation after beating his former nemesis, Nehemiah, who was returning to indoor track after an absence of almost five years. He had pursued a career in the NFL as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers.

When Nehemiah tried to congratulate Foster shortly after the race, the former UCLA hurdler seemed to brush him off.

Part of a crowd of 13,261, in the north end of the Sports Arena, booed Foster for apparently slighting his rival.

“It was a rude acceptance of my congratulation wishes,” Nehemiah said. “I heard the jeers. I never would do that to anyone.”

Foster said he wasn’t aware that Nehemiah was trying to congratulate him and that he wasn’t intentionally rude in the bedlam that followed the race.

As for the apparent false start, Foster said: “Milan felt he false-started, and I thought I false-started. But I’ve given up on worrying about false starts.

“I lost a gold medal (in the 1984 Olympics) because I thought I false-started and I’m not going to lose another race because of it. It’s the starter’s responsibility to call us back. If he doesn’t, am I supposed to lose another race because of it?”

Kingdom, who beat out Foster for the gold in the 110-meter high hurdles at the Olympics, said he thought the race was going to be recalled. So he eased up a bit coming out of the blocks.

“I hesitated at the first hurdle, and everybody went by me,” Kingdom said. “As for the Nehemiah-Foster rivalry, that’s in the past. They’re not alone now.”

But Foster didn’t slow down for anyone, or anything. Even if it was a false start, the hurdlers all seemed to come out of the blocks at about the same time. So no one seemed to have a clear advantage.

In any event, Foster blasted the former record of 7.47 seconds set by Canada’s Mark McKoy in the 1986 indoor season.

Except for an outdoor race last August in Italy, Nehemiah has had a long absence from track and field.

He is still the world record-holder at 110 meters in 12.93. No other hurdler has ever been under 13 seconds, and no one in the world ran faster than 13.20 last year.

It was only Foster’s second victory over Nehemiah indoors in a rivalry that began in 1978. Nehemiah has won 10 of 13 indoor races from Foster with one dead-heat.

In fact, Foster hadn’t beaten Nehemiah indoors since Jan. 7, 1978, in a meet in Long Beach.

Nehemiah has also been dominant outdoors with 18 wins to Foster’s 4 in head-to-head meetings.

The Foster-Nehemiah confrontation was the most significant event of the evening as the pole vault competition fizzled.

Joe Dial won with a modest effort of 18 feet 4 inches as Billy Olson, the American indoor record-holder at 19-5 1/2, failed to clear his opening height of 17-8 1/2.

The Americans certainly didn’t provide the Soviet Union’s Sergei Bubka with any anxiety pains. Bubka improved his own world indoor record to 19-6 1/2 Thursday at Osaka, Japan.

Other highlights:

--Steve Scott was presumably the class of the mile field, but the American indoor record-holder at 3:51.8 finished fourth. Canada’s David Campbell was the surprise winner in the pedestrian time of 3:59.4. However, it was an exciting race as Campbell’s surge in the last few strides was enough to beat Mark Fricker, who almost stole the race with his front-running tactics. --Al Joyner, the Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump, won the event at 55-3 3/4. He was making a comeback after concentrating in recent years on the hurdles. Mike Conley, ranked No. 1 in the world in 1986, was second at 54-9.

--Johnny Gray, the world indoor-record holder at 1,000 yards, didn’t finish the race. He was cut off at about the 300-yard mark and dropped out. Stanley Redwine went on to win in 2:07.3.

--Valerie Brisco-Hooks had to surge in the last few yards to barely beat LaWanda Cabell in the women’s 440. Cabell was on the verge of a major upset running against the three-time Olympic gold medalist.

--Doug Padilla, the American indoor record-holder in the two-mile at 8:15.3, didn’t threaten his mark. He won in the time of 8:40.17.

--Doug Nordquist, the No. 3-ranked high jumper in the world last year, beat No. 2-ranked Jimmy Howard. Nordquist cleared 7-6 1/2. Howard settled for 7-4 1/2.

Track Notes

Jackie Joyner-Kersee won the women’s long jump with a leap of 21 feet 11 3/4 inches. It was a meet record but almost a foot behind her American indoor record of 22-10 1/2 . . . Renaldo Nehemiah said that neither Greg Foster nor Roger Kingdom were students of the hurdles and didn’t concentrate on technique. “He might be right,” Kingdom said, smiling. “But my technique got me a gold medal and it will keep me in (the event).” . . . Stanley Floyd, a former world class sprinter making a comeback, won the 60-meter dash in 6.65 seconds. He was second in the 50-meter dash behind Harvey Glance, who had a winning time of 5.74 seconds.

Nehemiah says Foster “reacted rudely.” Ross Newhan’s story, Page 8.