TRACK AND FIELD NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Keshmiri, Walder Win Again

Outspoken Kamy Keshmiri of Nevada won his third consecutive NCAA discus title and Arkansas long jumper Erick Walder added the outdoor title to his indoor title Friday, with both setting meet and stadium or field records.

George Mason’s Istvan Bagyula also made meet history, winning his third consecutive pole vault championship and his sixth overall, including three indoors--more than any competitor in history. He also tied the meet record.

Keshmiri, the fourth thrower in meet history to win three consecutive discus titles and the first since John Van Reenen of Washington State completed a triple in 1970, won with a heave of 220 feet.

The toss was short of Keshmiri’s collegiate record of 232-5, the best in the world this year, set at Salinas on May 27. But it smashed the meet record of 218-5 he set last year and the Clark Field mark of 218-3 established by Ken Stadel in 1977.

Walder, a sophomore who has blossomed this year after a lackluster freshman season, leaped 27-9 1/2, erasing the NCAA meet record of 27-5 1/2, set by Leroy Burrell of Houston in 1989.

Walder’s performance equaled the second-best legal jump in the world this year, by world record-holder Mike Powell. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis is the world leader at 28-1.

All three, however, have farther wind-aided jumps. Powell has gone 29-2 1/2, Lewis 28-7 1/2 and Walder a career-best 28-1 3/4.

Walder won the NCAA indoor long jump and triple jumps titles at Indianapolis in March, joining former world long jump record-holder Bob Beamon of Texas El Paso and former Arkansas star Mike Conley, the 1984 Olympic triple jump silver medalist, as the only jumpers to accomplish that feat. Walder will be vying for the outdoor triple jump title today.

Bagyula, the silver medalist at last year’s World Championships at Tokyo, cleared 19-0 1/4, matching the meet record he set last year. Only four vaulters have won three consecutive outdoor titles, the last being Earl Bell of Arkansas State (1975-77).

Keshmiri overcame swirling winds in recording the fifth-best collegiate mark in history--behind his four best throws at Salinas, all of which exceeded 220.

“It was not an ideal wind,” Djalal-Ali, his father and coach, said. “I don’t know who in the world could have thrown that far with that wind. It was not good at all.

“I thought he did tremendous.”

In spite of his impressive performance, which also included throws of 212-11 and 210, the second- and third-best in the competition, Keshmiri said he did not consider himself the best in the world.

“I’m one of the three or five best,” he said.

Keshmiri, who transferred to Nevada Reno from UCLA, reiterated his caustic comments toward The Athletics Congress, track and field’s national governing body, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, claiming they do little to help the athletes, opinions he had expressed after Wednesday’s qualifying.

And he said again he might retire at the end of the year at the tender age of 23 while at his peak, because of his displeasure with the sport’s hierarchy.

As for his performance, Keshmiri said, “I basically tried to train through this meet and not worry about my injuries. My training is geared for the Olympic trials and the Olympic Games. I was here to have a good time, and I did.”

“If I have a day like today, I will make the team easily at the trials (June 19-28 at New Orleans),” he said. “And 220 could even win a medal at the Games.”