Guialdo Gives Track One More Chance--It Pays Off

Marsha Guialdo almost quit track this spring.

Now she’s glad she didn’t.

Guialdo, 25, finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in the U.S. Track and Field championships in Sacramento in June, running a personal-best 12.98 seconds.

The top three finishers earned a place on the U.S. team for the World Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, Aug. 5-13. American record-holder Gail Devers won in 12.77 and Doris Williams was third in 13.03.

As a senior at Cal State Los Angeles in 1993, the 5-foot-5, 117-pound Guialdo was ranked fifth in the United States and won the 100- and 400-meter hurdles in the 1993 NCAA Division II championships.

Guialdo, however, missed the 1994 season because of hamstring and Achilles’ tendon injuries. She did not train for four months, but the pain persisted when she tried to resume workouts last fall. At times, Guialdo said she had trouble just walking.

The situation hit the boiling point in April when increasing duties in her job as the general manager at an electronics firm and frustration from injuries led Guialdo to ponder retirement.

She telephoned her coach James Gilkes to inform him of her decision to quit. Gilkes, a former NCAA champion at USC who coached her at Cal State L.A., however, quickly extinguished any notions of retirement.

“He just said: ‘Get your butt to practice tomorrow,’ and hung up,” Guialdo said.

Guialdo had only six weeks of training before she toed the starting line in Sacramento. Yet, she managed three times to eclipse her best of 13.08--run in 1993--with times of 13.01 in the first round, 12.99 in the semifinals and 12.98 in the final.