Smith, a junior fullback on the Old Dominion field-hockey team, led the Lady Monarchs to an 18-2 regular-season record and the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Along with playing tight defense, she was fifth in points, with 36 on 11 goals and 14 assists, for the team.

Blacketer, a junior at Missouri Southern State and a Division II All-America, defeated defending conference champion Kathy Kearns, a senior at Northwest Missouri, by 21.4 seconds to win the Mid-America Athletic Association women's cross-country championship in 18:14.9.

Morgan, 41, won the women's 198-pound masters division of the USA Powerlifting bench-press championship. She set and reset the national record for her division, increasing it from 137.50 pounds to 148.75 to 159.75 on successive lifts. She began powerlifting only 20 months ago.

Olson, 24, earned a bronze medal in the 190-pound division at the judo world championships. After losing his first-round match, he battled his way through the losers' bracket and finally defeated Algimantas Merkevicius of Lithuania for third place.

Ryan, 16, a junior running back for Cy-Fair High, broke the state Class 5A single-game rushing record when he ran for 443 yards on 28 carries—and scored four touchdowns—in the Bobcats' 34-30 victory over Cypress Creek. Ryan averaged 177 yards per game for 5-4 Cy-Fair.

Maskel, 43, has been a member of curling teams that have won 77 bonspiels since 1974. He currently plays second on Team Fraboni, which was the runner-up at the men's national championship and earned one of six spots at the U.S. Olympic trials. Curling debuts as a medal sport at the '98 Winter Games.

photographs (from top) by Adrin Snider, David Weaver, Studio Arts/Houlton, Tom Kimmell, F. Carter Smith, Greg Anderson

Issue date: November 24, 1997

Past Editions of Faces in the Crowd  

Nominate someone to appear in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd