Published in The Orlando Sentinel, Sunday, June 1, 1997

By Bill Buchalter of The Sentinel Staff

When the rain finally went away Saturday, the stars of the 21st Bert W. Martin Foundation Golden South Classic came out to play.

Travis Minor, Lawrence Armstrong, Nakietra Jones, Char Foster, Terrance Trammell and Shariann Lawson were as good as advertised, spicing the postseason track classic at Disney's Wide World of Sports track complex.

Jones, a 6-foot senior from Northeast Macon (Ga.), broke the Classic high jump record (6-0), won the long jump (19-2) and placed fifth in the triple jump (38-8) to become the first winner of the Joe Connelly Award as the outstanding girls performer.

Armstrong, the Texas state champion from Jasper, won the Olympic Development 100 meters (10.56), nudging John Capel of Brooksville, and ran a blistering 20.2 split on the winning 4x200 relay (1:25.43), catching Minor at the finish line and turning around the 4x100 results. Armstrong had run an eye-catching leg in the one-lap relay, but Minor anchored Catholic to the finish line first in 40.66, second-fastest time recorded in the event's 21-year history.

''The 100 wasn't my fastest, but the relays were where it was at,'' Armstrong said. ''I think Travis tightened up somewhat, but that was big for me, real big.''

Jasper's 1:25.43 and Catholic's 1:25.52 placed both relays in the top 25 fastest times. And Armstrong's anchor earned him the Connelly award for the boys.

Foster and Lawson set hurdles records and Trammell, the nation's leading high hurdler, easily won his race but was frustrated with his performance.

For Foster, her 57.76 was among her fastest times, the kind of a performance that earned her a berth on the U.S. junior national team last summer. Lawson won the 100-meter hurdle final in 13.93 after going 13.89 for the record in the trials.

''I knew I had to give it everything I had if I wanted to win at that pace,'' Foster said. ''I knew I'd be dead after the race, but I knew what I had to do. My legs are throbbing now.''

She nudged Gayle Petagay of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, in the race.

Trammell, who signed a track grant with South Carolina, said his 14.04 was frustrating.

''I was ready to run, but for some reason I kept coming up on the hurdles and that slowed me down. It was my first competition in three weeks so it was something to hold my head high.''

The Olympic Development 100 proved to be special when Armstrong outleaned Capel at the tape and Bryan Harrison, another member of the junior national team last summer and a bronze medalist in the 200 at the world championships, nudged Evans' Donald Fisher for third.

Harrison showed his international experience in the race final, outrushing Chris Chandler of Bradford Co. (21.07) and previously unbeaten Gary White of Jacksonville (21.29) to the line. His winning time was 20.99, and Chandler established a school record.

Other top performances were recorded by Danielle Brown, from New Orleans, who won the triple jump (40-8 1/2 ) and South Carolina champ Perry Fields of Ridgeview in the 800 (2:11:97).

The meet ended strong as the 1,600 relays from Philadelphia Simon Gratz (girls) and Baton Rouge Catholic (boys) won. Minor anchored in 47.2.

Headliners

Every year, the Golden South Classic executive committee presents the Hartwell Conklin Award to a person who has contributed greatly to track and field. This year, the award was a double pleasure because it went to George and Jeannie Loper of Starke Bradford County. Loper has been coaching track for 51 years, has been coaching in Florida since 1963 and at Starke since '67. He has brought athletes to the Golden South and has worked in some official capacity for the 21 years of the event. His wife has worked at the meet, particularly in awards, for nearly two decades. Earlier this year when George had a stroke, Jeannie helped coach the team. George worked the meet Saturday at Disney's Wide World of Sports aided by a walker and Jeannie's support.

The one-hour rain delay and two rain showers should not have come as a surprise to Pete Boudreaux, track coach at Baton Rouge (La.) Catholic. The last time Boudreaux brought his team to Central Florida was 1994, and his star track athlete was a running back named Warrick Dunn. It was the only time in 21 years the Bert W. Martin Golden South Classic was rained out. This year, Boudreaux brought another celebrated running back/sprinter in Travis Miner. Also in '94, an Alabama state champion named Mike Moran, now running for Tennessee, came to the meet. This time, his kid brother Jeff, Alabama state 800 champ, was in town for the rain delay. Boudreaux was relieved Saturday's race was run and the rain could no longer be blamed on his team.

All year long, Boone's Kelly Greeno and Sebastian River's Sarah Adams were competitors and friends in the girls pole vault. Saturday at the Golden South Classic, both cleared 11 feet and barely missed good attempts at 11-6. Adams was declared the winner on fewer misses. Both girls said they would continue vaulting for the University of Florida, where they have signed track grants. Greeno said she is interested in studying physical therapy and spent time in the Orlando Regional Rehabilitation Services tent asking questions pertaining to her future.

When all the faxing and phone calling had finished, Walt Disney World Track's Jeff Wentworth said he had entered 494 athletes in the meet from 14 states plus Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Colombia and Jamaica.

Talk about cutting it close. The Golden South Classic has always battled end-of-the-year high school commitments such as graduations. Mainland hurdler, Antoine Maddox, who finished second at the Class 5A state meet in the 110 hurdles and fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles, had a 9 a.m. graduation ceromony at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach to attend to on Saturday. Maddox and his coach, Earl Jackson, jumped in a car and were on Interstate 4 by noon, arriving at Disney World around 1:30 p.m. Maddox, who competed in the 110 and 400 hurdles, had less than 20 minutes to warm up for his preliminary event. Maddox placed fifth to advance to the finals, where Maddox ran a 14.49, and finished seventh. Terrance Trammell of Southwest DeKalb (Ga.), the individual winner, ran a 13.42 to set a meet record.

-- BILL BUCHALTER and PETER THOMSON