Friday, May 04, 2001
Turpin's Hendricks back on track
By Dave Schutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Christine Hendricks
(Mike Simons photo)
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Quitting would have been easy for Turpin's Christine Hendricks. One of Cincinnati's best hurdlers and a Division I regional qualifier two years ago as a freshman, Hendricks never got going last season and failed to win a race.
“I thought about quitting but I wanted to follow through,” Hendricks said. “I was frustrated after winning everything as a freshman and nothing as a sophomore.”
Going into the next week's Fort Ancient Valley Conference meet, Hendricks again is one of Cincinnati's best 100 meter hurdlers with a time of 15.0, second only to Amanda Mullins-Hall (14.9) from Walnut Hills.
She also is tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5-foot-2 and is 11th in the 300 hurdlers, two-tenths of a second out of the top 10.
These efforts by Hendricks in the hurdles, long jump and high jump have played an important role in Turpin's rise to No. 3 in the Enquirer's weekly poll.
“Christine is incredible,” Turpin coach Dan Dever said. “She has scored in all four events at every meet this season and is by far the points leader for the team.”
Coach Dan Dever
(Mike Simons photo)
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Dever remembers how Hendricks struggled last season.
“Christine went through a sophomore slump but a lot of it had to do with having a bad attitude,” Dever said. “She wasn't focused and her head wasn't into it.”
After failing to win the high jump last Friday at Anderson, Dever noted Hendricks had reverted back to last season and went into the hurdles with a bad attitude.
“Kids just don't understand but I think Christine learned something from it,” Dever said. “She'll be better for it the remainder of the season.”
An all-league volleyball player, Hendricks also performed for the gymnastics team for the first time at the urging of teammate Sara Sheeren, also a hurdler.
“In gym class, I liked tumbling and dancing,” Hendricks said. “I never played a winter sport so I decided to try it.”
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