Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990 TAG: 9005190218
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
There have been a few over the years, but for the most part, Roanoke Valley District teams have relied on field events and sprints for most of their points.
However, Cave Spring has become the exception under former Virginia Tech runner Lori Taylor.
The Knights have moved up in cross country circles in the two years that Taylor has coached. Friday, the Knights' girls finished third in the Group AAA Northwestern Region track meet thanks to some fine distance running and outstanding performances by Jill Fountain in the discus and shot put.
Distance runner Jenny Sheets won the 800 meters and finished third in the 1,600 meters as expected. Sheets, a senior, has been running only two years and has shown as much natural ability as any runner in the Roanoke area in years.
But the future of Cave Spring might lie with freshman Erin Layne, who placed in the girls' 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
Taylor also coaches the boys' distance runners, and John Hawthorne, a junior, placed in the 1,600 and 3,200.
The distance fever has even spread to the William Fleming boys' team. The Colonels outdueled Cave Spring to win the 3,200 relay as Mike Reed made up a lot of distance on the last leg and then nipped the Knights' Dwight Taylor at the finish line.
While the Cave Spring girls finished third behind E.C. Glass and North Stafford, the Fleming boys, expected to be a factor in the the Group AAA meet next week at Newport News, managed only a third-place tie with Gar-Field behind runaway-champion GW-Danville and Heritage.
As for the distance running, that could be a factor at the Group AAA meet. Especially Sheets, who has come so far in less than two years of running.
In winning the 800, Sheets moved ahead of North Stafford's Amy Warford early and never let her back in the race.
"I thought I had enough to hold her off. It was just a matter of doing it mentally, because I had enough physically," said Sheets.
"She got out real well the first 50-60 meters," said Joe Hafey, the head coach at Cave Spring. "Jenny relaxed and ran her race. She didn't let anyone dictate what she was going to do."
Sheets is a protege of Lori Taylor, who specializes in coaching distance runners. Her husband, Steve Taylor, is an unofficial coach for Cave Spring, so the Knights have a double dose of distance coaching.
"What it boils down to is giving confidence to the kids that they can compete with anyone," said Lori Taylor. "If they work hard, it will pay off.
"We try to be positive with them even if the race doesn't turn out the way they wanted. We look at what's wrong and then work to correct it."
Unfortunately for Hawthorne and Layne, they might not have the Taylors around next year. Lori Taylor, a full-time teacher without tenure, has been told she doesn't have a job as of now because of dwindling enrollment in the Roanoke County schools.
"I guess you could say I've been laid off," said the photography teacher. "I was told I was the low one [in experience] on the totem pole.
"There's no consideration of what you do or how good you are. It's who was there first. That's public education. It doesn't seem fair."
Fountain set school records in the shot put (40 feet, 5 1/2 inches) and discus (120-5).
"We videotaped the weight people to see what they were doing wrong," said Cave Spring coach Don Oakes, who works with Fountain and helped her win the Group AAA shot title indoors.
"It worked for the girls, but not for the boys," said Oakes, referring to the fact that the Knights had three girls place in the discus while Matt Sheffey failed to qualify for the boys in the shot.
While Fleming's boys might have been disappointed with their performance as a team, the Colonels had plenty of strong individual efforts.
Reed's finish in the 3,200 meters was great, though it might have cost him in the 800, where he finished third.
"Once I got on the straightaway, I thought I'd catch him [Dwight Taylor] because he was tired. I believe that's the farthest I've ever come from behind," said Reed.
All three Fleming relay teams qualified for the Group AAA meet, and Reed anchored the 1,600-meter team to a victory.
Don Smith gave the Colonels a victory in the boys' 400 with a time of 49.79 against a strong wind.
"The object was to pass people in front of me and not worry about those who were behind me," said Smith, who started slowly in the race. "I thought I could finish in the top two. Of course I wanted to win, but I didn't want to finish worse than second."
Fleming coach Rudy Dillard said his team still has enough runners to compete for the state title. "I'm a little disappointed in the field events," he said, "but if the kids can perform next week, they can do OK."
by CNB