Hugo Plays Havoc With Sports Events

Athletic events today and through the weekend will be rescheduled because of Hurricane Hugo (Story, Page 1).

Today’s races at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course were canceled, track spokesman Jeff Weissman said. Saturday’s card was not expected to be affected.

The $249,738 Breeders Crown Horse and Gelding Trot, scheduled for today at Freestate Raceway in Laurel, Md., has been postponed until Saturday when it will be the 11th on Freestate’s card.

Races Canceled

Tonight’s races at Charles Town Races in West Virginia were canceled, and a track spokesman said officials were uncertain whether the track will open Saturday.

The storm played havoc with the Middle Tennessee-Georgia Southern football game and may cause some rescheduling of games in South Carolina over the weekend.

Georgia Southern beat Middle Tennessee 26-0 Thursday night at Statesboro, Ga., despite torrential rain and gale force wind. Some fans even went without rain gear and danced in the stands while the teams tried to see through the downpour.

Hugo nearly caused South Carolina to shift its football game with Georgia Tech from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, but South Carolina Sports Information Director Kerry Tharp said today that the game will be played as scheduled.

“We were at the stadium a little bit earlier this morning,” Tharp said. “The stadium’s in fine shape. The lights were on, power is on. Right now, we are planning to play the football game.”

Clemson and Maryland are in a similar situation. The seventh-ranked Tigers’ game with Maryland is expected to begin as scheduled at noon Saturday, but troopers will probably not be on hand to handle the traffic.