Track and Field Roundup : Lewis Wins 57th Straight Long Jump at 26-9

Carl Lewis won his 57th straight long jump competition Saturday night with a leap of 26 feet 9 inches in the Houston Chronicle Indoor Games.

Lewis, the indoor world record-holder at 28-10 1/4, beat University of Houston junior Leroy Burrell, who jumped 26-6 1/4.

Burrell was a surprise winner of the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.09 seconds in a field that included world record-holder Lee McRae and 200-meter Olympic gold medal winner Joe DeLoach, who finished third.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, world record-holder in the women’s pentathlon, won the women’s 55-meter hurdles in 7.46 seconds.

Randy Barnes, the Olympic silver medalist in the shotput, won his specialty with a throw of 70 feet 2 1/2 inches. His U.S. record is 74-6.

Kevin Robinzine, who won an Olympic gold medal as part of the 1,600-meter relay, finished third in the 400 meters, which was won by Mark Rowe in 47.86.

Other winners were Jim Howard of the Mazda Track Club in the high jump with a leap of 7-5 3/4 and Brian Abshire of Athletics West in the mile run with a time of 4:03.55.

In women’s competition, Gail Devers-Roberts of the World Class Track Club won the 55-meter dash in 6.74 seconds, Sandra Farmer-Patrick won the 400-meter run in 55.06 and Essie Washington won the 800-meter run in 2:04.91.

At Johnson City, Tenn., Olympian Vicki Huber of Villanova beat 1984 gold medalist Maricica Puica of Romania to win the 3,000-meter run in the Kodak Invitational.

Huber’s time was 8:54.48, which was nearly 5 seconds off Brenda Webb’s meet record of 8:49.90, set last year.

Puica, who finished third in 9:11.61, appeared fatigued after the race.

Puica hasn’t run well this indoor season, having finishing fourth in an 800 at Ottawa and second in a 1,000 at Sherbrooke, Canada.

The women’s high jump showdown, between 1988 U.S. gold medalist Louise Ritter and Romania’s Galina Astafei, didn’t materialize when Ritter pulled out of the meet because of a strained knee.

Astafei, who finished fifth in the 1988 Olympic high jump, won the Kodak competition with an indoor personal best of 6 feet 4 3/4 inches.

Ritter, who won the Olympic gold with a U.S. record of 6-8, told meet director Dave Walker that her physician advised her not to jump Saturday.