Early - And Late - Bloomer -- Spu's Hamlin Emerges As Top 800- Meter Man

Ten-year-old Ted Hamlin was a butterfly among moths. His gift came early.

While the other boys were learning to run, Teddy was flying.

"Want to race around the block?" Teddy would ask his friends.

The answer was always "no."

The big race at the all-city, grade-school track meet in Boise, Idaho, was twice around the school track. Teddy always won.

"I had speed back then," Hamlin, now 20, said. "I guess I lost it."

Hamlin, a junior on the Seattle Pacific University track team, bloomed early but faded quickly. He grew six inches in high school. The height took the quick out of Hamlin. And the moths caught up.

He turned out for track and cross country every year at Boise High School. He went to the state meet only once, only for cross country, and placed 16th. Until this year, that was his best race.

"I was always in the middle of the pack," Hamlin said. "I didn't do anything special. I enjoyed running, but I wasn't special."

Last month, Hamlin found his wings again.

Two weeks ago, at the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, he won the 800-meter run in one minute, 48.89 seconds, which automatically qualified him for the NCAA Division II national meet in San Angelo, Texas, May 23-25.

"I made sure I was rested that day," Hamlin said. "It was a twilight meet, so I rested all day Friday and Saturday. I made sure I tapered my workouts, and the conditions were nice, not much wind, and the competition was good."

Hamlin's time, a school record, is the fastest in the nation among Division II runners to date. SPU's sports information office knows of no other runner who has automatically qualified for nationals.

Saturday, Hamlin won the 800 in 1:49.01 (his second-fastest time) at the SPU Invitational at Husky Stadium. He bettered the year-old meet record of 1:49.41, held by Washington's Mitch Leffler. It was Hamlin's fourth consecutive vic- tory in the 800, and his fifth in his past six races. His only loss was a second-place finish at the Western Washington Invitational.

"It's strange to be winning again," Hamlin said. I'm not really used to it. It's like being in grade school again."

Hamlin enrolled at SPU because he wanted to attend a Christian school, not because he wanted to run track. He got no scholarship offers and is still footing the bill for his education. He costs SPU nothing.

Quite a bargain for a potential national champion.

"It's nice not to have the pressure (of having a scholarship) because I miss a lot of practices," Hamlin said. "It's not like I owe them. I mean, I compete wholeheartedly, but there's just not the pressure."

Lest his attitude be mistaken as cavalier, Hamlin is not a practice-dodger. He misses a practice or two every week because he is being tested on electromagnetic fields and binary circuits.

The first reason he came to SPU was to study electrical engineering. He carries a 3.51 grade-point average.

Hamlin's career at SPU started out looking as ordinary as his haircut. He walked on the team, mostly for recreation. He ran the middle distances in the spring and cross country in the fall. He was good enough to earn a letter, but a butterfly he was not.

But Hamlin bloomed twice.

"I guess I caught up to my body," he said.

Glimmers of Hamlin's second wind could be seen last year. As a sophomore he finished in the top four in the 800 at three meets, including the Washington Outdoor. At the end of last season he managed to trim seven seconds off his time in the 1,500 and three seconds off his time in the 800.

Always one to set practical goals, Hamlin set out to run the 800 in 1:53 during his junior year. But he beat his personal benchmark by .30 seconds in the season's first race. It took him less than two months to surpass his "goal" by more than four seconds. His best time last year was 1:55.5.

"My goal was just to ran faster than 1:53," Hamlin said. "I thought if I could do that, then next year I could shoot for nationals. Now my goal for next year is just to trim a few more seconds off my time."

Hamlin, a year ahead of schedule, gives credit for his metamorphosis to his high school teammate and friend, Alan Herr, who runs the steeplechase for Pacific Lutheran University. Last summer, both took classes at Boise State and met every morning at 10 a.m. to go running alongside the Boise River. No special routines, no special vitamins, just an ordinary, eight-mile run.

"I developed a good cardiovascular base," Hamlin said. "My legs got used to running every day. I didn't feel totally fast, but I did feel like I was getting in shape.

"I guess I've just been progressing since high school and my speed came to me just from growing bigger and stronger."