Sprint phenom Olear looks to leave legacy

By Matthew Kredell, Staff Writer
Inside SOCAL

Elizabeth Olear knows her legacy in track and field will not be written this year.

High school accomplishments make nice memories and fun stories to pass on to the next generation. But being the prom queen won't mean much come summer time.

Nor will winning a state track and field title.

Olear already has bigger things in the works, such as running for the USC in the fall.

Call her sentimental, but Olear isn't looking ahead. The Louisville of Woodland Hills sprinter believes she has some unfinished business before she takes that graduation march.

"I value my high school track season," Olear said. "Prep runners in the future are going to look at me and say, 'Oh, she did that at this age.' I see the next three months as an opportunity to leave my mark."

Olear has built up quite a resume in her high school career, but she lacks that standout moment.

She burst onto the prep track scene when 2004 Olympic silver medalist Allyson Felix was a senior at L.A. Baptist of North Hills. As a freshman, Olear finished third in the state in the 200 meters and fourth in the 100 meters. Felix took home both titles.

The state meet at Cerritos College seemed like a passing of the torch from Felix to the next great female sprinter, but Olear's sophomore season was derailed by multiple hamstring injuries that finally knocked her out during the Southern Section divisional finals.

She was tentative to begin her junior year, worried about another injury. The last half of her season was a constant struggle to finish races well in her best event, the 200 meters. She took second in the state in the 200 and fourth in the 100, a great day for most athletes.

Olear left Sacramento knowing she had yet to reach her potential.

High expectations were in place before Olear even stepped foot on a high school track. She was an age-group phenom, winning the national Junior Olympics in the 100 and 200 meters while in eighth grade.

The Nigerian-born Olear, who moved to the United States with her family when she was 5, began running competitively at 8 at the encouragement of elementary school teachers. For each grade level, they would have a race. Olear won in first, second and third grades - beating even the boys.

"I still have this one picture of a boy crying," Olear said. "It's funny - I had no idea I could run. I just did."

She entered Louisville with the goal of winning state titles, and that hasn't happened. To correct it, Olear worked harder than ever this offseason. She hit the weight room with Barry Ross, Felix's strength coach at L.A. Baptist.

Ross sees a difference in Olear entering her senior season.

"Allyson was on a completely different level in terms of focus for a high school athlete," said Ross, who worked with Olear before her sophomore year but not last year. "Elizabeth really is a hard worker in the weight room, every bit as much as Allyson, if not more so. Her sophomore year, she'd do what I tell her. This year, she's always calling, asking what she can do next.

"She's not leaving anything to chance. She's doing everything she can to get some titles this year."

Olear can dead-lift 370 pounds, more than 2 times her weight. She hopes strength training will help her finish races stronger this year.

"No question at all, I think she's going to see a lot better finishes," Ross said. "That was one of Allyson's biggest strengths. She wasn't the fastest starter, but once she got going, she didn't stop. When she appeared to be pulling away, it was more that everyone else was falling back rapidly."

After losing her sophomore season and spending much of last season trying to return to peak form physically and mentally, Olear has shown signs she is ready to break through to an elite level.

She feels further along than at the start of any other season. In her first meet this season, she ran 24.2 in the 200 and 11.61 in the 100.

Her personal bests are 23.39 and 11.63. Her goal is to reach the low 23- and 11-second ranges this year.

Olear might even be able to make a leap like Felix's - she jumped to world-class her senior year, breaking Marion Jones' national junior record in the 200.

"Hopefully, the way she is training, she can break from the pack," Louisville sprint coach Lawrence Webster said. "Every year, someone breaks away and goes heads and shoulders above the rest."

Matthew Kredell  

See the article here: http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_3606029