TRACK AND FIELD / JENNER MEET : Barnes Aims for New Mark in Shotput

When Randy Barnes broke the world record in the shotput last Sunday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, he said it wasn’t a “dream throw.”

He said he believes he can surpass his world record of 75 feet 10 1/4 inches, and he will get that opportunity today in the Bruce Jenner meet at San Jose City College.

Barnes said he had a practice throw of 79-2 1/2 a few days before the meet at UCLA. He is the first American to hold the world shotput record since Terry Albritton in 1976.

The Jenner meet was to have included two top Cuban athletes--Javier Sotomayor, the world record-holder in the high jump at 8 feet, and Ana Quirot, top-ranked in the world in 1989 in the women’s 400 and 800 meters. But the Cuban Athletics Federation, which had earlier agreed with TAC, the U.S. track and field governing body, to have the athletes travel from Brazil to San Jose to compete in the meet, said Friday that the U.S. State Department denied visas for the athletes. State Department officials said the visas were authorized Friday. The athletes instead went to compete in Spain.

Others who will compete include Hollis Conway, the American record-holder in the high jump at 7-10; Tony Dees, a sprinter-hurdler, and Algeria’s Nourredine Morceli, who will compete at 3,000 meters.