Davis' effort is true to form // New training regimen helps

What pleased Palatine's Kristin Davis most about her fourfirst-place finishes in last week's Homewood-Flossmoor track andfield invitational was that she held her form throughout each race.

Though she finished sixth in the state last year in the 800,eighth in the 300 hurdles and was a member of the staterecord-setting 3,200 relay, Davis had problems maintaining her form.She would get tired, in her arms as well as her legs, and findherself struggling to finish the race.

So when Davis and new Palatine coach Steve Currins sat downtogether to find a solution, they decided to change Davis' trainingregimen.

Davis and her teammates spend three days a week in the weightroom. But now Davis focuses on strength rather than endurancetraining. That means lifting more weight in fewer repetitions perset.

"We were committed to making her arms stronger for the last10-to-20 yards of the race," Currins said. "It's especiallyimportant in hurdles and sprint events. You come to the last fewhurdles and you need that extra strength to get over them."

The weight work should pay off for Davis and top-ranked Palatineat the state meet.

"When you have the preliminaries and finals two days in a row,it's pretty difficult. You have to have that extra strength," hesaid.

Davis has noticed how the work has paid off. She hoped to getanother indication of her progress in tomorrow's Wheaton Northinvitational.

"I'm a lot stronger than I was last year," she said."Everyone's been commenting on it. It's a really nice feeling."

More distance running also should keep Davis strong, especiallytoward the end of the season.

"We sat down to see what we were doing wrong. Last year we weredoing more sprint training, and she wasn't keeping her form," Currinssaid.

Davis has set goals for herself of running under 2:13 in the 800and under 44 seconds in the 300 hurdles by the state meet.

Since transferring to Palatine from Homewood-Flossmoor beforeher junior year, Davis has impressed her coach with her work ethic.

"She's extremely coachable. She'll put in all the time sheneeds," he said.

For her part, Davis enjoys the running atmosphere at Palatine.

"It's very positive here. (Her teammates) are always ready to doanother lap."