THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080536
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
As an Iowa State sophomore, Chris Meyers was not good enough to compete in the 1985 NCAA cross country championships. So Meyers wasn't on the plane that crashed on the way back to Ames, killing two coaches and three teammates, including her good friend Sheryl Maahs.
Somewhere along the 26.2-mile course she will run Saturday in Columbia, S.C. - as one of four South Hampton Roads' women in the Olympic Marathon Trials - Meyers is bound to mentally revisit that tragedy.
And to use it as another reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
``That's how I connect to them, through running,'' says Meyers, 30, a recent arrival to Norfolk. ``Sheryl was a big inspiration to me.''
These days, Meyers also draws ample support and encouragement from this area's close-knit running community. The same goes for Lorraine Hochella, Leslie Fedon-Willis and Barbara Kannewurf, all of whom will line up with the nation's elite to run for three U.S. Olympic team spots.
And next weekend, Virginia Beach's Mike Harrison will run in the men's marathon trials in Charlotte.
While also noting the presence of Williamsburg's Claudia Kasen in the field of 170, Hochella is considered to have the best chance of the local bunch to crack the top three.
It's the third time around at the Trials for Hochella, 32, Old Dominion's women's cross country coach. She placed 48th in Pittsburgh in 1988, and in '92 in Houston she was 11th.
Hochella is confident she can contend again on the difficult, hilly Columbia course.
``I also realize everything has to be right on that day, but that goes for everyone,'' Hochella says. ``The marathon is a very different animal. You can be in the best shape of your life going in, but if one little thing goes wrong
It can ruin some major dreams, basically, ones that have been in the works for years. Portsmouth's Kannewurf, for instance, a pharmacist at the Naval Medical Center, targeted this race four years out.
``I just decided to see how good I could be,'' says Kannewurf, 26, who two years ago hired former Olympian Matt Centrowitz to coach her and has driven to Annapolis, Md., most every Saturday since to train with him.
Kannewurf, though, has run just one marathon, in Chicago last October, when she finished 17th and qualified for the Olympic Trials. She says she wants to go into Saturday almost as a blank slate, with no expectations but to enjoy it.
``I'm trying not to think about (the race's magnitude),'' she says. ``I don't want to get engrossed in it. Hopefully I'll run a good time and see what happens. And anything can happen. It's a long way.''
Virginia Beach's Fedon-Willis, 32, can relate. The Landstown Middle School teacher, who qualified out of her city's Shamrock Marathon, has adopted the ``they put their shoes on just like me'' mindset.
Realistically, Fedon-Willis knows she faces long Olympic odds. But she's also a road-tested ex-triathlete, unfamiliar with shrinking from a challenge.
``I feel like they are my peers. I won't be carrying my autograph book,'' Fedon-Willis says. ``I've raced against a lot of these women before. I've also seen their backs, a lot of them. ...
``I'm just going to go down there and enjoy being in the company of the greatest runners in the country.''
Which is to say, just being there to compete well is a victory in itself.
There's nothing like an Olympic year, and the special motivations of marathon runners, to reinforce the most enduring truths of sport. by CNB