Poly Long Beach CA 3:35.55 USR
Shalonda Solomon beats Sheryl Morgan in an anchor for the ages

story and photos by John Dye

The Beach tide rolls again. After winning the 4x100 and finishing second in the 4x800 Friday, Poly was apparently in tough against two Jamaican teams that had run 3:35 and 3:36 this year, including defending champion Holmwood Tech of Jamaica. But Poly was invincible once again.

After three fast preliminary legs, it came down to the anchors of Poly and Holmwood Tech. Holmwood's anchor, Sheryl Morgan, won the 400m hurdles Thursday morning and had three of the six fastest splits ever at the Penn Relays. But Poly's superstar anchor Shalonda Solomon once more was up to the challenge. Morgan moved strongly on the far turn, but Solomon reacted with fury and won going away with a split of 51.6, beating Morgan's 51.9 in 2001 as fastest in the history of the Penn Relays. Holmwood Tech was second in 3:36.84.

the anchor leg: Shalonda Solomon vs. Sheryl Morgan

Each of these great runners led twice in a pulsating tour of the historic Franklin Field oval.

Morgan (A) got the stick first and led Solomon (B) into the first turn.

Down the backstretch, Solomon surged to the lead (left), but Morgan responded quickly (below).

Solomon surged again on the turn (below) and took command in the home stretch.

Poly took down cross town Long Beach rival Wilson's national record of 3:35.72, setting off jubilant screams and high fives among the whole Poly delegation. Poly had flirted with the record last year at 3:35.99, which was the only non-Wilson mark in the top six all time in Jack Shepard's HIGH SCHOOL TRACK annual.

When the track announcer confirmed that Poly had broken the national record, the Poly girls and coaches erupted in the infield, all except Shalonda Solomon, who was still spent from her record anchor.

Poly's first three legs

1. Shantae McKinney 56.0

2. Jasmine Lee 52.8 had to fight off Eleanor Roosevelt MD star Tiondra Ponteen.

3. Shana Woods 55.1, a freshman

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