ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: COMMENTARY
SOURCE: RAY COX
Shelli Stevens, a Blacksburg High School senior whose athletic ability exceeds the norm, can answer a help-wanted ad for any position on a track and field team.
When it comes to the distance events - footraces of 1,600 or 3,200 meters for those of you not literate in track lingo - Stevens must plead inexperience. Those two events are the only ones in which she has not participated in in a high school meet since she has been on the Blacksburg varsity.
Inexperience does not equate with incompetence, though. She can run a distance race should the spirit move her. She tested her long-range running ability when she went out for the cross-country team last fall.
``Sarah Hendricks had been asking me to run cross country and finally I did it,'' Stevens said.
Hendricks is Stevens' classmate and the two of them go back a ways, at least in a sporting sense. Hendricks and Stevens have been frequent teammates in track.
Now, they are senior leaders on the team.
``Everybody on the team looks up to them,'' Blacksburg coach Lee Cross said.
Stevens had a good year at cross country, but she's not the distance runner Hendricks is. No shame there. Few are. The point is that Stevens polished her well-deserved reputation for versatility by adding the distance events to her resume.
That isn't to say you should be looking for her to run one of those races any time soon.
``If they ask me to, I will,'' Stevens said. ``Anything to help the team.''
That is so much of a personal slogan that Stevens ought to have T-shirts made up. As it is, she's been running both the hurdles races (the 110 and 300 meters), a leg on the 1,600 relay, and stands prepared to do any of the jumps, usually the long. She's also heaved the discus and can put the shot in a pinch.
Of all the events, she is best known for the hurdles. A year ago, she was a double Group AA Region IV champion in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. The state meet that followed wasn't as happy for her. During the regional meet, she aggravated an old ankle injury. Then she was unable to practice the rest of the week. At state, she ran the hurdles with a heavily taped ankle. In the 300, she was 0.04 of a second out of sixth place and placing.
For one who had known so much success, it was a wrenching disappointment.
``There were a lot of near misses last year,'' she said. ``A lot of close but not quite getting there.''
Typically, she sought the good.
``It's made me better now,'' she said. ``I don't focus on the disappointments. I look at them as a foundation that makes me want to win more.''
The wanting to win part comes easily for her. The girl just loves to compete.
In anything.
Football for example. No, she isn't one of those pioneering girls who have sought to play varsity football. She didn't have time. As you recall, she was running cross country last fall. When it comes to a less formal version of the game of football, she's the first one to lace on some shoes and put on her game face.
``I love football,'' she said. ``I just love it. Our cross-country team had a game with Christiansburg last fall. I wanted to play tackle, but the wimps didn't want to and we played flag.''
Nothing wimpy about Stevens, or any hurdler for that matter. There are as many bone-jarring crashes in the hurdles as there are in a typical Sunday afternoon circuit around a NASCAR track.
Stevens can't get enough, though, so she's signed on to continue her running and jumping next year at Roanoke College.
``I think what they really liked about her was her versatility,'' Cross said. ``She has good speed. I could see her running the 200 or the 400 in college along with the hurdles.''
For the time being, Stevens is dreaming of the day when she'll be able to hurdle her way to a state high school championship.
``I just love track and field,'' she said. ``It's a big part of my life.''
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB