Gardner outruns sophomore slump

Knock, knock.
The principal of Eastern High School enters the classroom, then, in the next moment, pardons sophomore English Gardner, whisking her to the hallway.
Somebody's in trouble, her classmates think. They're not the only ones.
"Are you ready for your sophomore slump?," the principal jokingly asks the track phenom.
Gardner laughs, but - as she has done for all matters concerning track - answers seriously.
"Some people have slumps," Gardner says, "but I don't believe in them."
Perhaps the 15-year-old sprinter doesn't acknowledge the possibility of a slump because it would require her to realize last year's success, something she's been trained to forget.
"What she did last year doesn't really mean anything this year," coach Sonny Anderson said. "We're almost pretending last year didn't exist. We're starting all over again."
That sure is a lot of pretending.
So, just to play along, Gardner didn't double up at the indoor Group 4 Championship in the 55-meter dash (7.10) and the 400 (56.44).
That wasn't her who took first in the Eastern Championships' 55-meter dash. Gardner didn't claim another two all-group championships during the spring in the 100 and 200 (24.04) nor was she anywhere near the winning of the 100 (11.62) at the Meet of Champions.
The truth is that such accomplishments can't be erased from record books or memory.
"I don't really pay attention to what I've done," Gardner said. "If I do good or do bad, I just brush it off and move ahead."
Her competition won't soon forget the freshman who monopolized the headlines and the medals - and both her and her coach know it.
"She's got the target on her back," Anderson said. "People are going to be looking to come get her ... She doesn't fear anybody. But we also respect people so with that respect, we must continue to work hard."
There are some numbers, though, that Gardner cannot let go of.
Gardner said her mother, Monica, battled breast cancer last winter and at its worst, reached a Stage 3.5 out of four, a 20- to 30-percent chance of survival.
With added perspective, winter track - a season that is already seen as a mere warmup for the spring - became even less relevant for Gardner.
But her mother told her to never give up, to continue the fight no matter how bad the times are.
Gardner said she carried her mother's image and words to every starting line until she no longer had to; wearing a hat, Monica Gardner cheered from the stands at the Group 4 Championship, well on her way to recovery.
"Every time I ran, I ran out of her," Gardner said. "She was my motivation. She's pushed me, strived me and told me to not stop running."
Gardner kept running, extending her track season into early August with the Willingboro Track Club.
In that stretch she bettered every personal mark, running a 23.62 in the 200, an 11.6 in the 100, and lastly, at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, a 54.0 in the 400, an incredible time for someone with little experience in the event.
"I was in the slowest heat. I got third overall and knocked out six or seven people in the fastest heat," she said. "I had to work. I had to use all my resources to gut it out."
After competing in the National Junior Olympics in August, Gardner was in shutdown mode, hibernating until team practice resumed in December.
"We did crutches today [last Friday] in practice and it still hurts," she said with a laugh.
Gardner said she doesn't have the time - or height - to learn hurdles, not when she's busy perfecting her sprinting form, trying to stave off a sophomore slump, the spinning second hand and the second coming.
"There might be another English Gardner that pops out somewhere and do the same thing I did," she said. "You never know."