Conley Breaks Mark in Triple Jump : Only Early-Bird Fans See Him Leap 58-3 to Defeat Soviet

Two jumpers, East Germany’s Heike Drechsler and the United States’ Mike Conley, set world records Friday in the USA/Mobil Indoor Track and Field Championships at Madison Square Garden, but there were few eyewitnesses.

The standing ovation the two athletes thought they received actually was a guy going out for a soft drink.

Drechsler broke her own world record in the long jump by 1 inches, almost landing outside of the pit with a jump of 24-0 1/2 . But by an unofficial count, there were only 157 people in Madison Square Garden Friday afternoon to see it.

Anticipating a small crowd, someone asked her the other day whether she had ever jumped before so few.

“Only in training,” Drechsler said.

When the triple jump began later in the afternoon, there were approximately 300 people there to see Conley jump 58-3 and break the previous record of 57-11 3/4 held by Oleg Protsenko of the Soviet Union.

With the evening came a more respectable crowd of 15,859, but most of those fans are likely to remember this meet more for its failures than its successes.

Carl Lewis, never a great indoor sprinter because of his slow start but usually good enough, finished third in 6.19 seconds in the 55 meters behind the University of Pittsburgh’s Lee McRae (6.14) and Santa Monica Track Club teammate Mark Witherspoon (6.16).

As a result, Lewis did not qualify for the U.S. team it the first World Indoor Championships next week at Indianapolis. The first two American finishers in each event here earned berths in that meet.

Also failing to qualify was pole vaulter Billy Olson, who did not clear a height. He failed three times at 18-1.

He was in good company Friday night as the Soviet Union’s Sergei Bubka, the world record-holder, also was grounded. He missed three times at 18-9.

Bubka, however, will be in Indianapolis. This was not a qualifying meet for foreign athletes.

Also losing Friday night was Valerie Brisco, who won the first race in the 200 meters in 23.58 seconds but did not have as fast a time as second-race winner Grace Jackson of Jamaica (23.51).

It was not a memorable night for U.S. women. Even though this is the national indoor meet, foreign athletes won all but two of the 11 women’s events. American men fared considerably better, winning 10 of 14 events.

This also was the last meet of the indoor Grand Prix season. World Class Athletic Club teammates and former UCLA All-Americans Greg Foster and Jackie Joyner-Kersee won the overall championships. Foster earned $13,000, while Joyner earned more than $14,000.

Foster remained undefeated this year with his eighth victory in the high hurdles, but this was not one of his better days.

He had problems with a sore arch during the afternoon, barely making the 55-meter hurdle finals with a third-place finish in the semifinals after he ran through the final hurdle and shattered it.

While practicing his start for the finals Friday night, he suffered a cramp in his left arch and collapsed on the track.

The start of the race was delayed five minutes while he was treated. In the race, he came from behind to run 6.99 and beat France’s Stephane Caristan (7.01) and Canada’s Mark McKoy (7.03) and collapsed again with another cramp.

“It’s not so much because of the money, but I’ve always wanted to win the Grand Prix,” Foster said. “My mother wanted the big crystal dish they used to give to the winners. Billy Olson let her look at it one year.

“I don’t know if they still give it away. If they do, I’ll give it to my sister.”

Foster’s mother died in an automobile accident two years ago.

Joyner-Kersee was the fastest American Friday night in the women’s 55-meter hurdles at 7.64, but she finished third overall behind East Germany’s Cornelia Oschkenat (7.37) and Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova (7.49).

Oschkenat initially was credited with a world record time of 7.22 in the semifinals Friday afternoon, but it was later revised to 7.48 because of a malfunction in the automatic timing system. American Stephanie Hightower, who finished fourth here, has the world best of 7.36.

Oschkenat’s East German teammate, Drechsler, is considered by some to be the equal of Joyner-Kersee, the heptathlon world record holder, as an athlete.

Drechsler, 22, holds the world record in the long jump indoors and outdoors and shares the 200 meter record outdoors. She plans to compete in three events (long jump, 200 and 4x100 relay) this summer at the outdoor world championships in Rome and four (100, 200, long jump and 4x100 relay) in the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Still, she was somewhat surprised by her performance Friday because she was having difficulty with her spikes, which she said were not suited for the wooden track.

It helped when she put tape on the bottom of her shoes to get better traction.

“I want to say at the outset that no springs were installed,” she said.

After jumping 57-7 3/4 on his final attempt in the triple jump, Protsenko was so confident he had won that he left the building and walked across the street to his hotel.

Conley not only beat him with his final jump of 58-3 1/4, he also broke Protsenko’s world record.

“I had to jump out of the pit because Protsenko almost did,” said Conley, formerly of the Univeristy of Arkansas. “I knew it was a record because I saw the end of the pit right under my toes.”

Conley, who won both the triple jump and the long jump in this meet the last two years, finished sixth Friday night in the long jump.

The long jump pit is where Lewis was headed after his loss here.

“My indoor season is over, which is good for me,” said Lewis, who won only three of six races this winter and lost three times to McRae.

“My coach (Tom Tellez) wouldn’t let me start long jumping until the indoor season was over. I’ve been itching to get out there. I can start Tuesday.”

Asked if he was disappointed about not going to Indianapolis, he said: “No, no, no, I don’t feel that way at all. I’m just looking forward to the outdoors.”