TRACK AND FIELD / U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS : For Some, the Day Is a Breeze

EUGENE, Ore. — An ill wind blew at Hayward Field Wednesday in the USA/Mobil Track and Field Championships, forcing Jackie Joyner-Kersee undercover and rendering irrelevant two historical times in the 100 meters.

But, at the end of the day, nothing had been stirred much except for the pollen. The world record-holders in the heptathlon and decathlon, Joyner-Kersee and Dan O’Brien, easily won their specialties, and the United States again had so many outstanding sprinters on hand that Carl Lewis seemed like merely another face in the crowd.

One of them, Andre Cason, twice ran the 100 in 9.79 seconds, which tied the second-fastest time ever under all conditions. In this case, one of the conditions was a tail wind too eager to help.

It measured 5.3 meters per second in Cason’s first-round race and 4.5 in his semifinal, well above the 2.0 maximum for record consideration in both instances.

Only Lewis has run faster, his 9.78 coming in 1988 with a 5.2 wind at his back. His legal world record is 9.86, but, fighting leg cramps, his best time Wednesday was 10.02, with a 3.50 tail wind.

No matter, Cason said he knows he will have to contend with Lewis in today’s final.

“That’s the real show,” Cason said.

While the wind teased the sprinters, it harassed Joyner-Kersee. No woman has beaten Joyner-Kersee in the heptathlon since 1984, but, because of her asthma, pollen has the same effect on track and field’s Superwoman that kryptonite had on the late Superman.

Winning for the 16th consecutive time, not including the heptathlon she did not complete in during the 1991 World Championships because of an injury, was still no problem for her.

She finished with 6,770 points, 732 more than runners-up Kym Carter and DeDe Nathan, who both scored 6,038. All three will represent the United States in the World Championships in August at Stuttgart, Germany.

Joyner-Kersee’s most persistent nemesis, as usual, was her husband-coach, Bob Kersee, who insisted that she wear a surgical mask between events to prevent her from inhaling the pollen. She resisted, claiming that the 7,331 spectators would laugh at her.

“She always takes me to the point of threatening her,” Kersee said. “I just told her, ‘Get the mask on or I’m going to have to drag you into the training room and put it on for you. Finally, she listened.”

Kersee even offered to lend his support to two other coaches, Mike Keller and Rick Sloan, in their battle of wills with their athlete, O’Brien.

Keller and Sloan were ready to call for reinforcements on the first day of the decathlon competition Tuesday, when O’Brien, hampered by a prostate gland infection, twice tried to quit.

“I would have taken O’Brien into the bathroom, and I would have told him that the person who leaves the bathroom calls the shots,” Kersee said.

But not only did O’Brien relent, he built such a commanding lead that he won even with a sub-par second day, which included an afternoon jog in the final event, the 1,500 meters, that he finished in a labored 5:09.41.

He still scored 8,331 points, 155 more than second-place Steve Fritz and 274 more than third-place Rob Muzzio.

“It’s hard to believe you’re the best in the world when you’re hurting,” O’Brien said.