Sept. 28, 2009

By Joe Darda

On a crisp and clear December morning in 2002, a field of 100 seventh and eighth grade girls sprinted from the start line of the Mt. SAC cross country course in Walnut, CA. Within minutes, two pint-sized, pony-tailed runners had separated themselves from the rest, running smoothly, side-by-side along the dusty trails. Mel Lawrence and Lauren Saylordidn't know each other--not yet¬-as the precocious thirteen-year-olds finished first and second, the other competitors still out of sight.

It would have taken more than a little foresight to guess that these two Southwestern girls would eventually become college roommates, teammates, and national champions a thousand miles away at the University of Washington.

It almost didn't happen.

Four years later, as high school seniors, Lawrence and Saylor again met in Walnut for the highly competitive Mt. SAC Invitational, at which they would finish--what else?--first and second. By this time, both were Footlocker All-Americans and attracting the attention of college coaches from across the country. At the time, Lawrence was a three-time runner-up at Footlocker National Championships and the nation's prized recruit. With the signing period only weeks away, Saylor had all but decided on Washington. Lawrence was kind of, sort of sure she was headed to Oregon.

"Mel and I were talking after the race, and I told her I knew where I wanted to go," Saylor recalls. "I wasn't trying to talking her into anything, I was just really excited about what I'd seen at UW."

Saylor's words--and a chance encounter at the Pac-10 Championships between her mother, Lee Lawrence, and Washington head coach Greg Metcalf--changed Lawrence's mind, and the course of her running career.