THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408120238
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
If you met him off the field, or away from the track, you'd think Malik Cook was the picture of the perfect gentleman: soft-spoken, courteous and humble.
Catch him when he's working, though, and he's all business: intense, single-minded, and with a quiet tenacity that is the mark of a ferocious competitor.
``Malik is the teddy bear type,'' said Russ Vrhovac, a teammate of Cook's, ``off the field. But on the field he's tough, quick, and never stops. He's like a freight train.''
Cook, 17, and a rising junior at Western Branch High School, has been steamrolling the competition on the American Athletic Union (AAU) track circuit this summer, including a first-place finish in the 200 meter dash at a national meet in Massachusetts.
He's also run on a 4 x 100 meter relay team that has three second-place finishes nationally.
The win ``kind of surprised me a little, because I didn't think I had run a good time,'' he said. ``When I found out I won, I was shocked. I really didn't know I had won because it was so close at the line.''
His time of 21.90 was a mere three-tenths of a second better than the second-place finisher.
According to Wade Williams, track coach at Western Branch, Cook's time was ``a good high school time. This is his first full year of running. He needs to mature and work hard. But I can see Malik running (the 200) under 21-flat as a junior.''
Cook's success is all the more impressive considering he never ran track before his sophomore year.
Track ``started off just being something to do during the spring,`` Cook said. ``I thought it would make me faster for football.''
A coach for an AAU all-star team based in Norfolk saw Cook compete at the state high school track championships and hand-picked him for the squad that would travel all over the East Coast, from Massachusetts to Maryland to Florida.
``I was a little surprised that they picked me, because I didn't do too well at the state tournament . . . I had pulled a muscle,'' he said.
Apparently, the AAU coaches saw some kind of natural ability. Indeed, Cook says that when he joined the team this summer he didn't have to practice much.
``I had to learn how to come out of the blocks quicker, that was about it,`` Cook said.
With the summer track season winding down, Cook will focus all his attention on football. He's a two-way starter for the Bruins, playing both the tailback and linebacker positions. According to Cook, his versatility helps him see both sides of the game.
``It's difficult playing back because you get hit a lot and you think . . . `That didn't feel so good.' But when you go out on defense, you get a chance to get the anger out and pay them (the opponent) back for hitting you.''
No matter how hard he gets hit, Cook is mature enough to leave everything on the field.
``He's a hard worker, he's low key, polite, and not the least bit cocky,'' said Williams. ``He has a tremendous work ethic, and if I needed him to run three, four, or even five events, he'd do it. He'd do anything to help the team.''
``What impresses me most about Malik is the maturity and confidence he's gained through his successes in track,'' said Western Branch football coach Lew Johnston. ``Even with all of that success, he hasn't changed a bit.'' MEMO: Correspondent Bryan Johnston contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
Malik Cook, left, and Darone Watson run laps at Western Branch High
to get in shape for football. Cook plays both tailback and
linebacker for the Bruins.
Cook works out in the Western Branch gym.
by CNB