Running / Barbie Ludovise : Olympic Trials May Be End of Line for Plumer

In 12 years of competitive running, Polly Plumer has faced an almost endless string of trials.

Stress fractures, chronic tendinitis, internal bleeding, anemia . . . Plumer, a former University High School star, has suffered them all.

The high points in her career include the national prep record in the mile, 4 minutes 35.24 seconds. She set the record, which still stands, in 1982. She also won three consecutive state 1,600-meter titles and was a three-time All-American at UCLA. All that kept Plumer going, even when doctors advised her to surrender to common sense.

To quit.

And now, at a time when most athletes her age are just beginning to tap their potential, Plumer, 23, says she is, in fact, finally considering quitting. When she runs in the 3,000-meter preliminaries in the Olympic trials in Indianapolis tonight, it may be the last time.

“I just don’t want to do it anymore,” Plumer said. “I can’t say ever again, but I’m so tired of being so frustrated all the time. Of putting so much into it and not getting anything out of it . . . I think my body’s telling me, ‘Hey, you’ve had enough.’

“I’ve had a serious injury for every season for the last five years. Four or five stress fractures, if not six. That’s saying something. . . . Maybe I just need to get away from it for a while and re-evaluate things. But I think I’ve finally hit burnout. I spend a lot of time asking myself, ‘Why do I keep doing this to myself?’ ”

Plumer says she has not had a quality track workout since early April because of severe tendinitis in her right knee. Nevertheless, she will compete in the 3,000-meter preliminaries, although her chances of qualifying for the Olympics are slim.

Plumer, a Laguna Beach resident, qualified for the event last year at the 1987 NCAA track and field championships with a time of 9:09.2. The qualifying mark was 9:13.54.

The preliminaries will be divided into two heats of 10 runners. The top six finishers in each heat, plus the next two fastest overall, will advance to the final Sunday afternoon.

What are Plumer’s chances of being one of 14 finalists?

According to her coach, UCLA assistant Bob Messina, her chances are very slim.

“It’s going to be a son of a gun trying to run back there,” said Messina, who coached Plumer at University before he joined her at UCLA. “It will take running into the low 9s just to qualify for the final. And right now, it’s tough to say, but I’d say she’s in about 9:40 shape.”

Messina, who has watched Plumer manage many incredible comebacks in her career, said this time it’s a different story. If it were his decision, he said, he wouldn’t have let Plumer go to Indianapolis at all.

“The human part of me understands why she wants to go,” Messina said. “The coach part of me doesn’t. She’s not healthy enough to give it a good shot. But Polly’s Polly, and she’s bound and determined she’s going to do this thing.”

“What concerns me most is it seems her mind is (thinking) she’s there to give it one last shot. That’s where my coach side has a problem . . .

“I’m totally convinced if the girl could train 200 minutes a week, running 40 minutes a day, she’d be among the best in the United States. But her body just really rebels. It’s frustrating as all get-out for me, and it’s got to be double that for her. It gets real old after a while.”

So why did Plumer, who concedes that she currently has no conditioning, speed or strength to speak of, go to Indianapolis, where she will face the toughest competition ever?

“I don’t know,” she said. “People kept saying, ‘Go, go, you deserve it.’ And, actually, now that I’m here, I’m getting kind of excited about it.

“But it’s so hard when people who don’t know (of her poor condition) keep saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to do great, you’ll do so great.’ And they say, ‘What? You only have to be in the top three (of the final) to make the Olympic team? Oh you’ll do it. No problem.’

“When they say stuff like that, I don’t even try to tell them the reality part of it.”

After much deliberation, Newport Harbor distance star Jim Geerlings accepted a scholarship to UC Irvine on Sunday. Geerlings, the county’s prep leader in the mile at 4:10.14, turned down offers from California and UCLA.

“Basically, I went with UCI because I felt I could run the best under Vince (O’Boyle, the UCI coach),” Geerlings said. “The program there is by far the best out of the three.”

What? With UCLA being the two-time defending NCAA track and field champion?

“If you look at the distances, they (UCLA) produced nothing this year,” Geerlings said. “All they had were sprinters, hurdlers and quarter-milers.”

“The thing that finally changed my mind was seeing all the people (Beth McGrann, Buffy Rabbitt and Jill Harrington) going to the Olympic trials from UCI.”

Does this mean that Geerlings--who once considered racing a low priority--is now ready for a serious commitment?

“Oh yes,” he said. “I decided to definitely try to make the (Olympic) team in 1992.”

Brian Theriot, a former standout at Newport Harbor High and UCLA, is preparing for his final track season.

Theriot, 31, will run in the men’s 1,500-meter preliminaries at the Olympic trials Thursday night. He qualified last July at Nice, France, in 3:38. The qualifying standard is 3:41.97.

In 1984, Theriot finished sixth in the 1,500-meter trial final. He set his personal best of 3:36.9 the same year at Olso, Norway.

“It’s the last hurrah for me,” Theriot, a Costa Mesa resident, said. “This is the first time in my competitive career I’ve worked full time, and with two children, it’s tough to get the training in. But I feel I’m in the best shape of my life physically, though.”

This week’s schedule:

Saturday: Run for the Hills 7K Run. Mile Square Park, Fountain Valley. 8 a.m. Call 963-1430 for more information.

Ninth RRCA Women’s 5K Distance Festival. Laguna Lake Park, San Luis Obispo. 8:30 a.m. Call (805) 544-9320 for more information.

Sunday: Fourth Star Festival 5K Run and Fun Walk. Pacifica Square Plaza, Gardena. 8 a.m. Call (213) 323-4444.

Thursday: El Toro Three-Mile Cross-Country Series. Sycamore Park, El Toro. 6:30 p.m. Call 770-0444 for more information.