TRACK AND FIELD TAC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS : After Breaking Record, 80-Foot Shotput Looks Closer to Barnes

After breaking the world shotput record last month with a toss of 75 feet 10 1/4 inches, Randy Barnes takes aim at the 80-foot barrier in the USA/Mobil National Championships today at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

“There’s no question that an 80-foot throw is much more believable now,” Barnes said. “It’s not really a question of if, but when.”

After opening the 1990 outdoor season with a toss of 73-1 1/4, Barnes set the record in a meet at UCLA, becoming the first American in 14 years to hold the mark. He nearly broke the record the next week with a toss of 75-9 1/2 at San Jose.

But Barnes said his world-record put wasn’t technically perfect, explaining: “My release wasn’t solid, but I got the record because I’m in such good shape.”

Most of the top athletes in American track and field are entered in the USA/Mobil meet, including Roger Kingdom and Carl Lewis. The meet is The Athletics Congress’ qualifier for the Goodwill Games in Seattle July 20-Aug. 5.

Kingdom, world record-holder in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 12.92 seconds, will seek his third consecutive national title.

“I want to break the world record again,” Kingdom told the Associated Press. “I’m not saying I’m going to get it, but I’m going to go after it.”

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Kingdom was named the sport’s top athlete last season. And he is off to a fast start this season, winning three races.

“The pressure is on my back,” Kingdom said. “I have to perform well all the time. And I have to set an example for everyone everywhere I go.

“I also have to make the fans happy wherever I compete. You can’t win them all, but you can put on a good show.”

Kingdom will be challenged by Renaldo Nehemiah, a former world record-holder, and Tony Dees, who has run 13.09 this season. Dees defeated Kingdom in the National Indoor Championships in New York last February.

“There are a lot of guys capable of taking the title, but they’re going to have to get it from me,” Kingdom said.

“I’m going to pose some stiff competition for them. I don’t worry about the opposition. If you stop and think about them, you’ll go nuts.”

He does worry about his technique. “I have to work on the first stage of the race, the first three hurdles, if I am to improve my time,” he said.

In the women’s field, Sheila Hudson of California, who won the long jump and triple jump in the NCAA championships earlier this month, will attempt to repeat the double in the TAC meet. She has long jumped 22-1 this season, the top score in the nation, and 46- 3/4 in the triple jump, an American record.

Hudson will be challenged by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who has jumped 21-10 3/4 this season.

In the decathlon, Dave Johnson fashioned a remarkable second-day comeback to win with the second-highest score ever by an American.

Johnson, 27, completed the grinding 10-event, two-day competition with a wind-aided score of 8,600 points, leading a group of seven over the 8,000-point barrier--the first time so many Americans exceeded that total in the same meet.

Johnson’s total trails only the record of 8,634, set by Bruce Jenner in winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.

“I’ve been training through this for the Goodwill Games,” Johnson said. “There’s no limit to what I can score.”

In the heptathlon final, Cindy Greiner, 33, won her second national title, finishing the seven-event, two-day competition with a wind-aided score of 6,262 points, only 35 points below her best. NCAA champion Gea Johnson of Arizona State was second with a wind-aided 6,135 points and Sharon Hainer third with 6,030.

Track Notes

Butch Reynolds, the world record-holder in the 400 meters, and four others were declared late entries Wednesday. They include: Jeff Reynolds (400), Olympic silver medalist Mike Powell (long jump), Joe Falcon (1,500) and women’s sprinter Gwen Torrence.