THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090250
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Andre Cason has run all over the world, but until Saturday, he had not competed at home since he graduated from Green Run High in 1987.
Norfolk State's Chandra Sturrup has won seven NCAA titles, but before Saturday she had never run a college meet on her own campus.
That's why Cason and Sturrup were especially happy to be among the scores of athletes - from high school kids to 60-year-old master's competitors - who christened Norfolk State's new track Saturday at the Norfolk State Invitational Relays.
``I've been waiting to run on our own track for a long time,'' said Sturrup, a sprinter and long jumper. ``It feels good.''
It was a day in which everyone who won an event set a stadium record. And although things didn't always go smoothly - several college teams scheduled to appear did not show - there were a handful of world-class athletes on hand and enough college and high school teams to keep things interesting through eight hours of competition.
``We had some really good athletes,'' said NSU track coach and meet director Steve Riddick. ``We had some kinks I want to work out for next year, though. I wanted it to run like clockwork.''
Headlining the list of competitors was Cason, the world-record holder in the indoor 60 meters and a member of the U.S. world-record-holding 4x100 meter relay team.
The 26-year-old Cason, who is coming off a hamstring injury, ran the anchor leg on an ``all-star'' 4x100 relay team that consisted of three NSU redshirt freshmen and Cason. The team easily won the relay, in 40.59 seconds, beating teams from Hampton University, Virginia State and a master's team from the Pony Express Track Club.
Cason, who was running his first event of the outdoor season, waived his normal five-figure appearance fee to run at the event.
``I did this as a favor not not only for Norfolk State but for the whole Tidewater area,'' he said. ``Usually the only chance people get to see me race is at the Penn Relays, or on TV.''
Local track fans had not had many chances to see Sturrup, either. A native of the Bahamas, Sturrup holds NCAA Division II records in both the 100 and 200 meters, and she's also won two long-jump titles.
Saturday, Sturrup won both the 100 and the long jump, and ran a leg on Norfolk State's 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
``I was pretty pleased with my long jump (21-4), that was the first time this year I've been over 21 feet,'' she said.
Sturrup was also pleased with Norfolk State's performance in the 4x100 relay, in which the Spartanettes ran a close second to a quartet of world-class sprinters from the Nike International Club. The foursome - LSU All-American Cheryl Taplin, 1992 U.S. Olympian Kendra Mackey, 1992 Jamaica Olympian Dahlia Duhaney and world relay champion Beverly McDonald - had never run together before, but held off Norfolk State in 44.20.
MacDonald also won the women's open 200 in a sizzling 22.91.
The new polyurethane track was supposed to be fast, and most of the world-class runners on-hand said they found it to be just that.
``It's fast now and it's going to be even faster in two or three years,'' Cason said. ``Once the elements beat up on it and you get some meets run on it, it's going to [compound the track.] ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Norfolk State's Chandra Sturrup leaves competitors behind as she
approaches the finish line at Saturday's meet.
by CNB