Mamo

When the Baltimore County cross country championships begin today at Oregon Ridge, Milford Mill's Mike Mamo, the defending county champion, won't be healthy enough to defend his crown.Mamo, who has been hampered by shin splints and stress fractures in his legs, said participating in the county meet is "out of the question."Mamo, 17, also said his doctor is going day-to-day before deciding whether the first-team All-Metro runner can defend his regional championship next week."Sometimes, you can rest two days and it feels like it's OK, but it really isn't," said Mamo, from the office of his doctor, Marty McGinty, who is also the trainer for the Baltimore Spirit of the National Professional Soccer League.

Former Southern-Baltimore stars Kevin Simpson (Dixie Junior College, Utah) and Abdul Brown (Southern Idaho Junior College), two of the nation's top junior college prospects, have orally committed to play basketball for Providence next season.Simpson, a 6-foot-5 swingman, helped Dixie to 23-8 record last season. In 1994 he was The Baltimore Sun Player of the Year after leading Southern to the nation's No. 2 ranking.Brown, a 6-9, 225-pound center/power forward, is considered one of the top forward prospects in the junior college ranks.

Milford Mill's Mike Mamo doesn't have time for the pain.Running for the first time since early October because of a stress fracture in his shin, he qualified for the states by setting a course record of 16 minutes, 39 seconds in a steady drizzle in the Class 1A, Region II cross country championship yesterday at Francis Scott Key."It hurts just to walk and I only had four days of running to prepare," he said."It was an OK effort. The important thing is the team qualified for the states. The course was a little slow with all the wetness, but I don't mind running in the rain as long as it's not too cold."

Milford Mill's Mike Mamo doesn't have time for the pain.Running for the first time since early October because of a stress fracture in his shin, he qualified for the states by setting a course record of 16 minutes, 39 seconds in a steady drizzle in the Class 1A, Region II cross country championship yesterday at Francis Scott Key."It hurts just to walk and I only had four days of running to prepare," he said."It was an OK effort. The important thing is the team qualified for the states. The course was a little slow with all the wetness, but I don't mind running in the rain as long as it's not too cold."

WESTMINSTER -- Jenny Howard and Mike Mamo both spent lonely -- and productive -- afternoons running yesterday.Howard, of Fallston, and Mamo, of Milford Mill, jumped to quick leads and cruised to victories in the 3,200-meter runs on the first day of competition in the Class 1A and 2A state track and field championships at Western Maryland College.The meet was suspended at 7:55 p.m., during the final event of the day, the 800-meter relay, because of thunder and lightning. It will resume this morning at 9:20 a.m. instead of the scheduled 10 a.m.Howard won the 3,200 for the third consecutive year.

Two sophomores, Milford Mill's Mike Mamo and Dulaney's Amanda White, won the Baltimore County Cross Country Championships yesterday at Hereford, each for the first time.Mamo, who completed the three-mile course in 16 minutes, 1 seconds, upset defending champion Brian Horn of Loch Raven, beating him by 11 seconds.White, the pre-race favorite, shattered the girls' meet record for a three-mile course by 44 seconds. Finishing in 18:26, White beat second-place finisher and defending champ Lauren Mross of Towson by 2:09.

Milford Mill's Mike Mamo and Westminster's Stephanie Morningstar didn't wear their slickers, carry their umbrellas or even remember to bring their rubber boots to yesterday's Baltimore Metro Cross Country Invitational at Catonsville Community College.Just their spikes were enough.Despite a bone-chilling rain and treacherously muddy course, Mamo shattered the previous meet record by 28 seconds, winning the race in 17 minutes, 12 seconds, and Morningstar swept to a five-second win in the girls' race with 20:47.

Juniors from Baltimore County, each has won a state title. Both are workaholics who have to be held back by their coaches, and if either loses a race to a local competitor this fall, that upset will highlight the 1991 cross country season.Dulaney's Amanda White and Milford Mill's Mike Mamo welcome the great expectations. There's no insult intended, but they are actually looking beyond the state championships at Western Maryland College Nov. 9.As a sophomore, in her first season of running, White capped a startling campaign by finishing third at the Kinney-sponsored national 5l championships.

The similarities were obvious. Milford Mill's Mike Mamo and Dulaney's Amanda White each scored victories in yesterday's Baltimore County Cross-Country Championships at Oregon Ridge Park.It was the routes they took to get there that were different.White came into the race as confident as ever, fresh off a meet-record win at Saturday's prestigious Georgetown Prep Classic. Mamo said he began to doubt his abilities after finishing 10th in that same meet."My confidence was kind of low," said Mamo, who got off to a poor start and labored throughout the first half of the race.

Mike Mamo and Liz Neglia had reason to be overjoyed after yesterday's 43rd Johns Hopkins Spiked Shoe Cross Country Invitational, but it wasn't apparent by their post-race demeanor.Mamo, a junior at Milford Mill, shaved 13 seconds off the course record, but after winning the race in 16 minutes, 42 seconds would say only, "I had no reason to run that badly."Runner-up Gavin McCarty, at 16:48, was the only one even close to Mamo, as no other runner came close to breaking 17 minutes on the 5,000-meter course.

...TC The Francis Scott Key boys cross country team won its third consecutive Class 1A, Region II championship, offsetting an outstanding individual effort from Milford Mill's Mike Mamo.Mamo, running for the first time since early October because of a stress fracture in his shin, qualified for states by setting a course record of 16:39 in a steady drizzle at Francis Scott Key yesterday afternoon.Francis Scott Key placed five runners in the top 10 to win the overall title, 25-58, over runner-up Milford Mill.

When the Baltimore County cross country championships begin today at Oregon Ridge, Milford Mill's Mike Mamo, the defending county champion, won't be healthy enough to defend his crown.Mamo, who has been hampered by shin splints and stress fractures in his legs, said participating in the county meet is "out of the question."Mamo, 17, also said his doctor is going day-to-day before deciding whether the first-team All-Metro runner can defend his regional championship next week."Sometimes, you can rest two days and it feels like it's OK, but it really isn't," said Mamo, from the office of his doctor, Marty McGinty, who is also the trainer for the Baltimore Spirit of the National Professional Soccer League.

While Dulaney senior Amanda White is already a well-known cross country runner, Gilman sophomore Ted Lord is trying to make a name for himself.Each will go down in the record books as champions at yesterday's Spiked Shoe Invitational meet at Johns Hopkins University.For White, The Sun's 1991-92 Athlete of the Year and a two-time Runner of the Year, it was business as usual. Competing on the 3.1-mile course for the first time, the nationally ranked runner set yet another record.At the three-quarters-mile mark, she had a 100-yard lead on the pack.

WESTMINSTER -- Milford Mill returned to the winner's platform and Joppatowne's Thori Staples completed a progressively strong career at the Class 1A state track and field championships yesterday.The Millers, who won the team championship in 1988 and '89, edged Wilde Lake, 81 1/2 -71. Coach Jesse Hannon's team got just one first-place finish yesterday, as Mike Mamo won the 1,600 in 4:31.5 some 16 hours after taking the 3,200 the night before. Mamo was fourth in the 800 and sophomore Andre Eure and Joe Henderson placed second in the 110 (15.4)

WESTMINSTER -- Francis Scott Key still might claim its third straight MPSSAA Class 1A track and field championship today, but Milford Mill joined that chase last night in rapid fashion.Mike Mamo, the Millers' distance ace, was watching an infield clock at Westminster High with one lap to go in his easy 3,200-meter run (9:39.4) victory, but if he had veered his gaze a few degrees to the right, he would have seen junior classmate and best buddy Joe Henderson going over a high jump bar set at 6-foot-5, three inches over his previous personal best.

Dulaney High junior Amanda White earned a return trip to the Kinney National cross country championships with a runner-up finish in the Northeast Regional yesterday.White covered the 5,000-meter course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., in 17 minutes, 51.5 seconds, more than 28 seconds faster than she did in 1990, when she placed third in the regional. She was second this time to another junior, Liz Mueller of Waterford, Conn., who was timed in 17:32.4. Mueller was seventh in the nationals as a freshman in 1989.

WESTMINSTER -- Francis Scott Key still might claim its third straight MPSSAA Class 1A track and field championship today, but Milford Mill joined that chase last night in rapid fashion.Mike Mamo, the Millers' distance ace, was watching an infield clock at Westminster High with one lap to go in his easy 3,200-meter run (9:39.4) victory, but if he had veered his gaze a few degrees to the right, he would have seen junior classmate and best buddy Joe Henderson going over a high jump bar set at 6-foot-5, three inches over his previous personal best.

...TC The Francis Scott Key boys cross country team won its third consecutive Class 1A, Region II championship, offsetting an outstanding individual effort from Milford Mill's Mike Mamo.Mamo, running for the first time since early October because of a stress fracture in his shin, qualified for states by setting a course record of 16:39 in a steady drizzle at Francis Scott Key yesterday afternoon.Francis Scott Key placed five runners in the top 10 to win the overall title, 25-58, over runner-up Milford Mill.

The similarities were obvious. Milford Mill's Mike Mamo and Dulaney's Amanda White each scored victories in yesterday's Baltimore County Cross-Country Championships at Oregon Ridge Park.It was the routes they took to get there that were different.White came into the race as confident as ever, fresh off a meet-record win at Saturday's prestigious Georgetown Prep Classic. Mamo said he began to doubt his abilities after finishing 10th in that same meet."My confidence was kind of low," said Mamo, who got off to a poor start and labored throughout the first half of the race.

Milford Mill's Mike Mamo and Dulaney's Amanda White will be among the top area runners challenging the stiff competition at Saturday's Georgetown Prep Cross Country Classic in Rockville.The seeded boys race starts at 2 p.m. with the girls race following at 2:20. Teams from Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland will be represented.Mamo is the top local threat in the boys seeded race, where Walt Whitman's Pascal Dobert, Hayfield's (Va.) Roy Borden and Denbigh's (Va.) Tony Sawyer also are outstanding.