Track and Field Invitational at UCLA : Athletes Hope to Get Jump on Action in Last U.S. Outdoor Meet

The U.S. outdoor track and field season ends today at UCLA’s Drake Stadium with the Jack in the Box Invitational, featuring the high jump and a hyped jump.

Neither would have been nearly so anticipated without two world-class performers, Javier Sotomayor and Al Franken.

Even though he has been the world record-holder for almost a year, Sotomayor, 21, was not widely known outside the sport until last Saturday.

Then he emerged as the most famous Cuban other than the man with the beard and the green combat fatigues by becoming the first person to clear eight feet in the high jump in a meet at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In his first competition since, he will jump against two of the top three rated Americans, Hollis Conway and Brian Stanton.

Less than 24 hours after Sotomayor’s historic jump, Conway, the 1988 Summer Olympic silver medalist from Lafayette, La., broke his own American record by jumping 7-10 in the U.S. Olympic Festival at Norman, Okla.

As for Franken, he may not be the world’s most effective promoter when it comes to attracting a lot of big names to his meets. That was particularly true with this meet, which begins at 4 p.m. and will be televised live by ESPN beginning at 5.

Forget the Europeans and the Africans, who seldom compete in the United States during the summer. Because they were otherwise committed, he was unable to reach agreements with U.S. Olympic stars such as Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Evelyn Ashford, Steve Lewis, Joe DeLoach, Butch Reynolds and Danny Everett. And injuries conspired to cost him Mary Slaney, Greg Foster and Dawn Sowell.

Nevertheless, no promoter in the world is more talked about than Franken.

He attracted attention to himself, and thus to his sponsor, this year by offering $500,000 to the first man today who can break Bob Beamon’s 21-year-old long jump record of 29 feet 2 1/2 inches. He stipulated the “first man,” as if there might be two or three.

Actually, SCA Promotions, Inc. of Dallas agreed to make the payments over a 20-year period after Franken paid a premium, which became smaller when Carl Lewis, who has more 28-foot jumps than anyone else, decided not to compete.

That was insulting to Mike Powell and Larry Myricks, who will compete. They are not without credentials.

Myricks, the 1988 Summer Olympic bronze medalist, won the national championship this year with a jump of 28-6 1/2, his second-best ever.

Powell, the silver medalist at Seoul, finished second at the nationals with a wind-aided 27-11 1/2 and had a foul that he said was measured at better than 29 feet. A long foul in the long jump counts the same as in baseball.

Both Myricks and Powell, however, say they are capable of breaking the record today. But even if they cannot, it already is a mission accomplished for Franken, who was able at least to start people talking about his meet because of the challenge.

At least one European promoter, Rudi Thiel of West Berlin, has said he might try a similar ploy, even though the sport there, unlike the United States, is flourishing.

Other events of note:

Men’s 110-Meter High Hurdles

Two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom, taking a break from his European duels with Great Britain’s Colin Jackson, races 1988 bronze medalist Tonie Campbell. Foster withdrew last week with an injury.

Men’s Shotput

In the field are all three U.S. Olympians from 1988, among them silver medalist Randy Barnes. The last time Barnes threw in Los Angeles, he set an indoor world record in the Sunkist Invitational.

3,000-Meter Steeplechase

With Henry Marsh’s retirement, the top-ranked Americans are Brian Diemer and Brian Abshire Both are entered in this race.

Men’s 400 Meters

There is an Olympic champion in this race.

But because Andre Phillips won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, not the open 400, he is not favored to beat the world’s fifth-ranked quarter-miler, Cuba’s Roberto Hernandez.

Men’s 800 Meters

Ranked second in the world last year to Morocco’s Said Aouita, Johnny Gray runs against sixth-ranked Jose Luis Barbosa of Brazil.

Men’s Mile

Steve Scott, fifth in the Olympic 1,500, races Jeff Atkinson, who finished first last year in the U.S. Olympic trials, and Terrance Herrington, who beat both at this year’s nationals.

Women’s 800 Meters

No one is expected to push Cuba’s Ana Quirot, who was ranked first in the world last year.

Women’s Mile

Olympian PattiSue Plumer has had the best year of her life, breaking Slaney’s U.S. record in the 5,000 meters and beating some of the world’s best middle-distance runners, including Romania’s Paula Ivan, the Olympic 1,500-meter champion.

But this distance might better suit Suzy Favor, a three-time NCAA champion from Wisconsin at 1,500 meters.

A strong field also includes Darcy Arreola from Cal State Northridge.