Griffith-Joyner Is No Fluke : She Wins in 10.61; Moses Impressive in Hurdles

Florence Griffith-Joyner proved her world record in the women’s 100-meter dash was no fluke Sunday, and Edwin Moses and Mary Decker Slaney ran outstanding races in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

Griffith-Joyner, who broke the world record Saturday with an astonishing time of 10.49 seconds, produced the second- and third-fastest times Sunday in the semifinals and final.

First, she won her semifinal heat in 10.70, then she took the final in 10.61.

There was much controversy over her performance Saturday, because the wind gauge showed an uncharacteristic 0.00 reading. At the same time, the wind reading at the triple jump area was over the allowable 2.0 meters per second for record consideration.

There was no dispute Sunday.

In the semifinals, the wind was an allowable 1.6 and in the final, it was 1.2.

In both races, Griffith-Joyner broke quickly out of the blocks, accelerated in mid-race and pulled away from the field.

In the semifinals, she beat Evelyn Ashford, who had held the world record of 10.76 for five years before it was obliterated Saturday. Ashford, the 1984 Olympic champion, was second in 10.85.

Griffith-Joyner’s margin over Ashford was even larger in the final, with the former world record-holder second in 10.81.

“The 10.60 felt the best of all,” Griffith-Joyner said, “because it (the 100 competition) was all over.”

She still has the 200 to run, however.

“The 200’s my better race, and I’m going for a record,” she said. “I was ready for these trials. I was packed two weeks ago.”

Gwen Torrence, the 1987 Pan American Games gold medalist, got the final spot on the Olympic team, finishing third in 10.91.

In the 400 hurdles, Moses, 32, the oldest of the eight finalists, showed he still has not lost his flawless technique.

He seized the lead quickly and held it throughout, scoring his 173rd victory in 181 hurdles races.

His time of 47.37 equalled the fastest time in the world this year, the seventh-fastest in history and was the fastest ever run in the United States, breaking the mark of 47.45 Moses had run on June 11, 1977.

For Moses, the world record-holder at 47.02 and the 1976 and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, it was the fourth consecutive time he had made the Olympic team.

Andre Phillips, the world’s No. 1-ranked hurdler in 1985 and 1986, finished second in 47.58, and two-time National Collegiate Athletic Assn. champion Kevin Young of UCLA edged David Patrick and Danny Harris for third and the final spot on the team.

Young was timed in 47.72, his career best, with Patrick fourth in 47.75, also his personal best, and Harris fifth in 47.76.

It was the first time that more than three hurdlers had broken 48 seconds in the same race.

Young, 21, had high praise for Moses.

“He’s vulnerable, but the time hasn’t come,” Young said.

Slaney, the 1983 world champion in the women’s 1,500 and 3,000 meters, won the 3,000 in 8:42.53, after a spirited duel with Vicki Huber of Villanova.

Huber, who ran side-by-side with Slaney for a long stretch late in the race before fading on the final lap, finished second in 8:46.48, better than the collegiate record of 8:47.35 she set at the NCAA Championships in June.

There was a tense struggle for third between PattiSue Plumer and Sabrina Dornhoefer.

The two were running together down the final straightaway until the exhausted Dornhoefer fell about 10 meters from the finish.

Plumer then staggered across the finish line and quickly collapsed. Dornhoefer got up and made it across the finish line, but then she also collapsed.

Both Plumer and Dornhoefer were treated at trackside, then carried off on stretchers.

Plumer and Dornhoefer were later reported in good condition after receiving treatment.

For Slaney, gaining another Olympic berth will give her a chance to redeem herself for the celebrated collision she had with Zola Budd during the 3,000 in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Slaney, 29, was too young to compete in the trials for the 1972 Games. In 1976, she was injured, and in 1980, she was a victim of the U.S.-led boycott against the Moscow Olympics.

“I thought about the ’88 Olympics within three hours of ‘84,” Slaney said. “When I got back to the hotel from the hospital (following treatment for a hip injury after the collision with Budd), the next Olympic trials was the first thing on my mind.”

Asked what she would like to do in the Seoul Games, Slaney replied, “At this point, just crossing the finish line will be an improvement over 1984.”

In another final Sunday, Dave Stephens won the men’s javelin with a toss of 261 feet 4 inches on his final attempt.

Brian Crouser and U.S. record-holder Tom Petranoff earned the other two places on the team, each throwing 260-8.

One world record was broken Sunday, as Steve Lewis, a 19-year-old UCLA freshman, cracked the world junior mark for the men’s 400 meters, clocking 44.61 in his second-round heat.

Lewis had held the old mark of 44.65, which he had run twice this year.

The victory moved Lewis into tonight’s semifinals, along with Butch Reynolds, the 1987 World Championship bronze medalist, who had the fastest time in Sunday’s quarterfinals, 44.54.

The other heat winners in the 400 were national champion Danny Everett of UCLA in 44.64 and Clarence Daniel in 44.75.

Meanwhile, Carl Lewis, the 1984 Olympic champion, easily qualified for tonight’s final in the men’s long jump, clearing a wind-aided 27-0 3/4 on his first attempt.

Lewis, winner of four gold medals in the ’84 Games, already has won the 100 during these trials, in a wind-aided 9.78.

In the long jump qualifying, he had the second-best jump, behind Mike Powell’s wind-aided 27-8.

Valerie Brisco, winner of three gold medals in the ’84 Games, reached Monday night’s final of the women’s 400, finishing second in her semifinal heat.

Arizona State freshman Maicel Malone won the heat in 50.96, with Denean Howard taking the other semifinal in 50.92, just ahead of 1984 Olympian Lillie Leatherwood, second in 50.96.

Another 1984 Olympian, Kim Gallagher, had the fastest time, 2:00.62, in the women’s 800 semifinals. Debbie Marshall won the other heat in 2:01.95.