Ed Waters

At times during last year's District 9 city track championships, it seemed as though Western sprinter Tamara Laing glided past her opponents with minimal effort.Unknown to many of her rivals, however, Laing was using a style that made her work harder than she had to. The problem was an intricacy noticeable only to the trained eye, like that of Western coach Jerry Molyneaux."We've had several talks about her technique," said Molyneaux. "She runs with her legs slightly wiggling from side to side when they should go straight up and down."

Hairston agrees to deal, will stay with Reds baseball Jerry Hairston Jr., a former Oriole, will remain with Cincinnati after agreeing to a one-year, $2 million contract yesterday. The infielder-outfielder, 32, played six positions in 80 games for the Reds last season, hitting .326 while mostly batting leadoff. Hairston signed a minor league contract with Cincinnati in March and was promoted to the major league roster just before the start of the season. His new deal allows him to earn an additional $2 million in performance bonuses.

Brian Harris has two goals for Friday's Harford County Cross CountryChampionships.First, the C. Milton Wright sophomore wants to win. Second, he wants to break the Harford Glen course record, of 16:47,set by former teammate Jeff Hankins in last year's county title race.Harris, who placed second last year, is an overwhelming favorite to win. If conditions are right, he could break the record. Already this season, he has established himself as one of the top runners in the state. He won the Westminster Invitational and finished fifth in the Harford County Invitational last weekend.

At 5 feet 8, Mike Brown of Annapolis is shorter than most hurdlers, but he's no less fearless. He started at cornerback in football. "You can't be scared to fall," said Brown, the area's top indoor hurdler this past winter. "I've got more scars from running hurdles than from playing football." Brown won the state outdoor title two years ago in the 110-meter high hurdles, beating his cousin, Sonny Barnes, who was favored. Unlike some of his competitors, Brown thinks the hurdles are easy.

If Ron Neal were to make an instructional video on how to run the hurdles, he'd use Woodlawn senior specialist Joel Brown."Joel is flexible, uses his arms well between the hurdles, and when he goes over, he's not in the air that long," said Neal, an assistant coach at Mervo who coaches Brown with Ed Waters' track club during the summer."

Mervo seniors Frankie and Ronald Wright have the second-ranked Mustangs soaring toward their quest for regional and state boys Class 4A-3A indoor track crowns. Last week, the cousins led the Mustangs to their fifth straight Baltimore City championship, winning three individual events between them and helping the 800-meter relay team to gold. The Mustangs have won every city title -- indoors and outdoors -- during their four years. Last spring, they joined with Jabari Bush and Damon Watson to set a state record in the 800-meter relay, running in 1 minute, 26.90 seconds to break Dundalk's 1:27.

Sheraie Darby imagined she heard the starting gun's explosion. She saw herself tearing off down the track.The 16-year-old Woodlawn junior envisioned herself sprinting toward the first curve and two of the 10 hurdles she first must clear with her lead leg, then her trail leg before landing and refocusing on the remaining course of the 400-meter hurdles."

At an indoor track meet at Baltimore's Fifth Regiment Armory last Monday, Perry Hall coach Jerry Martin saw something he and many others in the area track community thought they never would.Teams competing from Baltimore City."Teams from Southern, Carver and Western were there on Monday, and Poly and Mervo were there the next day," said Martin. "It's just great to finally have the Baltimore City schools getting involved with indoor track. Any time you have their quality of athletes, it's going to improve your team and the sport in the area overall.

Weather dampens track-record triesRain, wind and cold ruined the hopes of American sprinters and long jumpers to set world records yesterday at Europe's highest track meet, in Sestriere, Italy.nTC Carl Lewis, who had hoped to beat Bob Beamon's long-standing record of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches at this Alpine resort nearly 6,600 feet above sea level, pulled out of the long jump, blaming back pains.Despite the adverse conditions, American Mike Powell jumped 28-7 3/4 . He said Beamon's record could have been beaten if Lewis had participated, boosting the competition.

Bad news came Thursday when Dave Herlocker, one of the founding fathers of the Westminster Road Runners Club, was struck by an automobile while jogging on Route 97 that morning.It is probably the greatest risk that road runners face.Terrence Burk, a 48-year-old Westminster businessman who was jogging with Herlocker that morning, was killed as a result of injuries he received from an automobile that drifted off the highway when the driver apparently fell asleep.Good news is that Herlocker is progressing at University Hospital in what surely will be a long and arduous recovery.