Deanne Vochatzer is preparing for the U.S. Track and Field Trials with the equanimity of a seasoned hostess. It's just that her guest list includes 1,100 elite athletes, more than 21,000 spectators per day and myriad news crews, all coming to Sacramento for the July 15-24 U.S. Track and Field Trials. Vochatzer, head women's track and field coach for UC Davis and for the 1996 U.S. Olympics, is partly responsible for bringing the trials for the first time to Sacramento. As director of competition for the trials she wears innumerable hats and has been responsible for negotiating everything from the initial bid for the trials to the competition schedule with NBC for television coverage. But beyond all of the logistics, the athletes are her primary concern. "Once the first gun is fired, then it will be my job to keep a finger on the pulse of the trials, making sure that we're doing the best we can to give each athlete his or her best shot at a place on the Olympic team," said Vochatzer, who expects to work 16-to-18-hour days during the trials. Every once in awhile the magnitude of that task looms overwhelming, and Vochatzer reminds herself that problems will occur but they will be handled. Her confidence is bolstered by the fact that her husband, Jon Vochatzer, UC Davis men's track coach, is serving as assistant director of competition for the trials. "It's our job to make sure that the athletes don't feel the results of those problems and that the spectators never even know there was a problem," she said.