Derrick and Co. going to California

The big-ticket meets haven't stopped for Neuqua Valley distance king Chris Derrick and his Wildcats teammates.

Derrick -- the 2007 Class 3A cross country individual titlist, Nike Team Nationals winner and Gatorade national boys cross country runner of the year -- has been invited to compete at this weekend's Arcadia Invitational in California. He'll be running in the 5,000-meter race Saturday night.

Neuqua teammates Danny Pawola, Aaron Beattie and Jim Riddle have been invited as well, and each will compete in the 3,200.

"He wants to go down there and run a good time. And I'm pretty sure he can," Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kennedy said of the Stanford-bound Derrick, whose time of 13 minutes, 52 seconds at Dettweiler Park to win Class 3A cross country led the nation's boys 3-milers.

A look at the records entering the 41st Arcadia Invitational shows no other Illinoisans on lists chock-full of California runners. Derrick could start something in the inaugural 5K event.

In the 3,200 the Neuqua boys will have huge challenges from the likes of Utah's Luke Puskedra and California's German Fernandez, Nos. 1-2 in boys 5K cross country events nationally.

Fernandez has gone 8:53.6 outdoors this year while defending Arcadia champ Puskedra comes off an 8:49.58 Nike Indoor National 2-mile win.

"Personally, I'm not ready to hang with Puskedra," said Pawola, a junior whose best 3,200 outdoor time is 9:16.64.

"We'll see what I can do. I'd like to get out there, get close to 9-flat."

For the Neuqua foursome just to be considered is an honor, Pawola said.

"It means a whole lot to be invited out there. It's really a prestigious meet, and for them to consider us and to bring us out there really means a lot," he said.

"It's going to be great competition, and to see how we fit up against the best in the country is going to be a great experience."

Dual threat: Driscoll's Pierre Washington-Steel has a name begging for a catchy handle.

Or two.

He could have one nickname for each of his spring sports. Washington-Steel, a sophomore transfer, is running track and playing baseball for the Highlanders.

At the start of each week, Driscoll track coach Pat Ryan and baseball coach Sean Bieterman plot out Washington-Steel's course of competition.

Weekday baseball games and weekend track meets -- and splitting time between both practices on off-days -- seem to work.

"I think he kind of gets a thrill to be able to do two sports at once," said Ryan, who added that while it's acceptable policy at Driscoll it takes a "special" athlete such as Washington-Steel to pull it off.

"He seems to be enjoying it," Ryan said. "There doesn't seem to be any problems with his grades and he's handling it fine. His parents are supportive of it."

In baseball his main asset is speed in the outfield and on the basepaths (recalling another dual-sport Washington -- Herb Washington, a briefly converted track athlete who as "designated runner" stole 31 bases for the Oakland A's in 1974-75).

Saturday at Immaculate Conception's Knight Invite at Elmhurst College, Washington-Steel earned male athlete of the meet honors while winning just one race.

He ran the 100-meter dash in an official 10.9 seconds. A finish-line timer told Ryan his stopwatch had it as 10.81.

In his first varsity meet Washington-Steel already was challenging Joe Gonski's school-record 10.8.

The sophomore took second in the 200 at 23.1 and anchored a third-place 400 relay in which he erased much of a 25-meter deficit.

It typically takes more than one victory to earn such an honor, but Washington-Steel was named the Knight Invite's outstanding male performer.

"All the coaches seemed to be real impressed with his 100 time," Ryan said. "He blew everybody away."

Stormin' Norman: Did Spud Webb start like this?

Like the 1986 NBA slam dunk champion, Hinsdale South senior high jumper Norman Frazier gets a lot of altitude without a lot of height.

Standing 5-foot-5 in bare feet, Frazier went downstate in high jump last year after clearing 6-1 at the Lyons Twp. sectional. He went 6-0 in Class AA preliminaries, failing to reach Saturday's finals.

Hinsdale South assistant coach Dave Jackson said Frazier's unusually short height for a high jumper made him the most popular athlete in the event.

"It was really mind-blowing to me," Frazier said, "because kids knew who I was. It was like, 'Norman, Norman,' and everything. And that was nice. Actually kids look up to me. I never thought that would happen."

Last Saturday at the Hinsdale Relays, Frazier went 6-2 to help his three-man team win the high jump.

"I've heard it's not natural for (someone of) my height to have my vertical that high," said "Stormin' " Norman.

"I always wanted to dunk, like Michael Jordan," he said.

He has dunked, using a girls basketball, at Hinsdale South. At a local outdoor court in Darien he's dunked with a regulation ball on a rim bent down a bit by other prospective Jordans.

Through repetition and weight training he's progressed from a personal-best 4-10 as a freshman to 5-5 as a sophomore to 5-6 early in his junior year to his current 6-2.

"It's all motivation. It's all in my head and in my heart," he said.

"This year I want 6-4, and I want to go down to state, and I want to place downstate. That's my biggest goal. Nothing's going to stop me. It's just all in my head."

Don't look back: In his heat of the sprint medley at the Hinsdale Relays at Hinsdale South, Hinsdale Central junior Matt Tweardy seemingly had a comfortable lead with 100 meters left.

His closest pursuer kept coming though, and with 40 meters left in his 800-meter portion Tweardy peered back over his right shoulder to check on his rapidly diminishing lead.

Satchel Paige was credited with saying, "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you."

It was certainly gaining on Tweardy, but he managed to hang on to win by 0.12 seconds.

"I was nervous because everyone was yelling at both me and the other guy. I knew he was right behind me," Tweardy said. "Our coaches tell us never to look back. I don't know, I kind of got nervous."