U.S OLYMPIC FESTIVAL ROUNDUP : USC’s Harris Helps Lift West Over the South

Joseph Blair of Arizona scored 21 points and Burt Harris of USC added 18 as the West opened the U.S. Olympic Festival basketball competition with a 117-111 victory over the South.

The West, which outrebounded the South, 73-52, overcame a seven-point halftime deficit.

Martice Moore of Georgia Tech scored 23 for the South.

In the late men’s game, Derek Anderson of Ohio State scored 29 points as the North beat the East, 129-120. Gary Trent of Ohio University had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Rasheed Wallace, who will be a freshman at North Carolina this fall, led the East with 17 points and six rebounds. Johnny Rhodes of Maryland added 16 points.

In women’s basketball, Darlene Saar of George Washington and Jennifer Boucek of Virginia each scored 15 points as the East beat the North, 81-76, in overtime. Tawona Al-Haleem of John A. Logan College scored 17 and Cindy Lamping of Purdue added 15 for the North.

In the other women’s game, Latina Davis of Tennessee scored 15 points in leading the South to a 68-61 victory over the West. The South made only 16 of 61 field goals (26%).

In other events:

--Sibby Flowers of Macon, Ga., set an American record in the 101 1/4-pound weightlifting class with a combined 319 1/2 pounds in the snatch and clean-and-jerk. It was her fourth consecutive festival gold medal.

--In swimming, Catherine Fox of Kansas City, Mo., won the 100-meter freestyle in 57.09 seconds. That broke the longest-standing women’s record in the festival, 57.36 by Cynthia Woodhead of Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1979.

“I had no clue. I didn’t know what the record was. You know, 57.09, I was pretty happy with that,” Fox said.

Christian Claytor of Walnut Creek, Calif., broke the men’s 200 breaststroke festival record, finishing in 2 minutes 18.01 seconds.

Both the men’s and women’s festival records fell in the 200 backstroke. Tate Blahnik of Airmant, N.Y., erased Rich Hughey’s 1982 mark of 2:03.61 with a time of 2:01.81. Rachel Joseph of Springfield, Ore., cut more than three seconds off the record with a time of 2:13.42.

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Temperatures in the San Antonio area climbed to near 100 with about 40% humidity. Dr. Lawrence Magee of the University of Kansas, the head physician at the festival, said the trainers working with each sport are aware of the need to push fluids on the athletes--not only during and after competitions, but beforehand as well.

“The main thing we’ve stressed, in addition to fluid intake, is they need to be hydrated ahead of time because it’s hot just walking around,” he said.

Magee said there had been no significant problems caused by the heat Saturday. On Friday night, more than 100 fans were treated for heat-related problems incurred while waiting for public transportation to the opening ceremony. Five of those required hospitalization.

“At this level of competition, it’s not a matter of if you’re in shape or not. It’s a matter of climatization to the heat and humidity,” Magee said.

“It’s difficult for athletes training in Seattle or Michigan or somewhere up north, and the next day be out in 100-degree, humid temperatures.

“A lot of people don’t realize if they come down here from the north and keep the same fluid intake here as up there, they can get fairly dehydrated with just normal activity.”