Eamonn Coghlan

Noureddine Morceli of Algeria barely fell short of the world indoor mile record Friday night in the Meadowlands Invitational at East Rutherford, N.J. Morceli, in only his fifth indoor race, finished in 3:50.81, short of Eamonn Coghlan's record of 3:49.78 set in this meet in 1983. Morceli's time of was the third-fastest ever run indoors and made him the No. 2 performer all time. Only Coghlan's record run and the Irishman's clocking of 3:50.

World-record holder Eamonn Coghlan will compete in the fourth annual $25,600 Buick 10K, to be run through downtown San Diego May 31. Coghlan, who holds the world record for the indoor mile (3 minutes 49.78 seconds), recently broke Steve Scott's indoor world record at 2,000 meters with a 4:54.07 at The Times/GTE Indoor Games in the Forum in February. First-place finishers in the men's and women's divisions will receive $5,000 each.

Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland, nicknamed the "Chairman of the Boards," will run in the Foot Locker mile June 23, at the University of California's Edwards Stadium in Berkeley. The Foot Locker Summer Games also will include the Pacific Conference Games. The latter is a five-nation meet involving national teams from the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It will will mark the first time the five-nation even has been held in the U.S.

Several Olympic medalists, led by triple gold medal winner Valerie Brisco-Hooks, will compete tonight in the Michelob Invitational indoor track and field meet at the San Diego Sports Arena. Brisco-Hooks, who won gold medals in the 200- and 400-meters and the 1,600-meter relay, will be joined by triple jump gold medalist Al Joyner; French pole vault gold medalist Pierre Quinon; pole vault bronze medalist Earl Bell, and Billy Olson, the first vaulter to clear 19 feet indoors.

Sydney Maree took advantage of a quick early pace Saturday to win the mile at the Jumbo Elliott Invitational track meet in 3:53.29. Maree took the lead on the third lap after pacesetters Owen Hamilton and David Swain dropped out following a 1:55.60 half-mile. Eamonn Coghlan, running his first mile of the season, finished fourth in 3:56.88. Brady Crain took the 200 meters in 20.79 seconds; Sam Graddy won the 100 meters in a meet-record 10.26, edging Crain, who was second in 10.

Gail Devers set an American indoor record of 6.99 seconds for the 60-meter dash Friday night at the Mobil Indoor Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden. Devers, the Olympic 100-meter gold medalist at Barcelona, also set an American record of 6.10 for 50 meters at the Sunkist Invitational last Saturday. In other events, Lance Deal broke his world indoor record in the 35-pound weight throw for the second time this year with a toss of 81 feet 6 inches at Princeton University.

The mile matchup between Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland and Steve Scott of San Diego and the appearance of some of the gold-medal winners from last summer's Olympics highlight the Michelob Invitational indoor track meet next Friday night at the San Diego Sports Arena. The high school events start at 5:15, with the Invitational events beginning at 7. The Olympic gold medalists from Romania, Maricica Puica, Doina Melinte and Aniusoara Cusmir-Stanciu, will compete in the meet.

In the appropriate setting--the peristyle end of the Coliseum--it was announced Tuesday that an international track meet will be held at the stadium June 8. It is hoped that a successful meet will save the track, which is in danger of removal if the football seating area is expanded. Mayor Tom Bradley was present to lend his suppport along with such world-class athletes as Edwin Moses, Dwight Stones and Mike Tully, who'll compete in the meet.

Butch Reynolds, the 400-meter world record-holder who was banned from the Barcelona Olympics, will race world 400-meter hurdles record-holder Kevin Young in the 400-meter race at the 86th running of the Millrose Games tonight at Madison Square Garden. Also, Eamonn Coghlan will attempt to break the four-minute mile barrier for 40-year-olds. Coghlan, the only man to run an indoor mile under 3:50--he ran 3:49.78 in 1983--retired three years ago but resumed training last spring.