DEMUS DEBUTS HURDLER GOES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

Yolanda and Duaine Demus began saving for a trip to the 2008 Olympics during their daughter Lashinda's senior year of high school in 2001 in anticipation of her qualifying for the Beijing Games.

The Demus family was forced to revise their financial planning after Lashinda qualified for the Athens Games. She will make her Olympic debut in the 400-meter hurdles after qualifying at last month's U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento.

The problem was solved when they sold their recently purchased pick-up truck to fund the trip to Athens to watch Lashinda, who recently completed her junior season at the University of South Carolina.

``It's an expensive trip, but they are really happy and excited for me,'' Lashinda said. ``They've been a big support.''

Talk of the Olympics began for Demus, 21, in high school where she was a two-time Track & Field News Athlete of the Year. The Palmdale resident set a national record with a time of 39.98 seconds in 2001 as a senior at Long Beach Wilson High. She became the first girl to break the 40-second mark.

In the first full season in the 400 hurdles as a freshman at South Carolina in 2002, Demus twice set the world junior (age 19 and under ) record in the NCAA championships and World Junior Championships.

``The Olympics have always been one of my dreams,'' Demus said. ``It hasn't settled in yet, I guess I'll feel it when I get on the plane. It feels good to accomplish it. Now there's a lot more to do.''

An appearance in the Olympic final could be within reach for Demus, who has run the fifth-fastest time in the world this year with a career-best 53.43 in the Olympic Trials. Demus led the final at the Trials until hitting the ninth hurdle and finished third.

Nevertheless, Demus' time moved her into seventh on the all-time U.S. list. It would have been fast enough to win 18 of the previous 20 U.S. championships and would have placed her second in the 2003 IAAF World Championships.

``Of course, I would have run faster, but you can always say what you were going to do,'' Demus said. ``Making the (Olympic) team is never a sure thing, but I always thought that I was capable.''

Demus has never had to look far for inspiration. Her mother, Yolanda, was an AIAW collegiate sprint champion at Cal State Los Angeles. In high school, Demus trained under former high hurdles world-record holder Earl McCullouch. Demus' younger sister, Shana, excelled in basketball at Palmdale High and earned a scholarship to Cal State L.A.

At South Carolina, Demus works out with Gamecock assistant coaches and 2004 Olympians Melissa Morrison, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 hurdles, and Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 110 high hurdles.

South Carolina coach Curtis Frye will serve as the U.S. women's sprint and hurdles coach at the Athens Olympics. The opportunity to train with Frye was among the reasons that swayed Demus to move across the country from Palmdale to Columbia, S.C.

Frye has been working with Demus, a right-leg lead hurdler, over the past three years to begin alternating lead legs during the final half of the 400 hurdles. Maturity has been equally important.

``She has grown and flowered,'' Frye said. ``She acknowledges when she makes a mistake and leads others in the right direction.''

The Olympics will be the culmination of a season that has seen Demus drop more than a second from her previous best off her world junior record of 54.70, which she set in 2002. In February, Demus set a Southeastern Conference indoor 400 record of 51.78 at the conference championships. She placed second in the 400 hurdles in the NCAA outdoor championships in June despite a lingering hamstring injury.

``I always thought Lashinda had the potential to get (to the Olympics) in college,'' Frye said. ``She is fit, but the first purpose will be to get through the rounds. She did a great job at the Trials. It takes a skill to deal with the anxiety and the management of personal life at the Olympics.''

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Lashinda Demus pulled a surprise by qualifying for the Athens Olympics in the 400 hurdles.

Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News