By Mike Berardino
Staff Writer
Article dated June 10, 1995

Donna Howard has identified the problem but can't seem to solve it. No matter how hard she tries, no matter what she does, the same old monster rears its gruesome head. And always - always - at the worst possible time.

The monster is nerves.

``I tense up,'' Howard, the record-setting sprinter from Glenn Hills High School, says by telephone from Austin, Texas, where she recently completed her sophomore year at the University of Texas. ``The bigger the race, the worse it gets.''

Typically, Howard's nightmare goes like this: She blasts out of the starting blocks and leads the field for the first half of the 400-meter dash. But somewhere along the line - halfway through, maybe 100 meters from the finish - a sinking feeling sets in. Howard realizes she has done it again. She has started too fast, and soon she will hit the wall.

Splat.

``You're fine until they call out your split time,'' Howard says, choosing her words carefully, stepping gingerly through this psychological land mine. ``But when you hear the announcer say `23 seconds,' you start to panic. When I get too nervous, I go out too fast. And 23 seconds for the first 200 yards is too fast. You do that, you will break.''

You would think someone blazing her way around an outdoor track would be oblivious to public-address announcements. You would think the whoosh of the wind and the sprinter's tunnel vision would block out distractions.

Not so with Howard. She says she hears everything - the announcer, the crowd, the footsteps of her opponents behind her. She can't help herself. All these sounds just build up around her, swirling and rising and chasing, until finally, once again, they drag her back into the pack.

A caller suggests ear plugs as a solution. Howard just laughs. Even if those were allowed, and she's not sure they are, Howard wouldn't be interested. No, she must solve this problem without gimmicks. She must stare down her demons and make them cooperate. She's trying. Believe her, she's trying.

The strangest part about the monster is its selective nature. In regional meets, Howard is fine. She still hears everything, but nothing slows her down. In late April she won the Southwest Conference outdoor championship with a time of 53.95 in the 400 meters. Three weeks earlier in Houston, she toasted the field with her fastest 400 ever: 53 flat.

But then she goes to national events and the monster cackles in her ear. Last week Howard, 20, flopped at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., failing to qualify for the 400-meter finals.

Thursday in Sacramento, Calif., Howard gets a chance at redemption. She will run the 400 meters against a Who's Who of American track, including her older sister, Anita, an alternate on the 1992 U.S. Olympic 4x400 relay team. A strong showing at these USA Track Championships would give both Howards momentum in their push for inclusion on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team.

``I know I'll be nervous,'' Donna says. ``All the big timers will be there. Gwen Torrence and everybody. So I'm nervous, but then I'm not. There should be no pressure on me. Nobody expects to me to do anything. I'm just happy to be running.''

Sound logic, to be sure. And if that fails? Well, there's always ear plugs.