Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS START JUNE 27 IN OREGON

Ex-49ers sprinter back on track

Woods walks away from job to be in running for Olympics

SCOTT FOWLER

GARY O'BRIEN / Staff Photographer

5/6/2008 - Sprinter Shareese Woods is a graduate of UNCC who may become the first 49er to reach the Olympics. She is a world-class sprinter in the 400 meters.

• Q&A | Scott Fowler on Sports

IN MY OPINION

Shareese "The Beast" Woods doesn't look like a beast at all.

She's a tiny sprinter and almost always the smallest woman in her races at 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds. She has a dazzling smile you would love to be greeted with if you went to the customer-service desk at Gray's College Bookstore near the UNC Charlotte campus. And that was exactly where Woods was working a few months ago when she decided -- temporarily -- to give up track for good.

Woods has a fine chance to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic team in the 400 meters, where she has posted the fastest indoor time by an American woman in 2008. But she was at a personal crossroads only four months ago.

Her Charlotte 49ers teammates had called her "The Beast" because of her passion for track and the way she could hunt down the runners ahead of her on the anchor leg of relay races.

But in December, Woods graduated. Her college eligibility was over. She had no sponsor lined up to take care of the considerable expenses of professional track, which is mostly contested in Europe.

So she took a full-time job in the bookstore. For a while, she tried to train for two hours every morning and then work a full day. It was wearing her out.

Woods knew she had to quit something -- and so first she quit track.

For two weeks in January, she skipped practice. "I told myself that I wasn't coming back," Woods said. "I was making the floor plan for the rest of my life. And although I wanted to pursue a professional track career, I didn't really think I could. It's very difficult to kick down that door."

Her coach told her she was making a mistake. Her parents -- her mother just retired from the army, her father is a correctional officer -- were hesitant about their daughter giving up what she loved. And, mostly, she missed the sport.

We were sitting in the bleachers, facing the Charlotte track, when we did this interview on a gorgeous, 80-degree day. "We're in my office right now," Woods said Tuesday, gesturing at the track. "Who wouldn't miss this?"

She came back for one meet and did well. So she kept going. At the U.S. indoor championship in February, she won a startling first place in the 400. At the world indoor championship in March, she finished third in the same event for a bronze medal, behind two Russians. Her time of 51.41 seconds, a personal best, was the best U.S. indoor time of 2008.

Suddenly, Woods has an agent and is close to a sponsorship deal. She told the people at the bookstore that she was going to have to stick with track full-time. They understood, and she quit.

Woods' coach, Tim Hall, said her improvement is due more to her mind than her body.

"This has been a long time coming for Shareese," said Hall, the associate head track coach at Charlotte. "She's shown sparks, but now it's all happening for her. I attribute it to her really deciding `I can get this done.' I don't think there's a greater force on this earth than a person who has the desire to win."

If Woods makes the U.S. Olympic team, she will become the first Charlotte 49ers graduate to do so. Hall is so confident that Woods will qualify that he said: "It's a matter of `when,' not `if.' I think it's really a given at this point."

Agreed Woods: "It's very likely."

The top three finishers at the Olympic trials -- which will be in Oregon starting June 27 -- will qualify for the Olympics in August. The top six finishers in the women's 400, however, will probably all be taken to Beijing because additional sprinters are necessary for the 1,600-meter relay.

"My goal is to finish in the top three at the trials," Woods said. "Not in the top six."

She said that very firmly. In fact, it was almost beastly.

IN MY OPINION Scott Fowler