Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 9, 1994                   TAG: 9407090021
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT'S TIME FOR GAMES TO BEGIN

The Games' swim meet was a B-C-open meet scheduled for the Gator Aquatic Center today and tomorrow, and the Games' organizers estimated 600 swimmers would attend.

Only about 40 signed up, however, so the Gator Center meet was cancelled. A regularly scheduled A-B-C meet this weekend at Fallon Park hosted by the Gator swim team is now the Commonwealth Games' meet - ironically after getting permission from meet director Doug Fonder, who was ousted as the head of the Commonwealth Games after the '91 event.

The Games' gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded at the Fallon Park meet, but only to A level swimmers - unlike previous years when the event was held in Roanoke.

Level B swimmers and below can earn ribbons, Games coordinator Linda Adams said, because that's common practice at United States Swimming-sanctioned meets.

In 1990 and '91, the Games held two swimming events - an all-star meet at Fallon Park (for select swimmers level A and above) and an A-B-C meet at Countryside. The top-three finishers at each of those events would get medals, Fonder said.

It's the first time since 1991 that Virginia Amateur Sports, which runs the Games, has brought swimming (other than the masters event) to the Roanoke Valley. After the '91 Games, the meet was moved to Waynesboro.

Saving the swim meet may keep alive VAS' goal of more than 8,000 athletes, although the cancellation of volleyball and lighter-than-expected turnouts in soccer and basketball, for example, probably will bring the number of competitors closer to 7,000. Still, Games participation has grown every year since it began in 1990, from 4,465 that year to 6,692 last year, according to VAS figures.

In addition to swimming, this weekend features competition in cross country (8 a.m. today at Green Hill Park in Salem); and horseshoes (today and Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. at the New River Valley Fairgrounds in Dublin).

The Games' main weekend is July 15-17, when competition will take place in most of the 41 events.

The opening ceremonies July 15 will include an athletes' parade. The main speaker is Doug Hill, director of sports logistics for the '96 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Hill, a former coach of the Australian Olympic track team, has been a board member of the Sunshine State Games in Florida.

Scheduled to provide a fitness demonstration is Tracy York, a cast member of the ESPN Fitness Pros television show whose resume includes a co-starring role in the video Buns of Steel Platinum Collection.

Other Games notes:

The track and field competition, scheduled for July 16-17, has been moved to Glenvar High School.

Spots remain open in the softball tournament, to be held July 16-17 at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem. Those interested should call Ben Lockhart at 387-2788.