ATLANTA, Ga.- A house fire near B.T. Harvey Stadium delayed the start of the Morehouse Relays by 25 minutes because of heavy smoke and ash, but the Clayton College & State University men's and women's track teams overcame the anxiety and battled the 30-degree temperatures to put on a good show iu the programs' first competition as an official varsity program in school history.

Junior Aidita Gibson led the Lady Lakers with a first place finish in the 3,000-meter (1 1:32.95) and a third place finish in the 1,500-meter (5:18.76). Senior Mary Schwerdt placed fourth in the 800-meter and fifth in the 1,500-meter, while freshman Jessica LeRoy ended up in third in the 3,000-meter.

The women's distance medley relay team (Gibson, LeRoy, Jan Trainor, Schwerdt) led for most of the race until Berry College All-America Michelle Abernathy passed Schwerdt with two laps to go in the 1,600-meter leg. CCSU finished in second in the relay.

On the men's side, sophomore Gary Ginn placed sixth in the 5,000-meter race with a personal-best time of 16:08.4, topping his previous best of 16:22.2. Ginn, Danny Brock, Steven Parrish, and Tye Walker teamed up to finish third in the 4x800-meter relay and fifth in the distance medley relay. In the 1,500-meter run, Brock, Walker, and Parrish
all recorded top-10 finishes.

"I was very pleased with Aidita's win in the 3,000m and her third-place finish in the 1,500," said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. "Steven ran gutsy in his leg of the 4-by-800 while Gary has made some solid gains in the 5,000 from last year. I truly believe he (Gary) can get down to sub-15:40 before the end of the season."

Clayton State, which ran in just the distance events at Morehouse, will compete with a full squad at the Emory Classic next Saturday.

''We made a respectable showing in our first official track meet," said Mead. "Obviously the wind and the cold hampered the performances, but both squads had a good workout. "This meet gives us a good starting point to build on.With an exception here and there, I thought we ran somewhat flat. We don't yet have that killer instinct when it comes to
racing."