ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996               TAG: 9602050087
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: IN THE REGION 
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS 

TECH RUNNERS FINISH FIRST IN TRACK MEET

Hilliard Sumner won the 400-meter dash and Justin Davis finished first in the 800-meter dash for Virginia Tech in the Brooks Classic indoor track and field meet Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va.

Sumner finished the 400 in 49.55, edging his closest competition by one-third of a second. Davis had an easier time, completing his race in 1:53.5 and outrunning the rest of the field by more than five seconds.

Three Tech freshmen, Sean Dixon, Karl Mann and Dyer Vest, finished third, fourth and fifth respectively in the 1,000-meter run.

In women's competition, former Blacksburg High School standout Katie Ollendick cleared 5 feet, 6 inches to finish second in the high jump for the Hokies. The Tech women's 4x400 relay team placed second in 3:58.9, just 0.2 seconds behind host school West Virginia and the shuttle hurdle relay team took third in 33:85.

Senior Erin Graham set a school record in the 200-meter dash and finished fourth. She ran the lap in 25.68 to shave nearly one-fourth of a second off her school record set during the 1994 season.

In other sports news in the region:

* Bob Ryan, a noted sports columnist for the Boston Globe and a regular panelist on ESPN's ``Sports Reporters'' will be speaking at Washington and Lee today.

Ryan's program, titled ``Calling All Sports,'' will deal with sports and media in our culture. There will be a question and answer session following his presentation.

The program will be held at the Northern Auditorium, located in the W&L library, at 7 p.m.

Ryan, a staffer at the Boston Globe since 1968, has authored nine books, including ones co-authored by former Boston Celtics greats Bob Cousy, John Havlicek and Larry Bird.

Ryan also will be a guest lecturer for several journalism classes during his three-day stay in Lexington. His visit is being co-sponsored by the athletics and journalism departments at W&L.

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