THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505070205
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Megan Kaminski's name is missing from its rightful place in the high school record book of the Hampton University Invitational Track Meet.
But next year she will be looking for it - twice, even though she only shattered one record during Saturday's 10 hours of college and track competition.
The Princess Anne distance runner was told she'd set a pair of records with a 5:30.9 clocking in the 1,600-meter run and an 11:41.9 time in the 3,200 meters.
But the sophomore expressed surprise when she heard that her 1,600-meter time had erased a three-year-old mark set by Great Bridge's Nicole Horn at 5:32.02.
``I did better than that last year when I won here,'' insisted Kaminski, and indeed, her 1994 victory came in 5:27.3.
In breaking the 3,200-meter run mark, Kaminski posted her finest time ever.
And she had an unusual explanation for it: ``I went home between races and took a nap.''
A year ago in this invitational Kaminski won the 1,600 and sat around in the stadium until she ran again five hours later. She was second in the 3,200.
This time, her dad drove her home for a little rest.
``I'm expecting her to get down into the (5 minutes and) teens by the end of the season,'' said Princess Anne coach Eddie Diehl. ``She is young and will get stronger.
Diehl views the Hampton meet as ``excellent for the young runners. It's more a fun meet with less pressure on them.''
``It's a good relaxed atmosphere and it also helps the kids qualify for the state meet,'' Hampton U. coach Michael Costa said. ``It certainly is not a moneymaker for us but we're happy to be doing it.''
It might be dubbed a ``Stars of the Future'' meet. Many of the area's top thinclads bypassed this meet to compete in another at T.C. Williams. The Hampton meet provided a chance for some of the less heralded athletes to step forward.
One was Lashonda Cutchins, a sophomore at Bayside. She won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Her 12.2 was three-tenths of a second off her best.
``I would like to get down to 11.6 before the season's over,'' said the confident Cutchins, who predicted her victory in the 200 shortly before she ran.
Another sophomore winner had statisticians scurrying to convert meters into feet. Cox's Jamie Marsh won the pole vault, clearing 3.81 meters. That's about 12 feet, 6 inches but was not a record.
Junior Matt Morgan of Kellam was a double winner, capturing the boys 1,600-meter run in a 4:31.6 time and the 3,200-meter run in 9:51.8.
Wilson's Jenita Harris undoubtedly was the only champion to be scolded by her coach. Harris, a junior, was first in the girls 300-meter hurdles in a 45.8 time.
Said Richard Drake, Wilson's hurdle coach: ``I guess it's a bad coach who chews out a girl when she wins. But at this stage I'm more interested in Jenita's time than whether she wins and I told her how much better she can do in the first part of the race because she does it in practice.'' by CNB