Running / Barbie Ludovise : Mind Over Matter: Confidence Keeping Rabbitt Off Fast Track

Although her running career began with a simple pair of deck shoes, an inability to jog a mile and a dislike for the activity, UC Irvine’s Buffy Rabbitt has become a two-time All-American with special potential.

But when you speak of potential to Rabbitt, say the word in a whisper. Even though her coaches consider her a top runner on the collegiate level, the junior does not seem--or want--to believe it.

Asked about Irvine Coach Vince O’Boyle’s conviction that she could run with the nation’s best, including five-time NCAA champion Suzy Favor of Wisconsin, Rabbitt’s eyes open wide.

“Ha!” she said. “You know, maybe the mind is magic, and if I thought (about) it enough I could get to be that fast. But I don’t envision it at this point.

“I’m just the type of person who’s just happy to improve--even if I finish last.”

Keep in mind that Rabbitt, 20, a former Newport Harbor High School standout, never has finished last in a race. Last year, she was only six seconds behind Favor in the NCAA 1,500-meter final.

In 1986, she became the school’s first female All-American in cross-country, finishing 20th at the NCAA championships. The next spring, she earned All-American honors in track. Last year, she qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 1,500 meters, although she did not reach the final.

Her success has brought attention, which the shy Rabbitt does not enjoy. Especially when her name becomes the inspiration for pun-filled headlines and stories. She insists she’d rather not be singled out, requesting instead to be viewed only as a part of the team.

And her interests reach beyond sports. Rabbitt has a 3.6 grade-point-average and is pursuing a double major in comparative literature and psychology and a minor in French. She redshirted the 1988-89 school year, studying in Montpellier, France.

During that year, Rabbitt gained an appreciation of other cultures and world events that she hadn’t before considered.

“Those things were too complicated, too foreign to me (before),” Rabbitt said. “I was interested in running, school, being with my friends. But I think you have to know what’s going on.”

As far as her outlook on running, Rabbitt is tentative. She says she does not often set goals--”I’m not sure why, maybe fear of failure,”--nor does she even want to hear the words, 1992 Olympics , mentioned with her name.

“Every time someone says that, I have to laugh,” Rabbitt said. “I mean, it’s so unrealistic. I think I would just be out of my head if I said, ‘Yes, I am training for the 1992 Olympics. Yes, I will have a sponsor . . .’

“If that ever does come to pass in my life, wonderful. Anyone would have to say that would be a great honor--and a lot of work--but I haven’t given it a serious thought yet.”

Compare Rabbitt’s current athletic status to her start in running, and you’ve got a career that’s implausible by a mile.

Six years ago, Rabbitt tried out for cross-country in the summer of her freshman year, although it was not her idea. Her mother thought joining the team would make the transition to high school easier.

Rabbitt had little background in sports before she entered high school. Although she dabbled in ballet, and spent summer days with a youth activities group on Balboa Island swimming, diving, rowing and paddleboard racing--”I was so bad at everything; I hated it,” she says--Rabbitt did not know what to expect from running.

And when Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit saw this scrawny little girl wearing glasses and deck shoes approach him, he didn’t know what to expect either.

But after her first few weeks, Tweit was convinced of Rabbitt’s ability.

“She was flat out terrible,” he said.

“On the very first day, we ask the kids to try to get down to the Coast Highway and back; it’s seven-tenths of a mile. She could not make it. We had a basic three-mile run called ‘Drinking Fountain.’ She could not finish it. . . .

“There is no way in the world, after seeing her in her freshman year, that you’d think she’d ever be a four-year varsity member, much less an All-American in college.”

When the team set out for its annual training camp at Kings Canyon a few weeks later, Rabbitt went along, but when Tweit and co-coach Bob Van Sickle chose teams for a relay race, Rabbitt was left out. Van Sickle told her to try to run the figure-eight loop course with another runner.

Said Rabbitt: “I was very hurt by this. I went up to Bob and said, ‘You don’t think I’m good enough, do you?’ He was trying his best not to hurt me, but there was no way around it.

“So, I ran my hardest. I just knew that for the first time, I was going to try really, really hard because I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Said Tweit: “She took off really fast with this long stride. We were going, ‘What? This is Buffy? Someone stop her! She’s gonna die!’ She was passing people left and right. We’d never seen her run like that. It was incredible. She came back around and she was still going like that. We were just dumbfounded.”

Despite the fact that she could finish a three-mile cross-country course in a race, she struggled to complete the distance on a training run. Among her coaches and teammates, very slow jogging came to be called the “Buffy Shuffle.”

Rabbitt, who is nearsighted, then wore glasses (she now has contact lenses). But because the glasses would fog up and slip around when she raced, Rabbitt would take them off midway through the race and carry them in her hand.

“We were running a race at Eisenhower Park,” Tweit said. “It was a crazy course with all kinds of turns and loops. The first girl got so far ahead of Buffy that we (coaches and teammates) had to split up and run all around the course saying, ‘Buffy! Turn right! Buffy, go left!’

“I’m telling you, her freshman year was bizarre.”

But in the next three years, Rabbitt became one of the county’s best. As a junior, she led Newport Harbor to the Southern Section 4-A championship. As a senior, she was named The Times’ female runner of the year in cross-country.

But Rabbitt, admits her self-confidence never has been high.

“I know I have some work to do in that regard,” she said. “I really have lacked confidence in the past. When I ran the Olympic Trials, I hate to admit it, but I lost confidence and mentally gave up a little bit. I was overwhelmed and an experience like that makes me wonder, ‘Am I able to take the pressure?’ ”

O’Boyle is convinced she can. But she must start believing what has become a common belief: she has the ability to run very, very fast.

“Mentally, she just hopes that she does well,” O’Boyle said. “She doesn’t look at herself as, ‘I’m an All-American and I can run with anyone.’ That’s what she has to start thinking. She has to believe, ‘I can compete with anyone.’ Will she ever do that? I don’t know. We’ll have to see.”

Rabbitt, the 1987 Big West Conference cross-country champion, and senior Brigid Stirling, the 1988 Big West champion, lead the Anteaters this year.

Stirling, a Seattle native and transfer from Claremont-McKenna College, won the Fresno Invitational last Saturday to spark Irvine to victory in the 11-team field.

Rabbitt was second, followed by sophomore Caroline Plier (fifth), freshman Rayna Cervantes (seventh) and junior Kelli Lewis (ninth).

The men’s team finished third, and was led by junior Aaron Mascorro (10th), sophomore Ben Ayers (16th) and sophomore Kevin Berko (19th).

The men’s and women’s teams will compete in the Aztec Invitational Saturday in San Diego.

Irvine’s water polo team moved to second in the NCAA rankings this week. The Anteaters were third-ranked before the UC Irvine tournament last weekend.

In that tournament, Irvine finished second among 10 teams and was 5-1 overall. Senior goaltender Chris Duplanty had 45 saves in five games, including 15 in Irvine’s 9-7 victory over then-No. 1 Stanford.

California (7-1), which defeated Irvine, 9-5, in the championship game, took the top spot this week. USC (3-3) is third, followed by UCLA (4-4) and Pepperdine (6-2). Stanford (5-3) fell to sixth.

Irvine will play in the Air Force tournament on Saturday, and Sunday at UC Santa Barbara.

The women’s volleyball team, which won the Village Inn tournament at the University of Rhode Island last weekend, is 8-2. The team opens Big West Conference play Friday against UC Santa Barbara at Irvine.

Senior outside hitter Ali Wood, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, leads Irvine with 148 kills in 10 matches.