THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996 TAG: 9604050625
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH POMPEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Lashonda Cutchin walked around the Colonial Relays with two of her most prized possessions Thursday.
In the Bayside sprinter's arms was a teddy bear, and at her side was her little brother C.J.
``My little brother, my teddy bear and my mom are my good-luck charms,'' Cutchin said. ``My mom is in the stands, so I have all three of them here today.''
The junior's good-luck charms worked as she walked away with her second consecutive Colonial Relays 100-meter title with a time of 12.24 seconds.
``I was kind of scared at first,'' Cutchin said. ``In the trials, I heard that a girl in the heat after mine ran a time of 11.61.
``But I stayed relaxed and once the gun went off, I was good.''
Cutchin - also the defending Group AAA state champion in the 100 - used a burst of energy to surpass Neptune's Tysha Crichlow at the 40-meter mark.
``I have real bad starts,'' she said. ``They got to get better. But I think my finish in the best.''
Unfortunately for her competition, her meet wasn't finished at the end of the race.
Cutchin teamed up with Twylite Pope, Ebony Shelton and Tamika Williams on the Marlins' second-place 400 relay, which finished in 47.87.
``I think we can go under 47 seconds when we get our exchanges right,'' Bayside coach Keith DeLong said. ``We will surprise some people at the Penn Relays (in Philadelphia later this month).''
Williams, Cutchin, Shelton and Davon Lamb also placed second in the 1,600 relay (3:53.67).
Bayside wasn't the only South Hampton Roads team to shine.
Great Bridge walked away with three medals.
Leading the pack for the Wildcats was Charndra Lewis. The junior shocked herself with a second-place discus toss of 120 feet, 4 inches.
``I was mad when I threw the discus,'' Lewis said of her state qualifying toss. ``I didn't like the way the discus landed. It went up in the air and came down on a slant.''
Lewis also finished fourth in the shot put with a toss of 35- 1/2. Teammate Kalisha Brown placed seventh in the long jump.
While Great Bridge and Bayside walked away with medals, Kempsville's Charlette Fayton's dream of a second-consecutive 100-meter hurdles title was shattered.
William Penn's Jalima Levine won in 13.96, while Fayton finished in eighth place (15.30).
Today's competition begins with the college men's shuttle-hurdle relay at 9 a.m. by CNB