Vickers Clears a Hurdle : Track and field: She upsets Farmer-Patrick despite stumbling near the finish.

Janeene Vickers has excellent speed and is stronger than most women running the 400-meter hurdles. But in Saturday’s finals of the USA/Mobil National Track and Field Championships, her role was clear.

Sandra Farmer-Patrick, owner of the U.S. record (53.37 seconds), was the star, and if all went well, Vickers would push Farmer-Patrick down the stretch and finish a close second.

That’s what made Vickers’ 54.80-second first-place finish, the fourth-fastest time by an American, one of the biggest upsets of the three-day meet.

Vickers was followed by Farmer-Patrick (55.10), Schowonda Williams (55.61) and Victoria Fulcher (56.06).

According to Vickers’ coach, Bob Kersee, the game plan was for Vickers to lead at the eighth hurdle, then use her tremendous speed to close out the race.

“I told her, ‘Don’t worry about being in a tie with Sandra at the 10th hurdle,’ ” Kersee said. “Nobody can run down Janeene in the last 50 meters.”

At least half the game plan worked.

At the eighth hurdle, Vickers led, but she couldn’t pull away. In fact, Farmer-Patrick was slowly gaining, and as they neared the 10th hurdle, it was nearly a dead heat.

But Vickers has a history of problems clearing the 10th hurdle going back to her freshman year at UCLA.

In the 1988 NCAA championships, Vickers surprisingly took the lead going into the 10th hurdle, but blew it when she tensed up and lost her timing--”I was in the lead and I just wanted to take off”--and fell going over the hurdle.

The same thing almost happened again Saturday.

Vickers stuttered-stepped just before reaching the 10th hurdle, but she cleared it without incident, then stumbled.

Farmer-Patrick gained a step and appeared primed for victory. But Vickers quickly regained her composure, and with one final burst, outsprinted Patrick to the finish.

“I had no idea where she was,” Vickers said. “I was just running for my life because I knew she was coming.

“I knew she was going to dig down, and the odds were that she was going to catch me. You’ve got to close your eyes and go for it.”

The victory was a big one for Vickers, a two-time NCAA champion who will travel to the Goodwill Games in Seattle next month.

“Today it was a matter of confidence and focusing on what I had done before. This is a dream come true,” she said.

Despite the loss, Farmer-Patrick said that she is confident that she will do well in the Goodwill Games.

“It was a good race,” Farmer-Patrick said. “I really can’t make any excuses. My strength was there, and after another two or three weeks, I think I’ll be definitely ready for the Goodwill Games--without a doubt.”

Farmer-Patrick, who set her record at this meet last year, was positioned in the seventh lane.

“I was in lane seven, so it was hard to see my competition,” Farmer-Patrick said. “I thought I was in good shape. Then I came of the final curve and saw everybody in my race. I was surprised. I really can’t make any excuses.”

While the women’s 400-meter hurdles went to an unlikely winner, the javelin ended quite predictably.

Karin Smith, a three-time Olympian in the event, won her sixth TAC championship with a throw of 206 feet 3 inches, outdistancing her nearest rival by more than 12 feet.

For world-class women’s javelin throwers, the average age is 26, which might leave one wondering if the 34-year-old Smith has thought about retiring soon.

For Smith, it’s a regular question and a most annoying one.

“No,” she says flatly. “In fact, I think I can better my (personal record).”