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Edwards finally gets monkey off her back By DON HUNT EUGENE - At long last, Paris Edwards tasted victory at the Class 4A state track and field meet. The Ashland High senior overcame three years of frustration at Hayward Field Friday when she romped to victory in the 3,000 meters in a time of 10 minutes, 10.55 seconds. Although Edwards collected a state championship in cross country during her junior year, the state track meet had heretofore teased, displeased and tormented her. "I refused to let what happened here in the past affect me today," Edwards said. "I was determined to make this race mine." Edwards finished second in the 1,500 as a freshman and third as a sophomore, then went into last year's state meet as a favorite in both distance events. She led the 3,000 with two laps to go, only to watch every bit of energy vanish from her body. Edwards, who was later diagnosed with a viral infection, staggered across the finish line in eighth place and then scratched from the 1,500 the next day. Her troubles continued last fall at the state cross country meet. Edwards was a heavy favorite in that event, but barely made it to the finish line and spent several minutes in an emergency vehicle following the race. The culprit that day was thought to be the aftereffects of a race in California one month earlier in which Edwards suffered heat exhaustion. Having experienced so much grief over the past year made Saturday's victory exceptionally sweet. "Paris got the monkey off her back today," said Ashland coach Bob Julian, who greeted his star runner with a big hug near the finish line. "She had gotten this label the past year or two where she chokes in the big meet. "Paris buried all the demons today. I've never been happier for a runner in my life." Edwards found herself in a battle with Hood River's Christy Paul and Klamath Union's Liz Lindgren through the first half of Friday's race. But with four laps to go Edwards built a five-meter lead, then increased the gap to 15 meters over the next two laps. There was no collapse this time around, only a strong surge followed by a stronger one as Edwards hit the homestretch with many of the 8,497 fans in attendance rising to their feet and cheering her on. "There was a pretty good wind blowing, and I didn't want those other two girls (Paul and Lindgren) drafting off me the whole race," said Edwards, who is headed to Duke on a track scholarship. "Coach Julian told me to get some separation at the 1,200-meter mark and make them fight the wind themselves, and that's what I did." Edwards' time was about 12 seconds off her lifetime best of 9:58, but she couldn't have cared less about that. Edwards will go after the distance double at 1:30 p.m. today when she lines up for the 1,500. As usual, she'll be one of the favorites. Unlike usual, the pressure will be off. "It wouldn't surprise me to see her win again," Julian said. "She can just go out there and have some fun." In other 4A girls finals Friday, Gresham's Rachel Gibbs won the long jump (17-101/4), Sandy's Jessi Salmela took the shot put (40-21/4) and Glencoe's Elisa Crumley claimed the javelin (151-8). South Medford had one competitor in each of those three events, but Whitney Grant (long jump), Hope Berkey (shot put) and Heather Fossen (javelin) all failed to qualify for the finals. The Panthers did have a couple of events to feel good about, however, as Natasha Wright advanced to the finals of the 400 and Noi Hilgendorf did likewise in the 800. The North Medford girls had no one competing in Friday's four finals, but the Black Tornado had a reasonably good day in qualifying. The Tornado advanced both of its relay teams into the finals, freshman Brittany Hodges made it to the finals in the 200 and 400 and senior Jennifer Abbott qualified for the 200 finals. Abbott just missed qualifying for the 100 finals, and Sara Rountree narrowly missed qualifying for the 100 hurdles finals. "We got most of our people through," North Medford coach Mark Hodges said. "We need to clean up the handoffs on our short relay, but otherwise everything went pretty well." Benson set a meet record in the 4x400 relay during qualifying. The Portland school, a heavy favorite to win its third straight girls 4A state championship, covered the 1,600 meters in 3:53.85, breaking the old mark of 3:54.93 set by South Eugene in 1994. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.