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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 4, 2002
CORAL SPRINGS -- In her quest to become the first girl from Shorecrest to win a state title, Jenny Fraser said she figured she would at least have time on her side.
After thumbing through last week's region results, Fraser, a senior, discovered she had the fastest time in her two events, the 400 and 800 meters.
Time, however, did not convert into titles for Fraser on Friday.
Nevertheless, Fraser had a strong performance. She finished second in the 800, third in the 400 and teamed with Whitney Bour, Barbara Chadwick and Emma Boston to finish fourth in the 4x800 relay. Shorecrest's 4x100 team also took seventh in a school-best 52.42 seconds.
"I'm still happy with what I did," Fraser said. "I knew I had a chance to do well, but it's hard to tell how good everyone is by their time. I've run faster before, but I can't complain."
Indian Rocks Christian's Melissa Kotchman also had a big night with a second-place finish in the 1,600, beating out last year's state champ, Tallahassee Maclay's Kara Newell, in the last 200 meters. She also took fifth in the 3,200 in a personal-best 12 minutes.
"I would have liked to run faster in the 1,600, but overall I was surprised with how I did," said Kotchman, an eighth-grader.
Kotchman's teammate, Nate Holden, had a chance to join her as a state runner-up in the boys field.
Running in the 3,200, Holden thought he had finished in second place, not realizing he had another lap to go. He sprinted to catch up with the rest of the field and finished eighth.
Northside Christian's Doug Hunter was fourth in the 110 and 300 hurdles.