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CLOUDY Temp: 58 °F Wind: WNW at 7 mph Saturday, June 1, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend May 26, 2002 Raiders stand tall on Tiwana’s merits The SOU star finishes third in the 400 meters at the NAIA national meet By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune For someone who got a late start in track, Tiwana Merritt sure comes in early a lot. The Southern Oregon University senior completed a stellar collegiate career Saturday by finishing third in the 400 meters and anchoring the 4x100 relay team to sixth place and All-American status — the first SOU women’s quartet to reach such heights — at the NAIA Track and Field Championships at Olathe, Kan. The Raiders set a school record for All-Americans in the three-day men’s and women’s meet, crowning four on Saturday to bring their total to seven. It eclipsed by one the totals in 2000 and 1988. In addition to Merritt, who didn’t begin competing in track until she reached SOU, and the relay, Megan Heuberger was fifth in the women’s 400 intermediate hurdles and Jeff Bentley fifth in the men’s javelin. Merritt clocked a season’s-best 55.28 seconds, nearly a half-second better than her previous best this year and close to the school-record 55.11 she ran last season. She knew the prospect of a national championship was slight because the eventual first- and second-place finishers had considerably better times than her coming in, and that form held true. Daniela Georgieva of Central Methodist won in 53.65, and Nadia Cunningham of McKendree was runner-up in 53.77. "I knew the other two girls had really good times, faster than I’ve ever run," Merritt said by phone. "I was hoping I could stay with them as much as possible. Obviously, you hope you win. But realistically, if they ran their races and I ran what I’ve been running, they were going to win." Merritt, 24, came to Southern Oregon from Valdez, Alaska, in the fall of 1997 as a basketball player. She’d never run track because her high school didn’t offer it. She performed well enough on the court to be the Raiders’ leading scorer her final season, but track, in which she had an extra year because of a redshirt season, has found a place in her heart. "My favorite would have to be track just because it’s new to me," she said. "I’m still learning the sport. Basketball was something I’d been doing for a long time. It was fun to pick up something new, take it on and see how it goes from there." Here’s how it’s gone: three times an All-American — she was second in the 400 last year when she ran her record time and fifth in 1999 — and a Cascade Conference champion 13 times over. Merritt has come to realize there’s more to running fast than just, well, running, and she’s handled the learning curve fine. "I think I took to it right away," said the environmental science major, who will graduate next month. "I had to learn a lot, but I think that’s good. I didn’t have some of the bad habits that other athletes come in with. The coach was able to take someone and mold them." At the conference level, Merritt has won titles in the shorter sprints as well. But it would have been far too taxing to also run all of the prelims and finals in the 100, 200 and a leg of the 4x400 relay — other events she qualified for nationals in — without risking a spate of poor performances. The 400 is tough enough. "It’s a tricky race," said SOU coach Mike Jones. "It’s an event that takes a lot of experience." In essence, he said, the goal is to go out hard for the first 50 meters, then run in "relaxed fast mode" for the next 150 meters, working hard to maintain speed but not trying to run faster. Halfway through the race, Jones said, "you do whatever you can to bring it home." The one who dies the least down the stretch often fares the best. Merritt, who Jones said has terrific power-to-weight ratio in that she’s strong but light, seemed to accomplish that Saturday. It enabled her to overtake Wendy Brouillette of Doane at the end. The problem was, Georgieva and Cunningham got too far in front. "She was fading less than anyone in the race," said Jones. Merritt, who had hoped to run 54-something, didn’t feel so strong. "I felt like I was falling apart," she said, "but I guess you always feel like that at the end of that race. I’m sure I looked different to all the people spectating than how I felt on the inside." With Merritt leading the way, the women scored 18 points and finished tied for 19th place. The men tallied 12 points and were tied for 25th. Merritt was joined on the 4x100 team by Andrea Eide, Kena Page and Heuberger. They clocked 49.03. Heuberger, only a sophomore, turned in a personal best of 1:03.29 in the long hurdles. "The ideal is to peak at a time when you need to do it," said Jones, "and she did. Desire plays a big role in that. She’s a gutsy runner." Nicole Robertson was 10th in the shot put with a heave of 42 feet, 3½ inches. Bentley’s javelin toss of 200-8 was just short of his season’s best but enabled him to improve on his seventh-place finish of a year ago and become an All-American for the second time. He was third while competing for Oregon Tech before transferring. Sean Peterson was 11th in the 1,500 in 4:01.87, and Richard Bailey was 17th in the discus with a mark of 151-1. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search M Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S