On the Left Coast, it’s not just the politics that sometimes deserve a recount.

In the high school ranks, Janice Davis was Darth Vader. Every time the four-time Class 5A state champion crunched her spikes against a track, the Imperial March reverberated off the aluminum bleachers.

Her confidence made her faster. Her opponents, out of sheer fear, were toast before they lined up.

Now, Davis, a freshman at Stanford, has left the small pond and is just another fish in the vast Pacific. The transition to college was harder than a Calculus II final.

Her troubles didn’t only concern leaving her mother’s baked fish and chicken dinners for a cafeteria and Ramen noodles diet.

&uot;You knew in high school there was a certain group you’d compete with so you could just go out there and run,&uot; Davis said. &uot;Once I got here, I found out status doesn’t matter. You could be Marion Jones, and someone will run you down. No one (in college) cares. Everyone is out to get you.&uot;

Davis anticipated a yellow brick road allowing her to pick up in college where she left off at Natchez High.

What she got was a dirt road in the middle of nowhere with potholes Baby Jessica couldn’t be rescued from. She endured a lot of tweaking and manipulating from the Cardinal head women’s coach Edrick Floreal during an indoor season that ultimately ended in a wash rather than a coming-out affair.

&uot;Indoor season was basically a sacrifice to get ready for outdoors,&uot; Davis said. &uot;That was a very long and frustrating process. It got to a point where I was toiling with myself: I could go back and run like I did in high school and be satisfied hitting my standards, or sacrifice and do what my coach says. It grew on me. I began trusting what (Floreal) was saying.&uot;

The reinvention of Janice Davis began slowly paying dividends. She finished third in the 100 behind world champion Inger Miller at the Stanford Invitational in late March.

Davis is one of a heralded Cardinal freshman class to post NCAA Regional qualifying marks. She has already attained necessary times in the 100 (11.82), 200 (23.95) and 400 meters (54.84). She is also a member of the school-record holding 1,600-meter relay team (3:33.81) and the NCAA Regional 400-meter squad (45.33).

&uot;I appreciate athletes and true coaching,&uot; Davis said. &uot;Everyone is real fast. It’s about competing. It took me a while to understand that because I’m used to running such-a-such time.&uot;

Davis said her inner tide began changing at the Texas Relays.

&uot;It didn’t dawn on me that I needed to run a specific time because I got caught up in the competition,&uot; Davis remembered about the Texas Relays. &uot;It’s more of a team thing now. If one person falters, others are expected to step up. It was kind of like that in high school &045; but not that serious.&uot;

You mean they take things seriously in California? Wait ’til the Governator hears this.

Chuck Corder

is a sports writer for The Natchez Democrat. You can reach him at (601) 445-3633 or by e-mail at

chuck.corder@natchezdemocrat.com.