THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020504
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
If Billy Edwards had made his fifth-grade soccer team, there's no telling how different his path might have been. That goes for his younger sister, Pam, as well.
Instead Billy traded in his cleats for running shoes, and he's been on the fast track ever since. Sis, too.
``She wouldn't be running if it wasn't for me,'' Billy brags, and Pam shrugs.
``You could say I've followed in his footsteps,'' she says. ``But I'm my own person.''
The brother-sister pair from Tallwood High, both runners up in last week's Beach District championships, head to today's Eastern Region cross country meet at Newport News Park vying for a spot in the state championships on Nov. 11.
Billy, a senior who plans to run at either the Naval Academy or William and Mary next year, has never been to a state cross country meet, and he admits to wanting it badly. Pam, a freshman, has plenty of time for championships, but talk of state stirs her competitive juices.
``Still I'll only be a freshman once, and I can only beat these people once,'' says Pam, gazing at Billy from the sofa in their parents' Beach home. ``Plus, this year I'm setting my standards for next year.''
Pam is the serious one of the two, petite with her shoulder-length brown hair parted in the middle. Billy, lanky with a mass of hair and slumped in a chair, is more the jokester. To put it simply, Pam says with a sly smile, ``He dominates, but I have my moments.''
But they've always gotten along this well, haven't they?
Silence and exchanged looks.
They do get along now?
``At any moment, it could blow,'' Pam assures.
Pam, a two-time city champion in the 800 and 1,600 meters in middle school, has had a dynamite freshman year, losing to only two area runners - Kempsville's Adrienne Parker and Katie Sullivan, who she has beaten since. Ranked No. 2 in South Hampton Roads, she set a personal record at the Newport News Invitational earlier this year at 18 minutes, 45 seconds; and finished seventh at the prestigious William and Mary Invitational.
At 5-foot-3, 89 pounds, she's carrying six less pounds than she did a year ago. Competition drives her, and thanks to Parker, she has an area rival to push her. ``There weren't too many second-, third- or fourth-graders out there training,'' she admits. ``I've never enjoyed running more than I do now.''
Billy laments his own lack of success at regional meets. His first two years of high school, he says, he went out too hard and peaked too early. Last year, he started the year well, but calls his regional ``unexplainable.'' He finished 18th, three spots short of qualifying for state, after running what he calls ``the worst race of my life.''
``He should have been great a long time ago,'' Pam says, and Billy agrees.
This year, Billy set a personal record at the 3.1-mile Mount Trashmore course in 16:47. Ranked No. 5 in South Hampton Roads, he was ninth in the Newport News Invitational and 25th, second from the Southside, in the William and Mary meet.
He began running at age 5, up and down the block with his father, Dan, who runs with the Tidewater Striders. When soccer didn't pan out, he stuck with running. Likewise for Pam, who played soccer as a second-grader but quit. ``I found that I liked the running part more than the soccer,'' she says.
Both Junior Olympic runners, Pam and Billy don't race each other and rarely train together, save for warmups and cool downs. ``We give advice to each other and stuff,'' Pam says.
``More like course tips,'' Billy adds. ``And competition, if I've seen stuff she hasn't.''
Billy has a notebook full of race plans he's written for each contest. He is much more serious about competing now, and Tallwood coach George Versprille says Billy's season has reflected that.
``Billy is more of an endurance runner,'' Versprille said. ``He's really improved his speed this year.
``Pam, being a freshman, was awful scared at first. . . . She has to be one of the top girls in the state.''
Despite all the time they spend between practice and meets, neither is one-dimensional. Billy is class treasurer and active in the Student Council. Pam is an accomplished musician. After the William and Mary meet, she dashed to a cello audition and earned second chair for the ninth-grade regionals.
One problem though.
``They're the same day as state,'' she says. ``So I hope I'm not there.''
After her stellar season, no orchestra should count on her. And Billy has some advice for his sis should she reach state. ``Don't let anybody intimidate you,'' he says. ``Go out and have fun. You're a freshman, remember.''
And she for him? ``Run a smart race,'' she advises. ``I've seen him run some stupid races before, but this is his last chance. It's my first.''
Next year, without her big brother, Pam doesn't expect things to change much.
``Well,'' she says thoughtfully, ``I'll have to walk home from practice.'' by CNB