By DOUG LESMERISES
Staff reporter
12/23/2001

Accept Tommy Lord's words with the knowledge that he had recently woken from a nap that had followed a track practice. And practicing for track and cross country almost always makes him grumpy.

"I think I hate running."

A cross country state champion that hates what he does best?

"I hate running," Lord repeated. "I tell everybody that."

The Salesianum junior, a 16-year-old who is the second-oldest of five running siblings, says he hates running. But does he show it?

"I don't really work hard in practice," Lord said. "The other day I didn't go to practice and I was really happy. I was more energetic."

Lord is certainly not the only 16-year-old in the state, or 18-, 30- or 75-year-old for that matter, that isn't always in the mood to push himself. But as proven by the trophies that crowd the counter in the main office at Sallies, Lord is the only one of these sometime slackers to be Delaware's Division I cross country champion. Now he's The News Journal's boys cross country runner of the year.

So is all of this just natural talent, Tommy?

"I guess so," Lord said. "I sure didn't work for it. Most of the other guys on the team work their butts off."

Lord's older sister, Erin, a senior runner at Padua, at first dismissed her brother's version of his lack of appetite for his sport.

"I don't know why he said that," she said.

But Erin Lord knows her brother. She helped her parents talk him into going out for the cross country team as a freshman, even took him out for a run.

"I ran circles around him," Erin said.

"She burnt me," Tom said.

"You don't think that's what a state champion would be saying," Erin said when Tommy's words were passed on to her. "He's just a weird kid. And he can be lazy at times. It's just amazing. He's one of those athletes that doesn't have to train hard and he can still run. It's frustrating for some people because in practice he doesn't have to work that hard and he stays with them and he's just jogging along.

"And then he does say, 'That was easy.' Of course he adds that in. But he has the action to back it up for now."

Lord led a Sallies sweep of the top three places in the Division I state meet. He finished the 3.1-mile race in 16 minutes and 24 seconds, ahead of Ryan Hamill (16:41) and Mike Zeberkiewicz (16:49). Seven Sals finished in the top 20, their team total of 28 points easily outdistanced second-place Middletown's 78.

Lord also finished with the best times at two state courses this season, while teammate P.J. Meany had the best marks at the other three.

The whole season was a huge leap for Lord, who didn't even run varsity at the state meet as a sophomore. Lord felt he held himself back last season and deferred to the older runners. This year his nerves at practice came from the fear that he wouldn't be able to keep up with the rest of his talented team. He got through practice rapping Jay-Z songs to himself.

That would always change on race day.

"I can't stand practice, Lord said, "but I love to race."

What Lord does possess is an intense competitiveness. On race day, the adrenaline flows and he goes.

So what does it matter if Lord would rather drive around in his friends' cars than practice? Who cares if his endurance stops at 3.1 miles? ("If we had to do a five-mile run, I'd be 13th on the team," Lord said.)

Tommy Lord loves to race. He loves to win. He loves those trophies on the counter at Sallies.

"I like people seeing my name," Lord said.

Reach Doug Lesmerises at dlesmerises@delawareonline.com.

By DOUG LESMERISES
Staff reporter
12/23/2001

GREENVILLE -- She runs the day after she wins as part of a personal celebration. She runs for the thoughts, forsaking headphones and music for the chance to write school papers in her head. She runs to gain the confidence that doesn't come naturally, runs to shake the doubts that sometimes still dog her at the start of a race.

Tatnall's Meredith Lambert found another reason to run this year. She ran after she lost.

"I just wanted to go out and vent my emotions," she said.

Not that it happened often.

Unbeaten against Delaware competition as a junior, Lambert finished second twice during her senior season. Brandywine freshman Jessica Leitsch beat her by seven seconds at the Bellevue Invitational. And Tower Hill freshman Lisa Klein finished 13 seconds ahead of Lambert at the Division II state meet. But Lambert won more than enough - at the New Castle County Championship, the Delaware Independent School Conference Championship, the University of Delaware Invitational, the Salesianum Invitational, the Lake Forest Invitational and in dual meet after dual meet. And Lambert holds the course record at three of the five main courses in Delaware, two of which she set this season.

Though she didn't repeat as a state champion, everything else was enough for Lambert to repeat as The News Journal's girls cross country runner of the year. It is an honor for a complete season bestowed upon a complete runner.

"Some athletes have natural talent or a great work ethic or the intelligence to be able to help them perform," said Tatnall coach Mark Ginn, "but you don't see many of them put it all together. Meredith has it all."

When Lambert, who lives in West Grove, Pa., leaves Delaware to run next year for one of the 10 colleges she is considering, she will take the losses with her as much as the wins.

"I think of them as blessings in disguise sometimes," Lambert said, "because I know when I go to college I'm not going to be the best person on the team. ... So it's good to have people that are pushing me within Delaware."

Lambert also will take those second-place finishes into the spring track season. She has decided to run track this spring instead of playing soccer, which she had done the last three years.

Why the switch?

"Because colleges wanted me to run track," Lambert said, "and after states I guess I really wanted to, I guess for redemption."

Lambert said her mind was pretty well made up before the state meet, that she almost traded soccer for track as a junior and that while she kicked in the spring she would watch all the runners and grow jealous.

But there is nothing wrong with wanting a little payback.

She ran track as an eighth-grader at Tatnall and set school records in the 800, mile and two-mile runs. All those records have been surpassed, and she wants them back.

And Lambert would like track to give her something that cross country couldn't give her this season.

"I'll kind of have a clean slate," Lambert said. "Starting out from last year, I guess there were a lot of expectations for me, so I kind of felt pressured.

"I'm sure there are going to be expectations [with track], but for me, I get upset with myself if I don't beat certain times that I've run in the past. With track, I don't know what I can do. It's all new."

It's another chance to learn from losing - and from winning.