U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS : Joyner-Kersee Facing Her Fear : Competition: She wins heptathlon but can’t forget the place on the track where she suffered a torn hamstring.

For the third consecutive time in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, Jackie Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon Sunday. But that was never in doubt for the world record-holder.

Between now and the Olympics, she will face the greater challenge of overcoming a tenacious new opponent--fear.

Joyner-Kersee, 30, was considered virtually invincible until last year, when she suffered a torn hamstring while attempting to defend her title in the seven-event heptathlon in the World Championships at Tokyo. She has complained that she cannot erase the memory of the moment that she was injured.

She had one of her frequent flashbacks Saturday in the 200 meters, at the same spot on the track where she collapsed last year. She raised her hands to brace for a fall, then resumed stride when she realized that she felt no pain.

“Her ghost tapped her on the shoulder,” said her husband and coach, Bob Kersee.

Although she returned to Tad Gormley Stadium on Sunday to easily win with 6,695 points, she struggled with the 93-degree temperature and the pain--real or imagined--as she compiled her lowest score since 1985.

“It’s all in her head,” Kersee said when his wife complained of a twisted ankle after her first attempt in the day’s first event, the long jump. “She’s not pushing herself. She’s afraid.”

After she fouled on her second attempt, Kersee told her to quit and start preparing for the next event, the javelin throw.

It proved to be a successful application of reverse psychology, because a defiant Joyner-Kersee remained in the competition and won the long jump on her third and final attempt at 22 feet 10 3/4 inches.

But that exchange set the tone for the afternoon.

At one point, Joyner-Kersee told her coach, “Get off my back.”

“You need me on your back,” he said.

They were both in a better mood at the end of the day, but Kersee acknowledged that he is concerned that his wife will not be mentally prepared to win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in fewer than five weeks at Barcelona. The reigning world champion, Germany’s Sabine Braun, has scored 6,985 points in a meet this year.

“Until she learns to relax, she’s not going to live up to her athletic ability,” Kersee said. “It’s an addiction. Until you admit you have it, you can’t get help. Right now, she’s addicted to fear.”

While the Kersees were bickering, hardly a new phenomenon for them at a meet, another couple was planning a second honeymoon for Barcelona. Hurdlers Sandra Farmer-Patrick and David Patrick became the first husband-wife combination to make the U.S. Olympic team in track and field since Harold and Olga Connolly in 1960.

Both Patricks had chances to make the team in 1988, but he was fourth in the trials, one place removed from qualifying, and she, the favorite to win, was disqualified for running out of her lane.

He guaranteed that he would not be left out this time when he finished second to a former NCAA champion from UCLA, Kevin Young, who won the 400 intermediate hurdles in 47.89 seconds, fastest in the world this year. Patrick’s 48.01 is the second-fastest time this year.

Farmer-Patrick ran the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 400 hurdles, a meet record 53.62, to win over NCAA champion Tonja Buford of the University of Illinois, who was second in 54.75, and former UCLA standout Janeene Vickers, who was third in 54.80.

While watching her husband, moments after she crossed the finish line, Farmer-Patrick said she told herself, “if he makes the team, that’s the only way it would make up for ’88. I just broke down in tears when he made it.”

This will be the second Olympics for Farmer-Patrick, who finished eighth while competing for Jamaica in 1984.

Another athlete who made the U.S. team who had some loyalties to another country was Tom Pukstys of Hickory Hills, Ill., who finished first in the javelin with a meet-record throw of 262-5.

Pukstys was introduced to the javelin in 1981 while visiting Lithuania, where his parents were born. His brother, a medical student in Vilnius, had a roommate who taught Pukstys how to throw. Because javelins are not allowed in Illinois high school competition, he returned to Lithuania in later years to train with throwers there. He is eligible to compete for Lithuania because of his heritage, but said Saturday that his first priority was to make the U.S. team.

The third-place finisher in the javelin throw, Brian Crouser of Troutdale, Ore., was diagnosed as having testicular cancer less than two years ago. Because his treatment included injections of testosterone, a banned substance in track and field, he failed to report for a drug test for fear of failing and was suspended. But when he explained his circumstances 18 months later, during his appeal in March to the sport’s national governing body, he was reinstated.

Another new member of the U.S. team who did not think she had a chance a few months ago was Julie Jenkins, who was favored to win the 800 meters in last year’s national championships before being hit by a van on a midtown Manhattan street while on her way to the track for her first-round race.

She suffered a herniated disk, which required surgery last December.

“At the beginning of April, I was ready to quit,” she said. “It hurt too much.” But she persisted and finished second Sunday in the 800 meters in 1:59.15.

“I was hurting down the stretch,” she said, “but I kept reminding myself, ‘No pain, no Spain.’ ”

Joetta Clark, whose father, Joe, was the bat-wielding, New Jersey high school principal featured in the movie “Lean On Me,” won in 1:58.47, the world’s best time this year.

But this is not Hollywood, and not all of the stories here Sunday had happy endings.

World champion Kenny Harrison failed to make the team in the triple jump, finishing sixth, and Willie Banks, who still has the world record that he set in 1985, finished eighth.

This was a chance for Banks, 36, to squeeze one last ounce of glory out of a career during which he became as appreciated for his showmanship as for his ability.

“I was just happy to see Willie here,” said Mike Conley, who finished second to Charlie Simpkins in the event. “He had a great competition, to be here at his age and to make it to the finals.”