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Brown nearly steals show Mail Tribune/Drew Fleming Tennis standout takes second at State of Jefferson By Greg Stiles ASHLAND � An unexpected, yet familiar, figure was seen cruising Lithia Park�s trails Saturday afternoon. She had never run in a high school cross country meet, certainly never appeared on the track. Yet there was Jenny Brown among the leaders in the State of Jefferson Invitational. The St. Mary�s High junior, ranked No. 1 among the Pacific Northwest�s 16-year-old tennis players, has been sidelined by a wrist injury and is scheduled for surgery Oct. 18. Not wishing to vegetate during her time off the court, Brown decided to go for a little training run. "I haven�t run competitively since eighth grade," said Brown, who finished second in a national Junior Olympics meet running for the Southern Oregon Sizzlers that year. "I don�t have time to go running while I�m playing tennis. But I decided I needed to stay in shape. "This past week I did a few short sprints, but I haven�t done any long distance training. But I decided (Friday) to run." It didn�t seem to matter. After 5,000 hilly meters, only Rogue River senior Bobbi Wright � the favorite to win the Skyline Conference championship � was in front of Brown, who covered the course in 20 minutes, 2.3 seconds. "I always dreamed of having Jenny, Martina (Patella, who graduated last year) and Leah (Sawyer) running together," said St. Mary�s coach Joe Volk. "She came to class with a wrist brace and I asked her how it would impact her tennis. I hate to see bad things happen, but it�s certainly worked out for the running end. She�s an amazing athlete." St. Mary�s doesn�t field a tennis team, so Brown plays high school tennis for North Medford. Tennis skills have taken Brown around the country. But all those tournaments began to take their toll and her wrist began aching last summer. Her last match of consequence was Aug. 14 in a 16s hardcourt tournament at San Diego. "I played too much tennis and pulled some ligaments on the top of the wrist," Brown said. "It was really depressing when the doctor told me that I would have to have (arthroscopic) surgery." A cyst will be removed and ligaments stitched up during the procedure. The questions will be: 1) How soon before she can run again, and 2) How soon will she play tennis? She figures to be out at least a month from tennis, missing a sectional qualifier in Eugene for a national tournament in December at Phoenix. "I�m hoping to get a waiver because of my injury," Brown said. She�s open to fulfilling at least part of Volk�s dream � sans Patella � if she gets clearance to run before the Oct. 26 district meet at Roseburg. "Running is my gift," she says, "but I haven�t been able to take advantage of it. If my injury isn�t too bad, I�ll probably run." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.