‘Overheated’ Lewis Has a Tough Time : Olympic trials: He advances to long-jump final but leaps only 26-8 1/2. Slaney finishes sixth in 3,000 final, more than 20 seconds behind Plumer.

Two of the country’s most celebrated track and field athletes struggled Monday night in the U.S. Olympic trials. Mary Slaney’s reasons were painfully obvious, but Carl Lewis’ remain a mystery. His coach speculated that perhaps Lewis, he of the recently shaved head, has stayed out in the sun too long without a hat.

It would be natural to think the same of Slaney considering that she is still running after an almost incalculable number of leg operations--she believes it is either 16 or 18.

The most recent was only 14 weeks ago, and her lack of conditioning showed in the final of the 3,000 meters at Tad Gormley Stadium. Although she characteristically charged into the early lead, she was not a factor after the first three laps and finished sixth in 9:02.60, more than 20 seconds behind winner PattiSue Plumer’s 8:40.98.

Afterward, Slaney, 33, seemed in good spirits, looking forward to the 1,500 meters later this week--her only other chance this year to earn a place on her fourth Olympic team--and even to the 1996 Summer Games at Atlanta, where she said that she hopes to compete in the 10,000.

“I’ve still got a lot of years to work on it,” said Slaney of the prospect of winning her first Olympic medal.

Lewis, meantime, was looking no further into the future than Wednesday, when he will compete in the long-jump final despite a difficult time in Monday night’s qualifications.

Two days after his stunning failure to make the U.S. team in the 100 meters, he was forced to take all three of his attempts in the long jump and never reached the automatic qualifying mark of 27-2 3/4. But because only two jumpers, world record-holder Mike Powell and Mike Conley, did, Lewis advanced to the final with a best-of-the-rest jump of 26-8 1/2.

Lewis’ coach, Tom Tellez, said that he does not believe the two-time Olympic long jump champion is injured, although he did suggest that perhaps Lewis was dehydrated over the weekend because of the intense heat and humidity here.

Although the conditions Monday night were almost pleasant--86 degrees, 52% humidity--for New Orleans in late June, Lewis confirmed that when he said: “I’m fine. I just got overheated the other day. It’s too hot. But I’m fine.”

Powell, who last summer erased Bob Beamon’s longstanding long-jump record, also has had problems recently, revealing Monday night that he resumed training only 2 1/2 weeks ago and did not jump until two days ago after suffering a hamstring injury at Modesto on May 16.

Terrible was the word he used to describe his jump of 27-5 1/4 here, but it was a relief to him because it came on his first attempt and allowed him to take off the rest of the night.

Plumer, who has emerged as the country’s best female middle-distance runner while pursuing a career as a labor lawyer at Palo Alto, also has been trying to overcome an injury.

Five years ago, she was hit by a taxi while crossing a street in Yokahama, Japan. Each February, on the anniversary of the accident, the driver sends her flowers. She considered it an amusing anecdote until last summer, when she finally began to suffer the consequences.

Doctors found three protruding disks in her lower back, which frequently cause her feet to numb and her calves to throb. But with four hours of physical therapy a day, five days a week, she has persevered, and Monday night she held off a persistent Shelly Steely in the stretch and recorded the second-fastest time in the world this year.

“This means more to me than anything I’ve ever done,” Plumer said. “I put it right before graduating from law school. I was so happy at the finish I lost a contact lens because of the tears.”

When the race ended, Steely joined the 13,902 spectators to watch her husband, Aaron Ramirez, also earn a plane ticket to Barcelona by finishing third in the 10,000. It was the second straight day that a married couple earned berths on the U.S. team. Sandra Farmer-Patrick and David Patrick each qualified Sunday in the intermediate hurdles.

While on the subject of families, Kamy Keshmeri, the three-time NCAA champion from Nevada Reno, became the second member of his to earn a place on an Olympic team in the discus throw. His father, Jalal, competed in 1968 at Mexico City for his native Iran.

Keshmeri, who competed one year for UCLA before transferring closer to his Reno home, had the world’s best throw entering the trials at 232-5. His best Monday was only 211-10, but it was far enough to beat runner-up Anthony Washington’s 207-8 and third-place Mike Buncic’s 207-6.

Keshmeri, 23, who has spent all of his life in the United States but has dual citizenship, almost decided to compete for Iran this year when the country’s track and field federation offered him “for a thrower, a very good amount” of money.

“I thought about it; I admit it,” he said. “But I love this country. It’s my country. If I get on the (victory) podium at Barcelona, I’d want to be listening to my own national anthem.

“Besides, this country has been good to my father. He came here because it’s the land of opportunity, and it’s been like a dream for him. When he came here 20 years ago, he had to sleep in his truck. Now he owns a hotel. He drives a 920 Turbo Porsche with ‘DISCUS’ on the license plate.”