L. Centrowitz Puts Team Before Self

Running is generally recognized as an individual sport, but for All-Met Lauren Centrowitz, from Broadneck High School in Arnold, simply contributing to Stanford's second consecutive cross-country national championship last Monday in Terre Haute, Ind., has its own rewards.

As a senior at Broadneck, Centrowitz won eight state track titles and two individual state cross-country crowns. And as a freshman two years ago, she was the Cardinal's No. 4 runner as the team finished fifth in the NCAAs.

But a sacral stress fracture (a cracked bone in the lower back common among female distance runners) forced Centrowitz to sit out last spring's track season, and she returned to the national championship cross-country team in the fall not as a star, but a veteran hoping to use her strength and wits to make the team. That Centrowitz regained a varsity spot is a tribute to her tenacity as well as to her experience.

"That was my goal, to make the top seven," Centrowitz said, already back at Stanford after a quick trip home for the Thanksgiving holiday. "I started [training] a month late and lacked a base."

Centrowitz finished 172nd at nationals -- she was 47th as a sophomore -- and will redshirt for the upcoming indoor track season. "This is a really close group of girls and I wanted to be a part of this team," she said. "Now, I've got to get healthy -- I'm really excited for outdoor track."

Running is in the Centrowitz family blood. Her brother, Matthew, is a senior All-Met at Broadneck and will run next fall at Oregon, where Matthew and Lauren's father, Matt, starred in the 1970s. The elder Centrowitz made two Olympic teams and is now the coach at American University, whose men's team finished 26th in Terre Haute.

Despite her role as an upperclassman at Stanford, Lauren Centrowitz is reluctant to offer advice to her younger brother, who qualified yesterday in the Bronx for the national Foot Locker cross-country meet in San Diego on Dec. 16.

"I'll wait until he finishes high school first," Lauren said. "Right now, I'm just trying to be supportive as a big sister."

· GET YOUR BELLS ON: The second Jingle All the Way 10K will take place on Dec. 10 at 8 a.m. at West Potomac Park.

-- Jim Hage

hagej@washpost.com