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Cowboy adjusts to success

Gaither freshman Amanda Quick has won four races this season.

By ROD GIPSON
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 14, 2002

TAMPA -- Amanda Quick has no problems adjusting.

Not as a youngster dealing with asthma. Not as a home-schooled student coming to terms with life in public school. And especially not as a freshman runner for the Gaither cross-country squad.

But Quick might have pulled off her most impressive adjustment last week at the Class 4A, District 4 meet.

Just behind the leaders, Quick and a pack of others followed the front-runners off the course and onto a path that led to a wall. Once race officials allowed the runners to rejoin the race, Quick pounced on her opportunity and sprinted to the head of the line and won by nearly 19 seconds.

Fresh off of that success, Quick will try to lead her Gaither squad to the state meet with a top finish at the region meet Saturday at Cypress Grove Park in Orlando.

"I'm running pretty well right now," Quick said. "I'm peaking at the right time, which is what is supposed to happen. So everything is going as planned."

And as planned by Gaither coach Ladd Baldwin.

Baldwin, a neighbor, recognized the athletic talent in Quick a few years ago, but also could see that instruction and fine-tuning was needed.

A runner and soccer player as a youngster, Quick picked up the fine points of being an athlete with ease. Hydration, nutrition, rest and learning to run a comfortable first mile were things Quick learned.

"She loves the sport of running and was a natural," Baldwin said. "But her only weakness was strategy. That's the thing we had to work on."

It obviously has worked.

In her first season of high school competition, Quick won the Bay Cup race, the Tiger Trails, the West Hillsborough Invitational and last week's district meet.

"It's been a little bit of a surprise but not a lot," Quick said. "I have trained a lot and worked really hard and it's been worth it."

The next part of Quick's plan is to qualify for the state meet and top the best Gaither finish, which is eighth. It'll take more than just a strong effort, Baldwin said.

"The competition is tougher but that's what we've worked towards," Baldwin said. "We've run against higher competition all year so when we got to districts and regionals we'd be ready."

Quick's toughest competition at state might come from Bloomingdale's Jessica Forrester, Orlando Oak Ridge's Lavera Morris and her own teammate, Kate Truesdale. In Truesdale, the school record-holder in the half-mile, and No. 3 runner Heather Dickman, the Cowboys have a formidable lineup.

"We want to get to state and we know we all have to run together," said Truesdale, a senior and consistent top-five finisher this season. "And we need our third, fourth and fifth runners to do well.

"It's more intense reaching the final stage of the season, but we feel like we're ready."

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