Preps

AHN's Davis just having some fun

Mallory Davis doesn't see herself as an athlete, but most of her opponents probably would disagree.

By SCOTT PURKS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 24, 2003

TAMPA -- Mallory Davis loves Yoo-hoo chocolate drink, but not in a bottle, "only in the carton, and I don't like it cold." For proof, look no further than her Honda CRV, where cartons are scattered all over the place.

She "looooves to dance," and she'll do it any time, anywhere. Just like she "looooves to cheer," as in cheerleading.

Yet she knows nothing about football, even though cheerleaders often are found at the games.

She does, however, like the Bucs "because they won the Super Bowl."

Even though the Super Bowl was the first football game she had ever seen.

What does this have to do with running track? Well it fits, because in a way it doesn't make sense.

Davis runs track because last year one of her best friends at Academy of the Holy Names, Sara Petrick, said she enjoyed track. So Davis thought, "what the heck, it will be a great way to hang out with friends."

Which she "looooves to do."

What she doesn't love is running.

"More than 100 yards is too much for me," she said. "I never ran, I'm not an athlete, I don't even like sports.

"I don't know what happened, because I came out here and then it turns out I was pretty good at it. It was news to me."

And to the rest of the county.

No matter what Davis says, she is athletic, as she has proved by winning four events in just about every meet she has entered this season. And she is only a sophomore.

Strong. Agile. Quick. Fast. Tough. She takes all those into the 100 and 330 hurdles (personal bests of 16.0 and 49.0 seconds), and the triple and long jumps (bests of 35 feet and 15-5).

The curious thing is that she has done this without a complete training facility at Academy (she trains once a week in the jumps at Jesuit's field).

Maybe that is why she has missed every mark on her jumps "by at least a foot and a half," coach Pamela Legg said. "If she hits her mark on some of those jumps she would be over 35 and 17 feet.

"She just needs more repetitions on that, and she'll get there. If she keeps at it, she'll be jumping way out there."

But how can a girl fit in more training?

Between track, she has cheerleading (competing for the Tampa Bay All Stars, who compete all over the country), and schoolwork (4.3 GPA), and clubs and church and shopping and dance.

"I've been dancing since I was 3," she said. "I can dance hip hop, ballet, ballroom, jazz, you name it and I've probably danced it."

Case in point Thursday night: After practice, on the night before her biggest track event of the season (today's Class 2A, District 10 meet), she raced off to teach boys and girls how to dance "the waltz, and grand right and left, the box step and ... ." And for what?

"For a debutante ball that my mother's sorority is helping sponsor," she said. "Sometimes it's tough when you're teaching older kids, but after they realize you know what you're talking about, it can be fun."

Teaching in such a situation doesn't intimidate her because she "loves being in the spotlight when it comes to dance or cheerleading."

Which is the opposite of track.

"I hate the spotlight in track," she said. "I can't explain why that it is, but that's the way it is.

"All these people are cheering, go, go, go, and I just want to hide in my lane."

What about the competition?

"No, I don't like competition," she said. "I mean I'm not in there saying I'm going to beat this or that person. I'm out there saying, 'Hello, how are you? Hope you have a good race.' I can't say I concentrate real well.

"What I do like is trying to get better each time out. It's a challenge to me."

While she is saying this, or anything for that matter, she displays a huge grin and many of her friends are hanging around to see what she might say.

"She makes everything so much fun," freshman teammate Jennifer Woodham said. "Some day I want to be like Mallory.

"She's always got something interesting going on."

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