Sports B5
St. Aug's Antonio Pettigrew
rules at Tokyo championships
By CRAIG T GREENLEE
Chronicle Sports Editor
Nothing refutes perfor
mance.
Antonio Pettigrew proved
that maxim to be true when he
shocked onlookers by winning
the men's 400 meters at the
World Track & Field Champi
onships last week at Tokyo.
. ^ The St. Augustine's quar
termiler claimed the gold
medal for his personal collec
tion when he dusted Great
Britain's Roger Black coming
down the stretch, clocking
44.57 in the finals.
Pettigrew added a second
prize when he anchored the
U.S. team to a silver medal fin
ish in the men's 4 x 400 relay.
"I'm very satfefted with my
per formance," Pettigrew told
Chronicle Sports. "I wanted to
show people that a black col
lege athlete could shine with
the big boys in the big meets.
Plus I proved to myself that I
could come back after having a
down year in *90."
Coach isn't surprised
George Williams, St. Aug's
track coach, never felt that his
guy couldn't emerge as the
400 victor. "It's no surprise to
me," said Williams. "He's disci
plined and he does what "he's
supposed to do. You can
always expect good things out
of him."
Pettigrew qualified for this
year's world championships by
winning the 400 (44.36) at the
USA/Mobil Track & Field
Championships in late June in
New York. (Athletes earn their
spots on the American team by
finishing among the top three
in the finals of their respective
events at the TAC nationals).
The SAC sprinter isn't a
babe in the woods when it
comes to world-class track.
Tyyo years ago, he won the
TAC nationals (ran 44.27 which
is stitr h\w att-ttrrrer bestf and~
placed fifth in the world cham
pionships. At that time, he ran
for Miami-Dade Community
College in Miami, Fla.
But last year, Pettigrew
experienced the down side of
competition. Injuries slowed his
progress and he never
reached the form he had in '89.
Still, Pettigrew refused to let
his temporary misfortune inter
fere with his return to being a
world-class performer.
Didn't get just due
Because Pettigrew had
performed admirably at the
world-class level before, it's
strange that few media types
gave him much of a chance to
medal in J apart, much less
^win. ?
A lot of that had to do with
the absence of Michael John
son, who has the best 400 time
in the world this year (44.17).,
Steve Lewis, the '88 Olympic
champion in this event, was
missing in action because he
pulled up lame in the finals at
the TAC nationals.
Danny Everett, the bronze
medalist in Seoul, was admit
~tedly physically below par in
New York. He finished fourth,
but was allowed to run the
open 400 when Quincy Watts,
the third-place finisher, decided
to run in only the 4 x 400 relay.
The gold Is his
In spite of the numerous
innuendos hinting that the 400
lacked quality competition, Pet
tigrew kept pressing on and in
the end, took on all comers
and came out victorious. Black,
the silver medalist clocked
44.62, Everett was third at*
44.63, and Cuba's Roberto
Hernandez, the Pan-American
champ and pre-meet favorite,
to win the gold, finished fourth
(44.86).
Photo by Mike Powell/AIISpori USA
Pettlgrew (at right) won the CIAA title as well as the Division II 400
crown indoors and outdoors this year.
Trigg erm an
Winston-Salem State quar
terback Mitch Nicholson is
the guy who runs the show
as perhaps the ClAA's best
combination passer and
runner.
Photo by Max Dunhill
Rams set for '91 kickoff
By CRAIG T. GREENLEE _
Chronicle Sports Editor
Going into th? '91 season
opener, the Rams' medical sta
tus isn't what coach Pete
Richardson had hoped for. But
regardless, Winston should be
ready to blast away on Saturday,
night against Morehouse Col
lege at Bowman Gray Stadium
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
WSSU will be missing a few
parts when they take on the
Maroon Tigers. Outside
linebacker Reggie Richardson,
a two-year starter, has knee lig
ament problems and will proba
bly miss the first half of the sea
son. **
Running back Twayne
Blackwell hasn't been healthy
for the past three weeks
because of a banged up knee.
Freshman linebacker William
Trent has broken bones in his
foot and will be redshirted this
year.
But .while linebacker
I Richardson's absence creates a
void, the WSSU coach is confi
dent that his back-up LBs have
the ability to contribute immedi
ately. Steve Cobb and Antonio
Stevenson are the likely candi
dates to take over for Richard-,
son.
Petey Whitfield and rookie
Adrona Crawley, who has been
a pleasant surprise in training
camp, are also able replace
ments. Stevenson and Whfffielcr
bring experience with them.
Both were in the starting lineup
at times last season.
\wmitoptaytn
Wilmington
Sportsmen's
Classic, see page
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4 ' A ' r
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Offensively, Winston is in
good shape, injury-wise. But
coach Pete still isn't convinced
that the linemen are in shape.
"It's been either cool or rain
ing a lot of the time during prac
tice," the coach said.
"Those big guys need that
heat to take the weight off. At
this point, it seems that they'll
have to play themselves into
shape. Hopefully, we won't have
to play in any 90-degree weath
er. That could cause some
problems."
On paper, it appears that
Morehouse College shouldn't
give Winston too many prob
lems. Richardson, however,
thinks differently after seeing M
House lose to Kentucky State
17-14 last weekend.
"I was Impressed with what I
saw," Richardson said. 'They're
a completely different team from
last year. They had their oppor
tunities to win the game in the
second half. But conditioning
hurt them because they don't
have a lot of depth."
Under first-year coach Craig
Cason, Morehouse fared very
well, when you consider that
they weren't supposed to have
very much of anything in *91.
Granted, Kentucky State is not
a feared football power. But the
Maroon Tigers unveiled a pun
ishing ground attack, totaling
294 yards for the game.
Individually, Dextrel Smith
and Patrick Gamble scored one
TD each and collectively rushed
for 21 6 yards
Deeper stilt, lv i ouse took
command early on, leading 14-0
at the end of the first quarter on
Kentucky State's home field.
These guys aren't exactly pat
sies. But it's doubtful if they
can go the distance with the
Rams.
"We'll be OK as long as we
stay focused," Richardson said.
"And that means not beating
ourselves with mistakes and
turnovers."