DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040941

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   45 lines

3RD COLONIAL WIN IN 100 FOR CUTCHIN THE BAYSIDE STAR ALSO ANCHORED WINNING 4X100 AND 4X400 RELAYS.

You think Pat Riley could stand to loosen up on his trademark for Lashonda Cutchin? Because Cutchin could put it to better use.

The Bayside track star did Thursday afternoon at the Colonial Relays what Riley never could; she pulled a Three-Peat.

Cutchin won her third straight 100-meter crown, routing second place Denita Eason of Great Bridge by nearly a half-second at the Walter J. Zable Stadium.

``This was the first time I ran the 100 this season,'' Cutchin said. ``I didn't feel nervous, though. The 100's a lot of fun.''

Cutchin - never seriously challenged in the qualifying heat or the finals - dropped her time from last year's 12.24 to 11.94, short of the record 11.6 posted by Krista Berryman of Thomas Jefferson in 1977.

Cutchin also ran the anchor legs of Bayside's first-place 4x400 and 4x100 relay squad.

The meet produced a pair of double winners: outstanding athlete of the meet Nicole Kelly from Bruton and Great Bridge's Chandra Lewis. Kelly was responsible for the only broken record of the day, hitting her third attempt at 5-8 1/4 to set the meet high jump mark previously held by former Great Bridge star Ailsa Curtis, at 5-8.

Kelly also picked up a convincing win in the long jump and ran the anchor legs of the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

``I'm tired, but it's not as bad as usual,'' she said. ``Usually I run six or seven events in a meet, and today I only ran four.''

Lewis took victories in the discus throw (134-7) and shot put (38-9 1/2), events held in a softball field behind the stadium.

Lewis - a member of the Wildcats' basketball team - had only thrown the shot or discus once this season.

``I had about six weeks with the shot and three weeks with the discus after basketball season,'' Lewis said. ``I wasn't expecting to win, and you never know who'll come out of the field, but I didn't have to worry about the others, because I din't know the others.''

Fellow Wildcat Eason was pretty busy as well, placing second in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 8 3/4 inches, right after qualifying for the 100 finals and minutes before the finals themselves.

``I was hitting the boards on the long jump a lot,'' Eason said. ``I hope to improve on that during the season.''

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