Former Track Star Awakens

Darrell Robinson, once one of the top sprinters in the world, was alert and communicating after coming out of a coma, a hospital official said.

Robinson, 32, was taken to Harborview Medical Center on March 25 after police found him unconscious in a car in a parking lot.

His sister told The Seattle-Post Intelligencer that Robinson had fallen into the coma after drinking antifreeze in a suicide attempt.

Robinson grew up in Tacoma and went to college at Houston and Washington. He was the 400-meter national champion in 1986, when he was ranked No. 3 in the world in his event.

Robinson has lived in Seattle the last couple of years and is unemployed. He suffered from mental illness and had sought help, his sister said.