Emily Fertig - Sidwell Friends School, Cross Country

YEAR: Junior
HT: 5-foot-8
WT: 120
AGE: 16
DOB: 4/24/84
NICKNAME: "Em"
SIBLINGS: Andrew, 12
OTHER SPORTS: Soccer and softball
FAVORITE SCHOOL SUBJECT: Science
FAVORITE TV SHOW: "The Simpsons"
PETS: None, but she used to have a green snake named Emerald.
DREAM PROM DATE: Indiana Jones
FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM: Cherry Garcia

Ask Emily Fertig about her dream prom date, and you won't hear anything about Lance from 'N Sync, James Van der Beek or even the classics like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

For the Sidwell Friends School (D.C.) junior cross country standout, there's no substitute for everyone's favorite adventurer, Indiana Jones.

"I think he'd be a really interesting person," says Fertig.

More than just her choice of a prom date evidences the 16-year-old's love of a challenge. After breaking the 20-minute barrier in 1999, Fertig is setting her sights high again this season.

"I'd like to get under 19 (minutes)," she says."I think I've improved a lot since last year. I need more speed; I think I have a lot of endurance."

She ought to have endurance. The 1999 second team All-Met selection (an honor bestowed by The Washington Post) followed a rigorous training regimen this summer, running about 55 miles a week and tossing in a couple of cross country camps for good measure.

Fertig also runs the mile and two-mile races for Sidwell's track team and was an honorable mention All-Met for track last season, but says cross country is her top choice.

"They (the courses) are all different, and they're out in nature more," she says.

Besides her athletic endeavors, Fertig plays the French horn and keeps an A average. She hasn't made any decisions about where she will attend college in 2002, but is considering such top-notch schools as Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst and Smith.