Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007300220
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Those factors, however, did prevent Lewis and his Santa Monica Track Club teammates from breaking the world record in the 400-meter relay and collecting a $50,000 bonus offered by Fred Lebow, executive director of the New York Games.
They went into Sunday's meet at Columbia University with that intention. Despite the loud cheers from a crowd of 12,279, they fell short, winning in 38.18 seconds.
Lewis, anchoring as he had done on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team that set the record of 37.83, might have given it a better shot had he not been hurting.
"I was a little tight going into the race," said Lewis, who two hours earlier had won the 100-meter dash in 10.39. "I tightened up and cramped.
"I still thought we had a chance at the record, but I'm happy we won."
It was not an easy victory. Following a poor handoff from Floyd Heard, Lewis got the baton about a half-meter behind Tony Dees of the Florida Clippers.
He overtook Dees with about 60 meters remaining and held on to win by about two feet, with the Clippers second in 38.25.
No. 2 runner Leroy Burrell, the fastest 100-meter runner in the world this year, ran the best leg, giving Santa Monica the lead.
In the 100, Lewis overcame a 15 mph headwind in beating teammate Mike Marsh by about 1 1/2 meters.
Meanwhile, Greg Foster continued his solid comeback from a three-month suspension by winning the 110-meter high hurdles in 13.40, beating Roger Kingdom, the world record-holder and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Former world record-holder Renaldo Nehemiah finished second in 13.54, and was followed by Dees in 13.59 and Kingdom in 13.60.
by CNB