Coghlan Becomes Own Rabbit, Breaks Record

Steve Scott said earlier in the week that if Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan was serious about breaking Scott’s world 2,000-meter indoor record, he would have to do it by himself.

So Coghlan took Scott at his word Friday night in The Times/GTE Indoor Games at the Forum. He took charge of the race about 100 yards past the half-mile mark and went on to win in the impressive time of 4 minutes 54.07 seconds.

Coghlan, who is known as the Chairman of the Boards, is accustomed to trailing the pack in a mile and then stealing the race with a withering kick in the last 60 to 80 yards.

But the 34-year-old Coghlan reversed the tactics in the 2,000, which is equivalent to a mile and a quarter. He just increased his lead, lap after lap, and smashed Scott’s previous record of 4:58.6

A crowd of 12,438 was with the popular Irishman all the way, urging him on. So Coghlan now holds three indoor world records--mile, 1,500 meters and 2,000.

“It was one of Eamonn’s top three races ever,” said Marty Liquori, the former world-class miler from Villanova.

That’s praise indeed considering that Coghlan, also from Villanva, has plenty of accomplishments to choose from over the years.

It was evident at the mile mark that the other runners were just running for second. Coghlan came through the mile in 3:59.3 and had the race in hand.

Doug Padilla kicked, but too late, and was second in 4:59.78, while Paul Donovan was third in 5:00.55. Scott, the previous record-holder, could only salvage fourth in 5:03.74.

It’s estimated that Coghlan ran his last quarter in 56 seconds, so he was still full of run despite setting the pace for most of the race.

“When I went through the half in 2:02, I said to myself, ‘This is too slow. I’m going for the record myself,’ ” Coghlan said. I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to take the intiative.’ If someone breaks the record, they’re going to have to beat me.”

Some people theorized that Coghlan was washed up last year when he failed to win an indoor race. He said he was weakened by a diet called, “Eat to Win.”

“And I lost,” Coghlan said wryly.

But Coghlan went back to his regular training regimen this season--without any drastic diet--and he’s seemingly as sharp as ever.

He has now won five indoor races this season with the prospect of winning some more, including the 3,000, or 1,500 in the World indoor meet March 6-8 at Indianapolis.

With Coghlan staying out of the mile, his countryman, Marcus O’Sullivan, won in Coghlan’s usual style. It seemed that Spain’s Jose Abascal was on his way to a certain victory after moving away from the field at the half-mile point.

But O’Sullivan kept on coming and just barely ran down Abascal, winning in 3:56.92. Abascal was timed in 3:56.95, with Jim Spivey third in 3:59.54.

Ireland’s Frank O’Mara finished ahead of Spivey, but he was disqualified.

It was O’Sullivan’s first victory this season. He had been chasing Coghlan previously. It was a turnaround from 1986, when O’Sullivan, another Villanova graduate, was unbeaten indoors.

Ramona Pagel got the meet off to an auspicious start when she destroyed the American indoor shotput record. Pagel, 25, broke the record on four of her throws, with a best of 65 feet 3/4 inches. Maren Seidler held the old record of 61-2, set in 1978. Helena Fibingerova of Czechoslovakia is the world indoor record-holder at 73-10.

After Pagel’s performance, Romania’s Vali Ionescu, a late entry in the women’s triple jump, set a world indoor record of 45-8 1/2, breaking the mark of 44-6 3/4 held by Galina Chistyakova of the Soviet Union.

And Greg Foster, the former UCLA star, set an American indoor record in the 60-meter hurdles. He did it the hard way, after a bad start.

Foster’s winning time of 7.48 seconds was only one-hundredth of a second slower than Mark McKoy’s world record.

Foster made a remarkable comeback after being literally left in the blocks. He was hesitant to get out fast after a false start.

However, he caught up with a vengeance, overhauling McKoy in the last five meters and winning on his lean.

Foster has a faster time, his world record of 7.36 established in the Sunkist Invitational Jan. 16. But there was considerable controversy over this race because of false starts by the finalists. So the record may not be accepted.

“The only reason I set a record (tonight) probably is that I was so far behind,” Foster said. “If I had been out front, I may not have been as fast. In fact, I might have eased up and lost.

“I’m happy with the way I came back, but it was a terrible start. After the false start, I knew I had to hold back a little bit, but I held back too long. I should have forgotten about it and reacted to the gun. I was literally looking at people’s backs over the first three hurdles.”

Not only did Pagel establish new American indoor records on four of her throws, she also surpassed her own American women’s outdoor shotput record of 62-9.

Pagel, who stands 5-11 and weighs 180 pounds, formerly attended Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State.

“My first throw is usually safe, but, when I broke it (record) on the the first throw, I got confident,” she said. “My technique is basically the same as last year. I’m just a year more refined.”

Pagel said that she relies more on technique than sheer strength.

Only the earlybirds in the crowd saw Pagel get off her record throw. It was the same for Ionescu, who broke the indoor record on her second jump at 44-8 and then improved to 45-8 1/2.

In other events:

--Earl Bell won the pole vault in a jump-off with Brad Pursley. The winning height was 18-8.

--Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a double winner, taking the 60-meter hurdles in 8.17 seconds and the long jump at 22-0 3/4.

--Jimmy Howard won the high jump at 7-7 and then missed three times at an American-record height of 7-9.

--Romania’s Maricica Puica won the women’s mile in 4:33.74 but didn’t challenge Mary Decker Slaney’s world indoor record of 4:20.5.

And, the martyrs of the meet would have to be the men’s shotputters. Their competition was called off after seven throws because the implements were putting ugly dents into the track.