He’s Bound to Conquer Hurdles : Track and field: From childhood to adulthood, Crear has overcome obstacles en route to the top.

Mark Crear entered track and field’s national championships this summer at Sacramento as the clear favorite in the high hurdles but, amid confusion and controversy and a typically strong field, failed to survive the semifinals. It took him all of 13 seconds to get over it, about the time it usually takes him to run the race.

Crear, after all, is accustomed to overcoming obstacles other than the 10 on the track for his races. Abused as a child, virtually on his own since he was 16, suffering from low self-esteem, he found his place in the world as a 110-meter high hurdler, becoming an NCAA champion at USC and eventually one of the best anywhere.

A quick prayer; a kiss from his wife, former intermediate hurdler Keisha Marvin; an encouraging word from his coach, former high hurdler Clim Jackson, and Crear immediately redefined his goal for this season after failing in the national championships. Although he would not have the opportunity to become the world champion in 1995, he could still be ranked No. 1 in the world.

More than two months later, Crear remains a contender for that distinction, perhaps even the leading contender. But if he thought his disappointment at Sacramento would be the highest hurdle he would have to clear, he soon, and sadly, discovered otherwise.

Zurich, Switzerland, would be the place he would prove he was deserving of No. 1. The world’s most prestigious invitational meet was scheduled for Aug. 16, three days after the end of the World Championships in Sweden, and it was there that he would race the new world champion, the United States’ Allen Johnson, and last year’s No. 1, Great Britain’s Colin Jackson.

“Zurich will be the real world championship,” said Jackson, who also was absent from Sweden because of a feud with the British track and field federation.

Eight days before the race, however, Crear encountered another challenge when his 14-month-old goddaughter, Seome Lipkis, the daughter of his manager, Roger Lipkis, went into a coma after almost drowning in a swimming pool accident.

Crear continued training near his Valencia home but made daily visits to Seome at the Tarzana Medical Center, postponing his flight to Zurich until two days before the meet. Before leaving, Crear promised his manager that he would win the race for Seome. Lipkis, knowing that Crear would be distracted and jet-lagged, told him the gesture was appreciated but not necessary.

Crear insisted, then, astonishingly to those who knew the circumstances, delivered. He beat Jackson, Johnson and two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom before returning on the next available flight to resume the bedside vigil in Tarzana.

He was still there this week. Seome had not regained consciousness and was on a life-support system. Crear said he would remain until he again must return to Europe for a meet in Berlin next Friday. Again, he said, he will not depart until two days before the race.

“She’s a big part of me,” he said of Seome. “On her first birthday this summer, I ran a [personal record] in Lucerne [Switzerland]. I called Roger from the track and told him, ‘Tell Seome happy birthday. Her present was my victory in 13.02 [seconds].’

“I can’t tell you how heartbroken I was when I heard about the accident. I was focused on that, but I told myself that I had to win and run a fast time in Zurich on behalf of her. I didn’t run a fast time [13.18], but I did win, and that was the most important thing. I think my relationship with the Lord is getting me through this.”

As it has many things, the deeply religious Crear said.

In a revealing interview this year with Track & Field News, Crear, 26, talked about his childhood while growing up in Rowland Heights, east of Los Angeles.

“I came from a physically and mentally abusive home,” he said. “I didn’t meet my father until I was 16, and then only once for a brief time. I didn’t have enough confidence, or family support, to be backed up in the sport. I didn’t have a male role model to give me encouragement.”

As an unspectacular high school hurdler, Crear received no college scholarship offers and worked for the United Parcel Service for two years while competing for Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. Although his times did not improve dramatically, he showed enough potential to attract the attention of Jim Bush, then the USC coach. As a senior in 1992, he won the NCAA championship.

His progression since has been impressive. He was ranked sixth in the world in 1993, third in ’92 and was the front-runner for first this year when he entered the national championships with the world’s best time.

But while he and other hurdlers were in the blocks for one of two semifinal heats at Sacramento, officials made a last-minute decision to grant an appeal of Johnson’s disqualification from an earlier round. While waiting 20 minutes for the semifinals to be rearranged, Crear said that he lost his focus.

“It was a bad race at the wrong time,” said Crear, a technically refined hurdler who uncharacteristically hit two hurdles that day. “I was not as mentally sharp as I should have been going into the race because it was surrounded by controversy.”

Remembering, however, that Great Britain’s Jackson was upset in the 1992 Summer Olympics but went otherwise undefeated and finished the season No. 1, Crear did not give up on 1995.

Since Sacramento, he has won seven of eight races and has head-to-head advantages over Jackson and Johnson before his final two important European races, Friday at Berlin and Sept. 9 in the Grand Prix final at Monte Carlo.

“There’s no question about it at the moment, most people consider Mark the No. 1 guy in the world,” Lipkis said. “He’s been the most consistent.”

Johnson might disagree because he not only is the world champion but has the world’s two fastest times, 12.98 and 13.0, this year.

Crear said that no one will know for sure until after the meet at Monte Carlo. He added, however, that he believes he is in condition to run faster than Johnson has.

How fast?

“Let’s not limit him by putting a number on it,” said his coach, Clim Jackson. “But I will say that he’s worked extremely hard--harder than he has since I started coaching him in 1992.”

Asked to explain his motivation, Crear said, “I’m probably paranoid.”