Penn Relays 2007: Girls’ High School Relays Preview
Posted April 21st, 2007 at 9:59 PM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
It is the best of America against the best of Jamaica in this year’s girls’ relays at Penn Relays.
In both the 4×400 and 4×800, Eleanor Roosevelt of Maryland will meet head-on against Holmwood Tech and Edwin Allen of Jamaica. Just to make it interesting, Long Beach Poly of California will join the party in the 4×400. In the 4×800, the U.S. national high school record could be on the line.
In the 4×100, Poly and another fine California school, Rancho Verde, will square off against Holmwood.
The DMR is a domestic affair, with a number of New York teams taking on New Jersey’s finest, Southern Regional, and its great anchor runner, Danielle Tauro.
4×400 — Holmwood has run 3:34.29 this year, faster than its meet record of 3:34.75 from 2001 and faster than the U.S. high school record of 3:35.49 run by Poly in 2004. In fact, it is faster than most college teams can run. Holmwood won a year ago in 3:36.98 with a team of Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, Anastasia Le-Roy, Schillonie Calvert and Sonita Sutherland. Only Sutherland has graduated. Wilkins, in particular, has run 52.14.
Poly has two sophomores, Jasmine Joseph and Turquoise Thompson. Joseph has the fastest outdoor time in the country so far this season (53.48), and Thompson merely held the same honor for the recent indoor season (53.73).
At the recent Arcadia Invitational in Southern California, however, they could not handle Roosevelt, which took the U.S. lead outdoors, 3:40.48-3:41.17. Roosevelt was second at the Relays a year ago in 3:39.44, an Eastern record; nationally, only Wilson/Long Beach and Poly (3:38.25) ran faster in 2006.
Roosevelt plans a squad of Doris Anyanwu, Tasha Stanley and twin sisters Tameka and Takecia Jameson. An injured 53-second quarter-miler, Elain Hilaire, waits in the wings trying to get healthy.
Jamaica sends Edwin Allen (3:40.25), Manchester (3:41.68), Vere Tech (3:47.11) and St. Jago (3:49.99).
Domestically, the leading teams include Boys & Girls (Brooklyn), 3:47.57 indoors; another Brooklyn team, Bishop Loughlin; Menchville (Newport News), Deep Creek (Chesapeake) and Osbourn Park (Manassas) of Virginia; Hempstead and Uniondale, N.Y.; Oxon Hill and Elizabeth Seton of Maryland; Chatham, N.J.; and Rancho Verde, of Moreno Valley, which has run 3:49.19. And from Canada comes a fine squad, Lindsay (Ontario).
4×100 – Holmwood ran 44.56 a year ago and 44.64 at this year’s Girls Champs, both of them close to Vere Tech’s 3-year-old meet record of 44.32. Calvert and Le-Roy were 1-2 at the Champs 100 in 11.38/11.41. LeRoy won the 200 in 23.12. Holmwood is so deep in this event, it also ran 46.76 and 47.08 in the Class 2 and Class 3 4×100s at the Girls’ Champs this year. (Yes, that is with 12 different runners.)
Edwin Allen is no slouch, running 45.18 for second place at the Champs Class 1, with St. Jago third in 46.55. In younger classes, Vere ran 46.28 and Manchester 46.27.
And then there is California. Poly ran 45.79 at Arcadia, the nation’s leading time, and Rancho Verde was second at 46.50. Poly was second to Vere in that 2004 meet-record race, running 44.50 to set the still-standing national high school record.
Bethel, which was second to Holmwood Tech a year ago, returns with a good team this year, along with other Virginia teams Landstown (Virginia Beach) and Menchville (Newport News). Others include McDonogh School, Elizabeth Seton and Western from the Baltimore area; Overbrook (Philadelphia); New York schools Uniondale, Newburgh, Middletown and Boys & Girls; and Camden (N.J.).
4×800 — Roosevelt has an ‘A’ team of Tasha Stanley (2:09.17), Marika Walker (2:10.85), Tameka Jameson (2:12.85) and Dominique Lockhart. It may not be enough, although Boys & Girls’ American high school record of 8:50.41, set at the Relays in 2002, could go.
Holmwood Tech is led by Wilkins (2:11.98), Keno Heaven (2:09.73) and Vanessa Boyd (2:12.16). Edwin Allen has Shakeeri Cole (2:12.55), Andrea Sutherland (2:13.22), Nikita Tracey (2:11.46) and Mackola Josephs (2:12.29).
Holmwood won a year ago in 8:45.87, beating Allen (8:52.57) and Roosevelt (8:53.12).
Heading up the ‘B’ group, but still eminently respectable, are Pope John XXIII (Sparta, N.J.), which ran 9:05.97 indoors, and Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.), 9:11.79. Pope John’s time represented a new national Catholic high school record indoors.
DMR — Southern Regional has Tauro on the anchor and Jillian Smith leading off. Tauro is reigning Relays champion in the mile and was the nation’s leading miler a year ago (4:39.25). Smith has run under 4:55. Southern won the Eastern States indoor in 11:49.62.
The New York challengers include Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake, an all-underclass team that ran 11:51.74 for second place at the National Scholastic; Carmel (11:57.24), anchored by Kristin Reese; Holy Names (Albany); Bay Shore (Long Island), the NS winner in 11:48.54, led by Sarah McCurdy and Callie Hogan, and Saratoga Springs, anchored by Hannah Davidson. Others to watch are LaSalle Academy (Providence, R.I.), anchored by state 1,500 champ Jeanne Mack; Ramapo (N.J.), 4th at Arcadia in 11:57.44; and Jamaican squads Vere Tech and Manchester, the latter anchored by Natoya Goule.
Suffern (N.Y.) won a year ago in 11:48.31.
Written by: Jack Pfeifer
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Tags: girls high school relays preview, jack pfeifer, Penn Relays, penn relays preview
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