Following in FloJo’s Footsteps Is the Goal of Wilson-Duval

Florence Griffith Joyner is an Olympian role model; Meisha Wilson-Duval is a raw talent with an impressionable psyche. One has been to the top of the mountain, and the other wants to someday make the world forget about FloJo.

Wilson-Duval, sophomore dreamer at Woodbridge High School, yearns to prove her first year of high school track wasn’t a fluke, outrun the sophomore jinx, and reach standards that few grab hold of.

It will be a long road for the lithe sprinter who won the Orange County Championships a year ago in the 100 and 200 meters. She is not yet Southern California’s best runner, but she has been exposed to the best, and she has not looked silly running among champions.

Her times in the short sprints, 12.2 seconds in the 100 and 25.5 in the 200, are evidence of her talent. And when she’s old enough not to be flustered by Marion Jones in the next lane, then perhaps she will finally get what she wants.

She wants it all.

“When I was 5, I saw Carl Lewis run in the Olympics on TV,” Wilson-Duval said. “That’s what I want to do. I want to be able to be on TV and tell people how I feel and who I owe all my success to. These days, people in sports have a great impact, especially on the younger generation.”

Her idols are among the heavy hitters of women’s track and field--Griffith Joyner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Gwen Torrence, Gail Devers, Wilma Rudolph.

It was Griffith Joyner whom Wilson-Duval met a few years ago while training at Saddleback College with the Silver Wings Track Club. And both delivered a message to the other.

“We started walking (as a group) toward her, and then I started running,” Wilson-Duval said. “I was the first one there. I told her, ‘FloJo, I look up to you and you’re my idol and I love you, but one day I hope to break your record.’ And she smiled and said, ‘Records are made to be broken.’ ”

The autographed sweat shirt from that day hangs on Wilson-Duval’s bedroom wall. Just 15, she talks about making an impact on the younger generation. Such is her maturity and foresight.

And now, while still young enough, is the time for dreamers to dream.

She was second to Jones--the Thousand Oaks phenom who nearly made the Olympic team--in the 200 at the Southern Section Championships in Division AAA, and finished third in the 100 despite a poor start.

“I heard you should feel privileged to be there as a freshman and next to the fastest high school runner in the world,” Wilson-Duval recalled. “It did distract me quite a bit at the start of my race. I stumbled out of the blocks (in the 100). Usually I can come off the blocks really good. The first time I ran against (Jones), I came off with her and stayed with her for about . . . two steps.”

She laughs.

Wilson-Duval said she could probably take a lesson from Jones on race day. Wilson-Duval is a people person and has a tendency to talk to everyone; she said Jones is more focused and says little more than hello.

“She’ll say good luck and shake your hand and smile, but she won’t talk,” Wilson-Duval said. “That’s something I probably need to do because I’m always talking.

“I met her at a TV taping of ‘Down the Shore.’ The girl sitting behind me said she was from Thousand Oaks, and I asked her if she knew Marion Jones. She said she was sitting over there. She didn’t remember me, of course, because she’s run against so many other people. But that’s understandable.

“My goal this year is to make her remember me.”

Jones is the measuring stick for greatness.

“I know that if I can stay up with her, the sky is the limit,” Wilson-Duval said. “Just like FloJo said. I can do just about anything. Just like I try to stay up with the boys in practice.”

Her boyfriend, Gary Young, is one of the boys Wilson-Duval tries to keep up with in workouts. And when they’re training, he’ll sometimes announce that he is Marion Jones, causing his girlfriend to work just a little harder.

But work has never been a problem for her.

“Her work ethic is awesome,” said Woodbridge Coach George Varvas. “We’re just concerned about the variables. The only concern that I have is if the basic drive to excel changes. That’s a variable (the coaches or athlete) can’t control--the boyfriend comes along and puts you down and you lose that drive to excel.”

It’s also part of the sophomore jinx.

“After an exciting freshman year, they ask themselves, ‘What do I need to do to top that?’ ” Varvas said. “Their body starts to change and it becomes tougher to duplicate their effort, and psychologically, it scares them because they wonder, ‘Have I lost it? Am I as good as I used to be?’ That’s what we call the so-called sophomore jinx.”

Wilson-Duval said she will have no part of it, though.

“People can use me as an example that that’s not true for all sophomores,” she said. “I have a goal set for myself and I know what I need to do in order to reach that goal and I’m not going to let a little jinx come over me for one year. One year’s rest means I’m one year behind in training.”

Spoken like a true dreamer.