Kennedy's Many captures 1,600-, 3,200-meter races

By MARK O'HARA
Journal Staff Writer

BALTIMORE
Kennedy High School's Kim Many, running like everyone has told her she could, won the 1,600- and 3200-meter races last night at the Maryland Class AA indoor track championships at Baltimore's Fifth Regiment Armory.

Many's two victories were the only highlights of the night for county athletes as she was the only individual winner despite many season-best times.

Whitman's girls team finished third overall, 11 points behind second-place Largo. As expected, Old Mill ran away with the girls title with 89 points.

On the boys side, again Whitman had the best finish among county teams, eighth place. And as expected, Woodlawn finished on top with 88 points, beating out Meade, which scored 63.

Of Many's two victories, there's no question the 3,200 was the one everyone noticed. Many, who transferred to Kennedy from Atholton High School, covered the distance in 11:28.3, the fourth best recorded time in a state indoor meet. It was a race Kennedy Coach Al Bellman told her not to run.

"It was her decision to run the race," Bellman said. "I told her if she got tired or at any time questioned if she could make it, just to take it easy."

Instead, Many won the race easily, beating Bowie's Robin Quinlan by 10 seconds and Whitman's Virginia Mattingly by 18.

"I felt like if I didn't run it (3,200) that it would be like wimping out," Many said. "I wanted to be taken seriously as one of the area's good distance runners. No one has taken me seriously because I've always blown the big ones."

"What's impressive is here's a runner who ran when the coach said not to and then ran an almost perfect race," Bellman said. "We've been working on her pace and her lap times (last night) never varied by more than one second. She was back in fourth place much of the race."

The race began with Bowie's Quinlan, the defending indoor champion and the state cross country titlist during the fall, sprinting out to almost a quarter-lap lead.

"Robin went out too fast," Many said. "That's crazy. I know because I've done it before. I knew if I kept my pace I would catch her."

Many caught Quinlan in the 12th lap of the 16-lap race and pulled away about a lap later.

In the 1,600 race, Many's victory wasn't as exciting or impressive as she won in 5:16.6, almost 13 seconds ahead of Old Mill's Donna Zubalik.

"Just past the half-mile mark I realized that no one was going to pass me," Many said. "So I relaxed, well maybe not relaxed, but just didn't push myself hard enough."

The junior thinks her night in Baltimore has gotten her over the hump of never winning the big race.

"That's exactly it, it's going to be very positive," Many said. "I don't have a mind problem, but I never ran well in the big ones."

"She's got confidence now," Bellman said. "Now she knows that she doesn't have to beat everyone, but just run her race."

Maybe nothing demonstrated better the frustrations of county athletes, many of whom had their best performances of the season, than the performance of Seneca Valley's Chris Buser.

Last year, Buser won the Class AA shot put title with a throw of 37-feet, 1 inch. Her throw last night was more than two feet better (39-4), but she finished second to Old Mill's Kathy Caldwell, whose shot went 39-8.

It also wasn't Whitman's lucky night. The Vikings had one relay team and two individuals finish second.

Margaret Leeds time in the 800 run was a good 2:26.9, but was six-tenths of a second behind Old Mill's Zubalik. Leeds also finished sixth in the 500 run.

The Vikings Tom Eagleson finished second in the 1,600 run with a 4:29.5.

County athletes who finished in third place were Jimmy Ward (Einstein, 300 dash, 37.6), Colin Jones (Walter Johnson, 1,600, 4:30.7), Ayana Harris (Einstein, 55 dash, 7.2), Whitman girls 1,600 relay team (4:28.7) and Whitman's Christine Boltz (500, 1:23.1).

Photo caption: Whitman's Margaret Leeds runs the final leg of the girls 3,200 meter relay. Whitman's girls team finished third overall.