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Bay area tryouts give rise to Winter Olympic dreams

For some, it's a lark. But others have realistic visions of U.S. bobsled, skeleton glory.

By PETE YOUNG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 12, 2002

TAMPA -- Cornelius Friendly is taking one last stab at glory.

Emily Wehr and Devon Sibole thought it looked really cool at the Olympics.

Joe Hegba and Camille Bratton are seeking a fresh outlet for their prodigious track talents.

These five collegiate (or ex-collegiate) athletes, along with about 40 others, convened at the South Florida soccer stadium Friday and Saturday to try to prove themselves worthy of an invitation to Lake Placid, N.Y., to train for a spot on the U.S. Olympic bobsled and/or skeleton teams.

The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation stopped in Tampa for the first leg of its summer recruitment tour.

"We haven't done a national recruiting tour since 1994, but we really want to start recruiting for 2006 and 2010 (Olympics)," said Tom Allen, the recruitment tour director. "We're going to be recruiting hard for the next three years."

Many at USF were there on a lark and had little chance of impressing the federation. Others, however, were following realistic visions of Olympic glory.

Friendly, 34, is a former running back and track athlete at Purdue and Central Florida who owns a trucking business in Orlando. He heard about the tryouts on television and for several weeks trained for the four-item test: five consecutive hops, vertical jump, 30-meter sprint and 30-meter fly (a sprint with a running start).

"I hadn't trained in eight years, but I'm down to 225 pounds. I'm probably the biggest guy out here today," Friendly said. "I sure would (like to be invited to Lake Placid). I wouldn't have a problem going up there at all."

Except for his age -- Friendly is older than most prospective candidates -- he fits the mold.

"Historically, track and field and football makes the best transition (to bobsled)," Allen said.

The three U.S. bobsledders who were administering the tests at USF all come from football or track backgrounds. Garrett Hines, a silver medalist in the four-man bobsled in Salt Lake City, and five-time Olympian Brian Shimer, originally from Naples, both played football in college. Steve Mesler, an alternate on Hines' team in Salt Lake City, is a former decathlete at Florida.

Speed and power is where it all starts in bobsled. The sled drivers pluck the best pushers -- those with the best strength/speed combination -- to be on their teams.

Many in the sport, including the driver on Hines' team, Todd Hays, began their careers at recruitment tryouts. Sibole and Wehr, former athletes at Palm Harbor University High School, became hooked on bobsled while watching the Olympics.

"We've always wanted to be on the bobsled team. You think we're kidding, but we're not," said Wehr, 20, who just wrapped up her sophomore year running track and cross country at Florida State. "We saw it on the Olympics and we were obsessed with it."

"We thought, 'We can be a bobsled team,' " said Sibole, 18, who just finished her freshman year playing soccer at Penn. "Then we came out here and found out we can't. What did they say were were?"

"Average," Wehr answered, as both laughed. "But it was awesome. It was really cool."

After the final session was completed Saturday, the federation packed up to leave for Washington, the next stop on the tour. Just then, a van from Gainesville arrived.

Hegba and Bratton climbed out. It was dusk at the end of two long, hot days, but it was an easy decision for the federation to set things up again: Hegba is built like Bo Jackson.

Hegba, 26, recently graduated from Miami, where he ran the 100 and 200 meters, and he's an Olympic track and field hopeful. He registered the second-fastest 30-meter (3.73 seconds) and 30-meter fly (3.04) times of the weekend and had the best vertical leap (35 inches). Bratton, an 800-meter runner at Florida, also had impressive results.

Both piqued the interest of Allen, who said he will be contacting "five or six" from the USF tryout about coming to camp in Lake Placid late in the summer.

"If I can go to the Olympics in both the bobsled and track and field, I'll be a happy man," Hegba said. "I'll have a lot of things to tell my kids."

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