Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 20, 1990 TAG: 9005200185
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG LENGTH: Long
The Indians completed an unbeaten season by handing the baton to freshman Katie Ollendick. She anchored the 1,600-meter relay to a second-place finish in the last event to snap a 33-33 tie with George Wythe and give Blacksburg the Group AA girls' title with 41 points.
It also was a big day for Blacksburg in the boys' meet, where Lee Cross added championships in the 1,600 and 3,200 to his Group AA cross country title in the fall.
Northside's Brian Burke, who has come out of nowhere this spring, had little trouble winning the boys' high jump, and Salem's Lori Archer won a state title with a personal-best time in the girls' 3,200.
Blacksburg's girls gave Timesland it's ninth consecutive title, a run that started when the Indians won from 1982-1985. Fontaine assured Timesland of a team championship by scoring 32 of Wythe's 33 points to put the Maroons in the lead with four events left.
Only the Indians had the depth to catch Wythe, and they did it the same way they have all season in winning the Region IV and New River District track meets.
"Fontaine runs so well that it takes a whole team to stay with her," said Susan Earle-Price, Blacksburg's first-year coach. "We have a lot of depth. But it always has come down to the mile-relay team every time."
Ollendick cooly made up a big deficit from third place in the 1,600 relay, but couldn't catch Magna Vista. Not dropping the baton was the key, as Blacksburg was, according to regional times, a near lock to score points and break the tie.
"You don't think about that [dropping the baton]. We haven't done it yet and we just decided to do the things we've been doing all year," Ollendick said.
Fontaine was fabulous, winning the 300-meter hurdles and scoring points in five events. It was a performance worthy of comparison to the efforts of Carroll County's Rebecca Russell two years ago and Radford's Traci Houssel and Millicent Shabazz last spring in the Group AA meet.
"I didn't think last night that I would even score, I was so sick," said Fontaine. "It was nerves.
"I've had something to deal with here every year. My freshman and sophomore years, I was injured. Last year, it was nerves. I even thought my hip hurt, but it was probably in my head, so I just blocked it out."
Burke didn't participate in track last year because of his studies, but the Vikings' junior had eliminated all the competition after clearing 6-foot-6. After hitting 6-7, he failed at going for a season-best height of 6-9.
"When I started the year, I wanted to beat 6-0, which I had in junior high," Burke said. "Then I got 6-2 and had to reset my goal for 6-7. Next year it will be 7-0."
An injured Archer limped through her junior year of competition last spring. Saturday, she ran a personal-best time of 11:30 to win the 3,200. Archer wasn't sure she could win until she saw that she had the fastest time of anyone from the regionals.
"Put it this way: I wasn't planning to win it until I saw that," she said. "Then I got a little nervous."
Blacksburg's Jenny Adkisson outdueled old adversary Melissa Bowden of John Battle to win the 800 in one of the day's most exciting races. Then, Adkisson was upset by Christiansburg's Hollie Slusser, a junior, in the 1,600.
Adkisson was hanging on at the finish of the 800 to beat Bowden. "I tripped on my spikes," said the grinning Blacksburg senior. "Really, I ran a good race. I knew it would be close. It's better when someone presses you."
In the 1,600, Slusser came from behind on the last lap to beat Adkisson, who had beaten her by nearly five seconds in the Region IV meet.
"I tried making a move on her at 300 meters, but I couldn't. Then at 200 meters [left], I said I had better go," said Slusser.
Cross stayed with the pack in the 1,600 until the last lap. Then, he opened up a lead on Western Albemarle's Mark Smith before almost being caught at the end.
"I felt Smith has a better kick than me, so I wanted to have a little lead before the last 100 meters or he'd outkick me," Cross said.
After his 3,200 victory, Cross was asked if he was the king of state Group AA distance runners with his sweep of all the crowns. "No comment on that," he said. "But I have a lot of respect for Smith, Christiansburg's [Harley] Johnson and [Brian] Eigel. If it wasn't for competition like them, I couldn't do this."
Christiansburg's boys finished third, even though they didn't win an event. Western Albemarle dominated.
"We sort of figured that would be the case," said coach Randy Bailey, who has been building the Blue Demons' program.
Patrick County's Mark Hiatt, headed to Brigham Young, won the boys' 800 in 1:56.4.
"I'm going to walk on for track, but hopefully this will give me some notice and they'll give me a scholarship," said Hiatt.
Keywords:
TRACK
by CNB