Amazing Discoveries Keep Her on the Run

To the casual observer, track and field can seem rather basic: You run. You jump. You throw things. Sometimes you dodge what is thrown.

That’s a common perception, anyway. One that Villa Park High School’s Meghan Reppe nearly bought into back in her early days of track. About, oh, four months ago.

Back then, the freshman sprinter saw track as nothing but a boring batch of times and distances. To her, the sport was as dull as a dumpling, especially when compared to her favorite sport, soccer.

Fortunately for Villa Park, Reppe’s discoveries made the difference. Every day brought another eye-opening realization that there was more to track and field than sore legs and sweat. Every meet brought more motivation.

There were starting blocks, for instance . . .

“I hadn’t ever used blocks,” Reppe said. “I never got into one of the suckers. I thought those suckers were like demons. I was like, ‘Hey, I’d rather start standing up.’

“Then I learned how to use them. I was like, ‘Hello! This is neat.’ ”

There were all-weather tracks . . .

“Like a cushion!” Reppe says. “You put your knee down (to start) and it doesn’t even hurt.”

There were pre-race relaxation techniques . . .

“Sometimes I just visualize a luxury bathroom at the finish line,” Reppe says. “You know, with marble floors and a huge bathtub to soak in.”

And, thanks to Spartan Coach Russ Murphy, there was introduction to modern equipment . . . “Like my spikes,” Reppe says. “They were little nubs, all worn down. I showed them to Mr. Murphy. He’s like, ‘Get new ones.’ I didn’t though. My friend gave them to me. She changes hers like every week. I see people using spikes that are an inch long. That always just trips me out.”

(Actually, it’s tough to find something that doesn’t trip this kid out. She’s a walking, talking observation machine, churning out opinions and insights at a whirlwind pace. But more on that in a minute).

Reppe (rhymes with “peppy”) has established herself as one of the county’s top female sprinters this season. Her best time in the 100 meters--a wind-aided 12.41 seconds--was the fastest time of the day at the Orange County Championships last month. A fact more people would have known about had Reppe run in the varsity 100 instead of the frosh-soph.

Saturday, Reppe will compete in the Southern Section 3-A finals at Cerritos College. At last week’s preliminaries, she qualified in the 100 and 200 meters as well as the 400 relay and will run all three events. Her competition includes not only Woodbridge freshman Meisha Wilson-Duval, but the nation’s fastest sprinter, Thousand Oaks junior Marion Jones.

“She runs, like, guys’ times,” Reppe says of Jones. “I give her my full respect. I’d like to talk to her, but it’s not very polite to go ‘Hey, let’s start a discussion,’ right before a race.”

No, probably not. And what would the two discuss, anyway? Jones has been track’s whiz kid since junior high. Reppe’s a rookie whose only experience in age-group track was one grueling day she’d rather just forget.

“They made me run long distance,” Reppe says. “It was at Canyon High School. They have this huge hill. We had to run it seven times! I hate that hill. I hate the school. I hate the whole thing.

“All these other kids were like, ‘Oh, no problem.’ I was like, ‘No. I don’t think so.’ Oh my lord--I almost died. Halfway up the hill there was this opening in the fence. There were all these tract homes. I wanted to slip through and go knock on someone’s door.”

But Reppe hung in there--for the remainder of the workout anyway. When she got home, she flopped down and announced to her father, a marathoner, that distance running was by far the most stupid venture on the planet.

“People who run long distances? I just don’t get it,” she says. “It’s the boringest thing. My dad says if you get cramps or something in a marathon, you have to run through it. Not me. I’d lay down. I’d wait until someone carried me away.”

These days, Reppe admits to a bit of jogging every few days. It’s a quick around-the-block course, she says, just long enough to loosen her legs.

“Actually, you know what?” Reppe says. “I thought it was only a mile and it turned out to be two! I almost died. I was, like, ‘Two miles? No way!’ ”

Hmmm. Could Reppe, like sprinter-turned-marathon hopeful Florence Griffith Joyner, soon be headed toward a future of distance running?

“Never,” Reppe says.

Not as long as she ignores her latest discovery.