Track and Field Championships : Frederick Forced Out by Injury, and Tarr Scores Heptathlon Win

Sheila Tarr, taking advantage of the absence of injured Jane Frederick, won the heptathlon with a career-best performance Thursday night in the Mobil Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Tarr, the 1984 NCAA champion from Nevada Las Vegas, completed the two-day, seven-event competition with 5,881 points, 20 more than runner-up Cathey Tyree.

Despite surpassing her previous high of 5,855 points, set last year, Tarr’s total was the lowest in the national championships since 1981, when the event was changed from the pentathlon to the heptathlon.

In Thursday night’s only other final at the University of Tampa’s Pepin-Rood Stadium, Carol Urish-Mclatchie, 36, won the women’s 10,000 meters in 34 minutes 25.29 seconds.

Frederick, who amassed a 355-point lead during Wednesday’s first four events of the heptathlon, withdrew during Thursday’s first event.

After making only one attempt in the long jump and going just 15 feet, Frederick limped off the field in pain with a jammed left knee and a strained left hamstring.

“It’s not worth the risk,” said Frederick, who was seeking her 10th national heptathlon title. “I have to be very careful.”

Frederick, 36, wants to be ready for next month’s U.S. Olympic Trials at Indianapolis.