ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
THE NEW MONDO indoor track runs circles around the rest. Thank the football team, whose bowl trips helped pay for it.
Russ Whitenack has an obvious spring in his step these days, and not just when he's walking on Virginia Tech's new portable, vulcanized rubber track.
``I'm like a kid now on Christmas morning, like I'm 5 or 6 and you see what's under the tree,'' said Whitenack, in his 23rd year as the Hokies' head track and field coach. ``It's unbelievable when you think about what we had.''
Or didn't have.
Tech's track and field program has been run out of suitcases for years. The Hokies have had a team, but no outdoor track for 15 years. Their indoor track was a hand-me-down purchase from Madison Square Garden in 1984. It already was 10 years old when Tech bought the 200-meter oval for Rector Field House. Last winter, it couldn't be used.
``We're going from no track to two of the best in the country,'' Whitenack said.
After two meets, competitors and coaches have raved about the spacious, 200-meter Mondo portable track that took a week of 14-hour days to install last month. It's sturdy and, most importantly, fast.
When the weather warms, the Mondo men will return from Italy to roll out the rubber for the Hokies' new outdoor facility, between Southgate Drive and the aging field house, which next will get new artificial turf, an improved lighting system and paint. The outdoor track will be the same Mondo surface used last year at the Atlanta Olympics.
Whitenack can't quite get misty-eyed about the old indoor oval, which had only four lanes and cost about $5,000 in wood rebuilding jobs annually. He does give the Garden relic credit, however.
``It was a blessing, getting that,'' Whitenack said. ``Without an outdoor track, if we hadn't had an indoor track, I don't know if the sport would have survived here.''
It should only prosper now. At the Tech High School Invitational last week, around 900 athletes competed. ``I had kids talking to me about the track, kids who never would have even spoken to me in the past,'' Whitenack said. ``It's going to make a tremendous difference.''
There are only five Mondo-surfaced indoor tracks in the United States, and Tech's is the first on a college campus. Another is used for the NCAA Championships at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The others belong to the Georgia Dome and facilities in Boston and New York City. Whitenack said the only campus indoor track that is as ``fast'' as the Hokies' new oval is a Tune track at Harvard, where multiple plywood layers and continuing Ivy League research have made a difference.
The indoor track cost $495,000. Whitenack said the outdoor facility will cost about $1.8 million. There have been some private contributors, but Whitenack knows how the Hokies got the Mondo tracks.
``There's no question we have this as a direct result of our success in football,'' he said of Tech's revenue from bowls and television appearances since becoming a Big East Football Conference member.
Whitenack figures the Hokies' track program now might be able to generate some revenue of its own. Not only will Tech be able to hold more meets with more - and better - competitors, but the facility will enhance the Hokies' chances of hosting other events, like the Virginia High School League championships.
``It's like we've said to [athletic director] Dave Braine,'' Whitenack said. ``Thank you, and please get us more seats.''
Braine came to Whitenack two years ago and told the coach to research the purchase of a new indoor track. Whitenack wanted a track that would be fast, but also one that would last. He had heard and seen nothing but positives about the Mondo surface, although the size of the layout has brought shrinkage to indoor preseason baseball and softball drills.
``I thought Mondo would be better than the others,'' he said. ``I didn't know it would be this good.''
Whitenack admits to being stunned when the track arrived in hundreds of pieces, in crates. He knew it would be a six-lane oval with sweeping, banked turns and that the lanes would be 42 inches wide, 6 inches more than the old track, on which Tech had to cut down hurdles to fit. He knew the interlocking pins and sleeves underneath the surface would give the track less give than others.
He didn't expect to see an inside curb on the turns. He didn't expect a high safety fence on the outside of the turns to keep runners from going over the edge. He also didn't think he would experience the career-best times that have filled scoresheets and made often-blase athletes giddy for themselves and others.
``The kind of competition we've had here so far is going to put Virginia Tech on the map,'' Whitenack said. ``We have been trying to just catch-up for years. Now, we have a quality most schools don't have, and we have to take advantage of that.''
Mike Byrne, the coordinator of the National Scholastic High School championship and publisher of a magazine devoted to high school track and field, stopped by the Tech track, at Whitenack's invitation, en route to a meet at East Tennessee State last weekend.
``He was hoping to leave here about 10 a.m.,'' Whitenack said. ``He didn't get out of here until about 2 [p.m.]. He was amazed at what he saw. It was just one best time after another. He's asked about flying in a feature group of hurdlers here next year for a race. This kind of track will give us those kind of opportunities.''
Tech hosts its Five-Team Invitational today, then next week finishes the first - and abbreviated - season on the new surface with the Days Inn Invitational, featuring about 40 college teams, before heading to the Atlantic 10 Championships on Feb.15 at Rhode Island. The Group AAA Roanoke Valley District holds its indoor championships at Rector on Feb.13. Next winter, the indoor track will go up sooner, just after Christmas, for a longer season.
``You don't know how nice it is just seeing the word `home' on the schedule again,'' Whitenack said.
The outdoor Hokies will spend the spring on the road again, but at least now, Whitenack's program knows where it's headed.
``When we were putting it together, we had our own kids coming by asking if they could please help, they were so anxious to get on it,'' Whitenack said. ``College kids wanting to do manual labor. That tells you something.''
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. There are only five Mondo-surfacedby CNBindoor tracks in the United States. Tech's is the first on a college
campus.