TRACK AND FIELD : Dees Wins, Fuels U.S. to Victory in Indoor Meet

Tony Dees equaled the second-fastest time of the year in the 60-meter high hurdles, leading the United States to victory over Britain and the Soviet Union in an indoor track and field meet Sunday.

Dees’ time of 7.46 seconds matched Greg Foster’s mark and was three-hundredths of a second off the year’s best of 7.43 by Britain’s Colin Jackson.

Jackson didn’t compete Sunday because of a hip injury and Dees took advantage. He led from the first hurdle in his final indoor race of the season.

“I didn’t expect to run that fast because I’ve been off for three weeks,” Dees said. “I only started training again when I got here. I strained my hamstring in our national championships.”

Dees, who has beaten Foster and two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom this season, said the indoor season was merely a stepping stone to his 1990 goal.

“I want Roger’s 110-meter outdoor world record,” Dees said. “Beating them all is no big thing now. It seems like everyone is trying to get a world record, and I’m part of that plan.”

Dees’ performance was the highlight of a low-key meet the Americans won with 121 points. Britain had 100, and the Soviet Union, using mostly second-stringers, had 93.

Michael Johnson, two-time national collegiate champion from Baylor, was upset in the 200-meter dash by Britain’s Marcus Adam, but was satisfied with his second-place time of 21.19.

“I’m not disappointed,” Johnson said. “The climax of my season was the national championships and the NCAA championships.

“I just came over to have a good time, but I feel like I did my best. Had I been in another lane, I may have run a faster time. Lane two gave me a lot of trouble on the first turn.”

Guy Kochel, coach of the U.S. team, said of Dees and Johnson: “Barring injury, you’re going to see great things from both of them. And not just those two. Our youngsters will be as good as what we’ve had in the past.”

The proof, he said, will come at the Barcelona Olympics.

“Everything we are doing this year is preparation for the 1992 Olympics,” Kochel said.

Olympic 100-meter silver medalist Linford Christie of Britain ended his indoor season by winning the 60-meter dash.

Christie, who missed the record by one-hundredth of a second at Athens recently, suffered a stomach illness Saturday and decided to run only at the last minute. After three false starts by other sprinters, Christie was timed in 6.59, nine-hundredths of a second off the record.

“I didn’t think I’d even make it to the track,” Christie said. “But the public paid a lot of money to watch me run.”