Track Invitational at UCLA : Even Without Nehemiah, High Hurdles Should Be a Top-Flight Event

Track and field promoter Al Franken, whose Pepsi Invitational is scheduled for today at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, said a fan called last week and asked why he always invites the same hurdlers to his meet.

“Why do the Red Sox pitch Roger Clemens every fourth or fifth day?” an exasperated Franken asked later. “Why do the A’s always have (Jose) Canseco and (Mark) McGwire in their lineup?”

The Pepsi entry list is not the most compelling it has ever been, despite the presence of Carl Lewis in a 100-meter race that could provide a preview of the U.S. Olympic trials.

But Franken does not have to apologize for a 110-meter high hurdles field that includes two-time world champion Greg Foster, 1984 Olympic champion Roger Kingdom and 1987 Mobil Grand Prix overall champion Tonie Campbell.

Until Friday, world record-holder Renaldo Nehemiah also was entered, but he had to withdraw because of a pulled hamstring. With that, the race lost a name but not necessarily a world-class competitor. Nehemiah continues to seek his form of years past after retiring from professional football and returning to the track last year.

As for the others, the favorite is anyone’s guess. The race, the first track event, is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. The first field events, the pole vault and the men’s javelin throw, are scheduled for noon.

Based on previous results, Foster would be the obvious choice. The only time he has failed to win in nine appearances at this meet was in 1979, when Nehemiah, near his peak, set a world record. Drake Stadium is a familiar track for the former UCLA hurdler. But Foster, bothered by a bruised foot, has not run outdoors this year.

Kingdom, who has been inconsistent since upsetting Foster for the gold medal four years ago, appears to be reasserting himself in this Olympic year. He has the two fastest times in the world for 1988, 13.37 seconds in Modesto and 13.42 in Orlando.

Campbell, ranked second in the world behind Foster in 1987, ran his best time of the year, 13.47, last Sunday in Granada, Spain, but he finished fourth four days later in Seville in 13.61. Besides Foster and Kingdom, Campbell also will have to overcome jet lag.

But at least the nation’s best high hurdlers, minus Florida State’s Arthur Blake, are scheduled to be on the track together for the first time this year, giving them an opportunity to steal the headlines from the U.S. women hurdlers, Gail Devers and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who have been exchanging the American record almost weekly this year.

Unfortunately for this meet, neither of those women is entered. Devers and other local college athletes who are considered Olympic hopefuls, such as UCLA’s Danny Everett, Kevin Young and Henry Thomas and USC’s Wendy Brown, competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. meet through Saturday in Eugene, Ore. Joyner-Kersee has another commitment as the guest of honor at the UCLA women’s sports banquet.

Franken lost Mary Decker Slaney, a Pepsi regular, to a 10-kilometer run Saturday in New York, half-miler Johnny Gray to the Harry Jerome Invitational Saturday in Vancouver, and Ivory Coast quarter-miler Gabriel Tiacoh, second in the 1984 Olympics, to better pay days in Europe. The top U.S. quarter-miler, Harry Reynolds, also withdrew from the 400 meters because of an injury, the same reason Olympic champion Al Joyner gave in excusing himself from the triple jump.

As if Franken did not have enough problems, The Athletics Congress, track and field’s national governing body, selected this meet to test for performance-enhancing drugs, which means there will be no shotput or discus throw as originally planned. They were canceled because so many of the competitors dropped out when informed of the testing.

So be it. Because the trials are not scheduled to begin until July 15 in Indianapolis and the Olympic track and field competition does not begin in Seoul until the last week of September, this part of the U.S. track season is little more than spring training.

Nevertheless, there should be some interesting competition today in events other than the high hurdles:

MEN’S 100 METERS--Ron Brown, former Ram wide receiver who returned to track this year, has spoken often about proving that he is the world’s fastest man. So far, he has not had much success. But it’s early. Today, he gets a shot at Lewis, 1987 national champion Mark Witherspoon, Harvey Glance and Brian Cooper, who beat Brown last weekend in San Jose.

WOMEN’S 100 METERS--Evelyn Ashford is not here, but two of the top four U.S. sprinters from last year, national champion Diane Williams and Alice Brown, are entered, along with fast-approaching Dannette Young and Jamaica’s Grace Jackson.

MEN’S 400 METERS--The field lost much of its luster when Reynolds and Tiacoh withdrew. Still, Innocent Egbunike, second in the 1987 World Championships, Antonio McKay, third in the 1984 Olympics, and Roddie Haley are entered.

WOMEN’S 400 METERS--Olympic champion Valerie Brisco was scheduled to run the 100 but decided instead to enter her speciality against a field loaded with Diane Dixon, Gwen Torrence and the Howard sisters, Denean and Sherri.

MEN’S MILE--Two of the most competitive finishes in recent Pepsi history featured Steve Scott and Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz in the mile in 1984 and 1985. They’re back this year, although Scott is pondering a move up in distance to the 5,000, and Cruz is still testing himself after having been slowed the last two years with injuries and illness. Jim Spivey, third in the World Championships last year, probably would be the favorite, but he has been bothered lately by a sore calf muscle. It would not be too much of an upset if Brian Abshire, formerly of Auburn, finished first.