This fall, Hempfield junior Sydney Clark is finding the time torack up the victories in cross country, as well as in tennis.
You've heard of the demise of the multi-sport athlete.
Now consider the rise of the same-season, multi-sport athlete.
It's not a trend. It's just Sydney Clark.
Clark, a junior at Hempfield, is a star in tennis and a biggerstar in cross country.
In tennis she's been the No. 2 or 3 singles player for Hempfieldteams that have won two straight Lancaster-Lebanon League andDistrict 3 championships and reached the state semifinals. The BlackKnights have lost only to Manheim Township again this year.
Clark has finished first in all but one meet in her first seasonof cross country. She's won all her meets so far in the L-L Leagueseason, and she beat a strong field at the Gettysburg InvitationalSept. 9.
The only race she didn't win was the Paul Short Run at LehighUniversity on Friday, when she finished seventh in a top-qualityfield of 320 finishers.
The thing is, both cross country and tennis are fall sports forgirls in Pennsylvania.
So Clark has, um, one of today's active lifestyles.
'It's not too bad,'' Clark said Thursday. 'I love doing both ofthem, so it's not too bad, doing something you love.''
Others are more impressed.
'She's an outstanding young woman,'' Whit Evans, Hempfield's first-year tennis coach, said Wednesday. 'She has to be to handle all thisas well as she has.''
Clark was a tennis player first. That's a family thing. Dad (Jeff)is in Savannah, Ga., this week competing in the United States TennisAssociation's Under-40 Clay Court Championships.
Mom, Ann, is also a tournament player. So is younger brotherAndrew.
The Clarks were named USTA Middle States Tennis Family of the Yearin 2004, after receiving the same honor for Central Pennsylvania in2003.
But while her parents made Sydney a tennis player, God seems tohave made her a runner.
By the time she was of high-school age, Clark was doing well inlocal road races like the annual Jingle Bell Run, well enough toattract the attention of Hempfield cross-country coach Dave Hummel.
'She was running as fast as the top kids on our team,'' Hummelsaid.
Last spring Clark did high-school track for the first time, andfinished second in the L-L, fifth in the district and 11th in thestate in the 3,200-meter run.
Hummel had talked to the Clarks and Hempfield's tennis coachesabout Sydney trying cross country as fas back as the fall of hersophomore year.
All the Clarks were amenable, but, as hundreds of coaches who'veworked with both genders have said, a boys' team is a team, but agirls' team is a complicated social structure. A family.
Knowing that, Jeff Witmer, then Hempfield's tennis coach, wasconcerned about the unity of a tennis team that had a chance to godeep into the postseason.
'It wasn't working out,'' Jeff Clark said. 'There was a little bitof resistance there.''
Then Evans became the head tennis coach, and doors opened.
'She had that blazing spring,'' Hummel said. 'Now I really wantedto lay the groundwork [for this fall]. I made sure she'd be able todo it, and all the other coaches were supportive.''
Evans said he wanted to make sure the kids were supportive.
'I just wanted to make sure it wasn't an emotional or social issuefor Sydney or the other kids,'' he said.
It wasn't, apparently. Sydney goes to all the tennis practices.When tennis practice is rained out, she runs in the rain with hercross-country teammates.
When it isn't, she gets in her mileage on her own, sometimessimply running home, about 4-5 miles, after tennis practice.
The only time she's missed a tennis match was for a key cross-country meet with Lancaster Mennonite.
The team buses were parked next to each other that day as bothteams boarded. Could have been weird, but wasn't.
'I pretended to kidnap her and put her on our bus,'' Evans said.
Clark won the race that day, setting a course record.
Time management, giving the tennis and the running and school andfriends the time they deserve or require, is of course an issue.
But tennis has been a year 'round deal for years anyway. Thenthere's winter track and the regular spring track season ... .
'Obviously I can't go out as much as my friends do during theweek,'' she said. 'Other than that, it's not too bad.''
That's the third time she's said that: It's not too bad.
'She always had an inner drive,'' Jeff Clark said. 'You have tohave it to do what she's doing. You have to be disciplined to trainon your own, or even to carve out time to do things with herfriends.'
Still a junior, she has already received mail from college coachesin both sports.
So what's next?
'Team-wise, tennis is number one,'' she said. 'But I'm probablymore successful at cross country. I'm not sure what it means for thefuture.''
No, she can't realistically do both sports in college. A toughdecision is down the road.
It'll be her call. The family's heart is with tennis, of course,but they can read the handwriting.
'Her parents have been fantastic about letting the kid determinewhat she wants, within reason,'' Hummel said.
'She's a good tennis player, but she definitely has more talent onthe running side,'' Jeff Clark said. 'It'll be interesting to see howthis plays out.''
