`TROOPER' MCBAIN LED T.O. TO TITLE; SENIOR SWITCHES EVENTS TO HELP TEAM.Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer Everyone knew the difference between Royal and Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. in the race for the girls' Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school sports league primarily made up of schools from Ventura County. The Marmonte Leauge is part of the CIF Southern Section. Click here to view the league schedule. track title was razor-thin. It was going to be close. Very close. So close that Thousand Oaks High coach Robert Radnoti devised a way to get one extra point. It involved a sacrifice from one of his runners, but Melissa McBain was more than willing to do what was best for the team. McBain typically runs in the 4x400 relay, the last event of a meet, but Radnoti put her into the 3,200-meter race, the next-to-last event, and asked her to let someone else take her place in the relay. ``When coach first asked me, I was excited,'' McBain said. ``I wanted to do both, but when I finished the two-mile I knew I couldn't do the relay.'' McBain, who also runs the 1,600 and was one of the school's top cross country runners, had only run the 3,200 once before. ``But if it meant the team would have a chance to win,'' McBain said, ``then there was no choice.'' McBain didn't win the race, but she placed fifth, good enough to give the Lancers lanc·er n. 1. A cavalryman armed with a lance. 2. A member of a regiment originally armed with lances. 3. lancers (used with a sing. verb) a. A kind of quadrille. b. a needed point in the race. It was the difference in the team totals as Thousand Oaks finished with 124 and Royal 123. ``She was called upon to help the team,'' Radnoti said, ``and she did what any great team member would have done. In some ways it was a sacrifice, because I know she wanted to get back at Royal (the Highlanders beat the Lancers in the relay in the teams' dual meet). It was a key to us winning. I was real proud of her. She was a trooper.'' Trooper would be an apt description of McBain throughout her senior year, starting with cross country in the fall. She began in top form. McBain was the Lancers' No. 1 runner and placed first in the Seaside Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. in Ventura with a time of 17:58. Then her dreaded shin splints Shin Splints Definition Shin splints refer to the sharp pains that occur down the front of the lower leg. They are a common complaint, particularly among runners and other athletes. acted up. McBain has had an on-again, off-again on-a·gain, off-a·gain adj. Informal Existing or continuing sporadically; intermittent or occasional: an on-again, off-again correspondence. battle with the ailment ail·ment n. A physical or mental disorder, especially a mild illness. since she began running competitively her freshman year. Her hectic schedule gave the splints splints inflammation of the interosseous ligament between the small and large metacarpal bones of horses and an accompanying periostitis and exostosis production on the small metacarpal bone. The metatarsal bones are similarly but less frequently involved. scant time to heal, because once she finished cross country, McBain was playing midfield for the Lancers soccer team. Track followed soccer and club soccer followed track. ``Usually (the shin splints) didn't start bothering me until the end of cross country,'' McBain said, ``but this time they started hurting toward the beginning.'' The pain kept her times above what she would have liked, but McBain considered the season a success. ``I did pretty good,'' she said. ``Of course I would have liked to have done better, but I was happy.'' Soccer season came and went and the constant stopping, starting and jumping gave her aching shins little relief. Track season started and McBain was still feeling the effects. ``Melissa has become really good at ignoring pain,'' said teammate Amanda Armstrong. ``She's been really uplifting to our team, because she has helped people get through their injuries. She's so positive.'' It might have seemed logical to sit out the soccer season, but McBain felt compelled to play. ``Soccer is a sport I love,'' she said. ``So I really wanted to play my senior year. I just couldn't miss out.'' Soccer was McBain's first sport. She started in youth leagues at age 6, when she lived in Chatsworth. She played club soccer for several years and didn't start running competitively until her freshman year at Thousand Oaks. ``I started running to keep in shape for soccer,'' McBain said. Soon, however, McBain noticed that she was having more success in running. ``It was by chance I started running,'' McBain said, ``but it started to become my focus. It was easier for someone my size (she's 5-foot-2) to do better running than in soccer. Soccer is way more physical.'' Her running ability piqued the interest of several colleges. She went on recruiting trips to Chico State and UC Irvine, but neither was the perfect fit for her. Rather than panic, as many student-athletes do, accepting whatever comes their way even if it's not the right situation, McBain has decided to attend nearby Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. . She plans to run for the Raiders, figure out what she wants to major in and then reassess reassess Verb to reconsider the value or importance of reassessment n Verb 1. reassess - revise or renew one's assessment reevaluate , in two years, where she wants to go and what she wants to do. ``I'm definitely going to run there,'' McBain said. ``I don't want to stop that, but I think I'll take a month break after cross country to give my shins some rest.'' A rest she undoubtedly deserves. AT A GLANCE What: Southern Section Division II track preliminaries When: noon, today Where: Mount San Antonio Mount San Antonio, better known to most in Los Angeles as Old Baldy or Mount Baldy, is the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California, USA and the highest point in Los Angeles County. Mount San Antonio has two summits. College in Walnut What's at stake: Top nine finishers qualify for the finals on May 22. What to watch: The Marmonte League was dropped from Division I to Division II before this season, which could benefit local athletes . . . Among athletes to watch: Simi Valley's AnnMarie Turpin, who won four events at the league championship last week (400 meters, 300 hurdles, long jump and triple jump); the Pioneers' Kareem Lacey lac·ey adj. Variant of lacy. in the 200 and 400 races; Royal's Oliver Jackson, the state leader in the long jump who also could move on in the 300 and 110 hurdles; the Highlanders' Kelly Smith Kelly Smith (born 29 October 1978 in Watford) is an English football player who currently plays in England for Arsenal Ladies. Previously, she was the only English player to play in the Women's United Soccer Association, the former professional women's league in the United States. in the shot put and discus discus /dis·cus/ (dis´kus) pl. dis´ci [L.] disk. dis·cus n. pl. dis·ci A flat circular surface; a disk. discus pl. disci [L.] 1. ; Thousand Oaks' Amanda Armstrong in the 800 and 1,600; and the Lancers' Erin Brezinski in the 100 and 200. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO T.O.'s Melissa McBain switched track events to help the Lancers. Andy Holzman/Daily News BOX: (Ran in Conejo Edition only) AT A GLANCE (see text) |
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