By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Eri Macdonald might be Hawaii's top prospect ever.
Macdonald discovers
how to really let goPunahou's Eri McDonald is
By Pat Bigold
fast developing into Hawaii's top
prep distance runner
Star-Bulletin"All downhill from here." It's a cliche that means you're home free.
But for a runner, downhill can be the most critical juncture of a cross-country race.
There's a tendency to pull up cautiously as one's momentum shifts dramatically forward for a rapid descent. The sensation of earthbound free fall can be rather intimidating.
Any runner who can master the downhill -- as has been shown time and again in the Boston Marathon's Heartbreak Hill section -- has a decided advantage.
Four-time Boston winner Bill Rodgers was a superb downhill runner and it was the key to his success in the make-or-break portion of the world's most prestigious foot race.
And one of the major reasons why Punahou junior Eri Macdonald is on the verge of becoming a serious national recruiting prospect is the fact that she is both a proficient and daring downhill racer.
"I would say she's really discovered how to let go on the downhill -- really, really let go," said the usually understated Punahou girls' head coach, Hugh Jenkins.
"It's almost dangerous, if you want to know the truth. It's frightening -- it's allowing yourself to be out on the edge."
Macdonald shies away from discussing her talent.
"I just let my legs run downhill," she said.
Jenkins said it's obvious why other runners lose ground on the downhill.
"They don't absorb shock very well, they land hard, and they hold back," he said. "Eri absorbs shock well. And I think she works on it. She relishes that downhill chase."
That was evident in the 1996 state cross-country championship meet last November at the high-elevation Hawaii Preparatory Academy course on the Big Island. Macdonald, who was defending her 1995 state title, waged a nip-and-tuck battle with 1994 state champion Casey McGuire-Turcotte of HPA until the course's longest decline appeared. There, Macdonald flowed while McGuire-Turcotte struggled, and the race was quickly over.
On Sept. 6, at the prestigious Oregon Trail Invitational in Vale, Macdonald rallied from third place on the 200-meter downhill side of Reinhart Butte in 92-degree heat and won the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) race in 19 minutes, 22 seconds.
Macdonald finished 8 seconds ahead of her nearest rival in Oregon, laying waste to a 71-runner field that included the third-ranked team in the nation (Mountain View of Orem, Utah) and two of the top 50 runners in the country.
The prerace favorite from Boise, Idaho, highly recruited senior Susan Werner, finished 26 seconds behind, in third place. Lisa Whiting, Mountain View's top runner, finished sixth.
Mountain View won the team division while Punahou came in fourth among 11 teams.
"The competition at the meet is tremendous," said invitational meet director Don Wayne. "To win it, you have to be pretty darned good. This will get her some recognition."
Wayne said that the previous four winners were all Division I college recruits.
Jenkins said he already has started to receive inquiries about Macdonald from eight to 10 top cross-country programs and he expects the list to grow steadily.
He acknowledged that it's possible she could become the most sought-after female distance runner ever to grow up in Hawaii.
Macdonald's times on the track don't hurt, nor does the fact she has begun developing into a fiercely competitive creature.
In many of her meets -- she has never lost a cross-country race in Hawaii -- Macdonald has blown away the field early. But her dominance has not given her a superiority complex.
Make no mistake, Macdonald knows how to fight off the ropes.
She did it at least three times in the track and field season in the 4x400 relay. Her state meet performance in May was electrifying.
When she received the baton well behind her fast arch-rival, McGuire-Turcotte, in the anchor leg, closing the gap seemed about as easy as scaling the face of El Capitan bare-handed. But Macdonald doggedly pursued the HPA senior under the lights of the Kaiser High oval until she passed her and the team set a new state record in the 4x400: (4:03.32.)
"When she gets ripping, she gets ripping -- she just opens up completely," said Eri's father, Duncan Macdonald, a former sub-4-minute miler and U.S. 5,000-meter record holder (1976),
"I think she's not afraid of losing. She really likes to race. She thrives on competition, and having a good race is most important to her."
That makes her an even tougher force to be reckoned with on grass.
"She had 56-57-second quarter-mile speed at the end of her sophomore year," Jenkins said. "She's got good sprint speed. It's a neat combination to have her endurance and truly terrific sprint speed."
That's the makings of a genuine scholarship prospect.
One thing both Jenkins and Macdonald agree on is that Eri must improve her uphill strength.
"She admits it," said Jenkins. "She's not weak uphill, but it's not her strength. There will be times when she's going to need it."
Duncan Macdonald has to laugh when he thinks about it. "Yes, she definitely enjoys coming down more than going up."
