Frank Davis Jr. played three sports at Monroe High School in Hamlet in the late '50s, so it was no surprise when one of his daughters got antsy to run track. Two of Davis' co-workers at IBM had kids with the same itch.

That led the three fathers to begin putting their combined two boys and two girls through the paces on spring afternoons in 1975. Word got around. Soon 15 kids were stretching, burning through speed intervals, gasping for breath and endlessly circling the track to build the stamina for distance events.

Then there were 30.

From that slender start, the Durham Striders today is a track and field juggernaut of 300 athletes ages six to 18 with a national reputation. Striders routinely qualify for Junior Olympics competition and earn college scholarships.

This weekend the track and field club hosts the Russell E. Blunt East Coast Invitational at Duke University's Wallace Wade Stadium. Up to 2,500 school-age athletes from the East Coast, several states in the Midwest and Mexico and Bermuda are expected to compete. Admission is free. For details, see www.durhamstriders.com.

This weekend's invitational is a warmup for the 26 Striders who have qualified for the Junior Olympic National Championships next weekend in Omaha, Neb. Such excellence is about how it goes for the 33-year-old track club whose athletes stay in the headlines.

Former Strider Kim Graham was a 1996 Olympics gold medallist in the 4x400 meter women's relay. Rising UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore Patience Coleman took first in the ACC high jump this year. And Jacinda Evans just won four individual state championships in 4-A high school competition. She was named state Gatorade Athlete of the Year en route to accepting a full track scholarship to UNC starting this fall.

But being a Strider is about more than medals, 90 minutes of training three evenings a week and traveling to meets almost every weekend during a season that goes from January until August.

"We win more than most," says Davis, an N.C. State University master's graduate who is the Striders head coach and holds the same position at Southern High School. "But that's not what we teach. We're about doing the best you can do. We're old-school. No swearing, no disrespecting the coaches and administrators. We don't tolerate it. We have high expectations."

The approach spills over into the classroom. Ninety percent of the Striders make honor roll. On average each year seven Striders receive full or partial college scholarships.

The Striders' annual membership fee is $40. But 40 to 60 percent of the team members need financial help. "If they come to practice regularly, we don't turn 'em away," says Davis, whose athletes travel from Raleigh and Burlington to train at the N.C. Central University track.

Some of the kids who show up don't understand the discipline and focus required, he says.

"They're totally all over the place," says Davis, who took the Striders' head coaching reins in 1980.