Milestone

As far as streaks are concerned, Sunday's Hickory 7-Miler was but a step in Bernie Gemmill's quest to run 1,000 races, but it was a milestone, nonetheless.The race, part of the Renaissance AllSports Athletic Club's Snowflake Series, was his 700th."It was kind of a joke back in January 1988 when I ran my 400th race. I was kidding that I was going to retire," says Gemmill, 42, who finished 10th among the men Sunday. "Now, I tell people I'd like to run a thousand. But I have no intention of stopping.

Developers of Baltimore's HarborView condominium community will reach a construction milestone today when contractors place the final steel girder in the frame of a $100 million, 27-story tower called 100 HarborView Drive.More than 600 people have been invited to the topping-off ceremony, which will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the pier that overlooks the construction site, just off the 1200 block of Key Highway."It's a big occasion," says Thomas N. Marudas, vice president of HarborView Properties Development Co., the developer.

You had to be either a real pitching connoisseur or a card-carrying, long-suffering Orioles diehard to appreciate the beauty of the mound duel at Camden Yards last night. To be fair, the Orioles' interim manager should probably be included in that group. "These are the kinds of pitching matchups people want to come and watch," Dave Trembley said before Yankees-Orioles Game 2. The rest of the universe saw the game as Roger Clemens' latest chance at baseball immortality and saw Erik Bedard as the other guy. Clemens' quest to be the second major league pitcher in the past eight decades to win 350 games was thwarted.

Towson Catholic's Erica Haywood scored 28 points in a 65-55 win over Harford Tech last night to put her over 1,000 for her career.The 6-foot-1 junior hit a shot in the second quarter to give her the milestone. She now has 1,015 career points. She added a career-high 39 rebounds.Pub Date: 2/17/99

Goucher College seniors cheered as they reached the graduation milestone in their lives, and most were quite aware that the college itself was reaching a milestone.At yesterday's 100th commencement exercise, 212 people received degrees, several of them men -- the first to attend four years of classes at the school which went coeducational in 1987. Six men graduated last year after transferring from other colleges.Matthew Brosco, who hopes to attend Duquesne Law School in the fall, said he will miss Goucher's warm, friendly climate -- but he remembers a time when it wasn't so inviting.

NEW YORK -- It couldn't have happened at a better moment for the legend of the Mount.Jim Phelan of Mount St. Mary's became the eighth coach in collegiate basketball history to win 700 games last night, and his team simultaneously took over first place in the Northeast Conference with a 69-64 victory at Wagner.The milestone came before a mostly hostile crowd on the road in a first-place showdown. Phelan's kind of circumstances."I'm really happy it's over with," Phelan, 63, said after a post-game drenching from his players.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Eddie Murray became the 20th player in history to get 3,000 hits last night, and did two things he rarely does.He showed his emotions on the field, then he spoke to the media."

Jim Phelan isn't consumed by milestones.Phelan, 63, can win his 700th game as Mount St. Mary's coach against Wagner tonight in Staten Island, N.Y. The significance of this coaching feat -- accomplished by only seven others, all Hall of Famers, in college basketball history -- is not lost on Phelan, a legend in his chosen small corner of the world.But there's more to Phelan's story than just a number of victories. His career at Mount St. Mary's has been built on family, faith, friendships, integrity and loyalty.

Sometimes, rewards are bountiful in the twilight of a coach's career, and that's true for Don Gregg, Severna Park's boys soccer coach. In his 29th season as the Falcons' coach, Gregg was presented his 300th career win last night as No. 7 Severna Park won at Annapolis, 4-0. After a scoreless first half, Andy Ennema, Greg Fenton and Buddy Laque got goals within six minutes midway through the second half and Ryan Collier capped the scoring as Gregg (300-108-13)...

Cal Ripken pondered the question inside a Fort Lauderdale sports bar seven months ago. Asked how he would announce the end of his Hall of Fame career, he paused to smile broadly. Ripken, five months removed from back surgery, answered as if he had thought about it before. "I'd probably show up the last day of the season and say, "That's it." Today is the last day of Ripken's 20th season, a season that has brought him additional back pain, his third stay on the disabled list in two years, his 40th birthday and more questions about a future that even he couldn't answer as this month began.