Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990 TAG: 9007140196
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
Debbi Lawrence of Kenosha, Wis., broke her American record in the 10-kilometer race walk, and two-time Olympian Carl Schueler won a 20-kilometer event that was shorter than planned.
Also Friday, Brandy Johnson missed her dismount from the balance beam, but rallied to win the gymnastics all-around gold medal in record fashion. In diving, Wendy Lian Williams and defending champion Matt Scoggin won the 10-meter platform preliminaries.
Lawrence finished her race in 46 minutes, 10.26 seconds, breaking the American record of 46:14.4 she set June 15 at The Athletics Congress meet. She also smashed the Festival record of 47:54.0 set in 1987 by Maryanne Torrellas of Clinton, Conn.
Lawrence, 28, got an assist from the crowd, which gave her a standing ovation through her last lap. She covered the final 400 meters in 1:45 after racing most of the way at a 1:51 pace.
"I think I wanted it bad enough that it [the support of the crowd] wouldn't have made any difference," Lawrence said. "But it makes it feel that much more special because it feels like we're all doing it together."
Schueler knew that something was amiss early in the 20-kilometer race.
"I've been racing for 12 years, so when we came through the first lap at the 2 1/2-kilometer mark I saw the clock and knew the course was short," Schueler said. "When six guys are on world-record pace at 2 1/2 kilometers, you know something is not right."
The course inadvertently was laid out at 18.230 kilometers. Schueler, of Colorado Springs, Colo., won in 1:18:59.
Phil Henson, the U.S. Olympic Committee's commissioner of athletics, said turnaround cones for the race mistakenly were placed at the wrong marker of what was supposed to be a 2 1/2-kilometer loop. The error shortened the loop by about 200 meters.
"After it was discovered, they considered extending it another lap," Henson said of the race. "But the referee felt that would be too confusing to the athletes that instead of six more laps to go, now you've got seven."
Johnson, of Apopka, Fla., finished with 39.025 points in gymnastics, breaking the previous Festival all-around mark of 38.35 set in 1983 by Pam Bilek of San Jose, Calif.
Johnson, 17, who fell from the balance beam in finishing third at the U.S. Championships this summer, received a 9.4 after her mistake in the event Friday.
In diving, Williams easily finished first in the 10-meter platform preliminaries in her first Festival appearance since 1985. The 447.69 points were a personal best in the preliminary round for Williams, a 1988 Olympic bronze medalist.
by CNB