4 X 1-MILE RELAY – Well-stocked Kinetic Track Club, alias Saratoga Springs, N.Y. High School, had run a sensational 20:08.72 indoors at the Nike Indoor Classic, so the National and AOC meet records, the one-and-the-same 20:11.56 by Bronxville, NY in 2002, appeared to be in danger long before the 9 a.m. starting gun sounded.
But it was not to be. Kinetic ran with its second-echelon team and Pleasant Hills High/College Park, California was too hot to handle. The College Park unit of senior Diane Dunn (5:14), sophomore Nicole Pennes (5:07.2), freshman Kelsey Dallara (5:19.3) and senior Lindsay Allen (4:55.8) surged ahead at the beginning of Pennes’s carry and was never headed en route to 20:36.96 triumph.
The real question became the race for second place. After many position changes, Kinetic moved up on Karyn Delay’s 5:06.9 third leg and Caitlin Lane’s 4:59.2 anchor and took the silvers in 20:45.25. over Bronxville, NY’s 21:01.21. Goodrich (21:06.72) beat out Runnin’ Gear of Michigan (21:16.62) for the fourth spot. Soph Lyndsay Smith’s 5:10 opening mile had put Runnin’ Gear among the early leaders.
DISTANCE MEDLEY (Unseeded section) – The Blazin’ Raiders (12:24.17), Mason High (12:25.22) and San Lorenzo (12:30.83), all loaded with underclasspersons, duked it out in the prelim to the 8:15 pm seeded section that was the night’s final event. Give these teams some time to mature: the Raiders and Mason had just a single senior in their lineups; San Lorenzo ran with three juniors and a soph.
2000-METER STEEPLECHASE – Just four years onto the AOC event schedule, the 2K ‘Chase continues to showcase future stars for this future Olympic event. Sophomore phenomenon Lindsey Ferguson of Saratoga, NY, for instance. She’d erased the prior National record (6:47.03 by Pleasant Hills, California’s Lindsay Allen in 2003) with her rousing 6:45.49 triumph in the New York State meet two weeks ago.
The AOC best-ever (6:52.25 by Manchester, New Hampshire’s Liz Gesel in 2001) might have been in trouble, too, with better atmospherics. In the heat and high humidity, though, soph Ferguson’s 6:55.02 triumph (10 seconds over her best) was excellent, even if it was the fourth fastest winner in the meet’s four years.
Ferguson won it convincingly over Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Adele Mitchell (7:00.34), Grahamsville, NY’s Heather Iaturo (7:02.34) and Gansevoort, NY’s Hannah Davidson (7:03.47.) Iaturo (7:05.80 in ’01, 6:52.45 this spring) continues her hold on the National freshman and senior-year records.)
New York – the only state with this event on its formal program – provided 20 of the 23 ‘chasers.
800-METER SPRINT MEDLEY – Collinwood of Cleveland, triple winners (4x100, 4x200, 4x400) at the Ohio State Meet, became the team to watch after that dazzling display. Motor City Track Club/Mumford of Detroit came in with red-hot credentials, too. Neither, though, could handle a determined Winslow Township, New Jersey team.
Winslow, formerly Edgewood. alma mater of Olympic sprint relay gold medalist Dennis Mitchell, roared from behind to win this 100-100-200-400 event in 1:45.07 on sophomore Krystal Cantey’s inspired 55.5 anchor lap. Collinwood (1:46.51) and Mumford (1:46.55) dueled it out for second, while Uniondale, NY (1:47.00) was outlegging Spartanburg, SC (1:47.80) for fourth. Junior Dominique Merchant, senior Christina Smith, and senior Maurisa Williams ran the first three legs for Winslow, setting the stage for Cantey.
The two-section event had lots of excitement, but no commanding times. Long Beach Poly’s National record of 1:38.73 and William Penn of Philadelphia’s AOC best of 1:40.95, both set in 2003, were out of reach.
200-METER DASH TRIALS – Long Beach Poly senior Shalonda Solomon, headed for the U. of South Carolina, led it off with a 23.69 romp in heat one. But Alexandria Anderson of Chicago Morgan Park (23.65 in heat two) and Cleo Tyson of Huntsville, Texas (23.66 in heat two) were fractionally faster, setting the stage for expected fireworks in the nine-runner final booked for four hours later. Seven of the finalists broke 24 seonds. Whitney Charles of Columbia, SC (24.50) took the ninth and final spot by just 1/100 th of a second.
FRESHMAN MILE – Don’t expect a HS freshman miler to break Mary Decker’s record of 4:42.0 dating back to 1973. Maybe ever. That one’s an all-timer. But the AOC record was definitely hanging by a thread.
The event is just three years onto the AOC program and already sees big progress. Virginian Sarah Bowman’s 5:05.62 mark in 2002 was topped by New Jerseyan Lisa Burkholder’s 5:01.94 in 2003. Rockford, Michigan’s Rachel Wittum moved up on the charts yesterday with her narrow 5:04.25 decision over McLean, Va.’s Michaeline Nelson, who clocked 5:05.04. Under the 5:10 mark, too, was Silver Spring, Md.’s Halsey Sinclair at 5:09.96, and six more beat 5:20.
1-MILE RUN (Unseeded sections) – AOC meet top brass Jim Spier and A.J. Holzherr took special pride in the developments here. They, along with absent co-director Mike Byrnes, had gone to great lengths to make this 14 th AOC the first-ever U.S. scholastic meet – perhaps the first-ever U.S. meet of any category – to greet competitors from all 50 states. And the unseeded sections of the girls mile put the AOC’s farflung status on best display. Kula, Hawaii’s Tia Ferguson won it in 4:54.74; Rock Hills South Carolina's Angelina Blackmon clocked 4:58.43 in second; Soldotna. Alaska’s Ari Goldstein ran 5:01.60 in third; Clarkston, Michigan’s Liz Mengyan was fourth in 5:03.38. Connecticut, North Dakota and Wyoming had top-12 finishers, too.
400-METER HURDLES – It’s been a long while since the top rungs of the record lists have been dented in the one-lap hurdles. The National record, 55.20 by Millbrae, California’s Leslie Maxie dates all the way back to 1984. The AOC mark of 57.48 by Tawana Watkins, JFK of Paterson, NJ, has been in the books since 2001. Neither record – along with the one-minute “barrier” – was nudged this time. Selena Sappleton of Brooklyn’s A. Phillip Randolph High, a senior star out of the Big Apple’s PSAL circuit, was clearly the class of the field with a 1:00.11 triumph in the fourth and final heat.
Four third-heat runners snared spots two through five – Teaneck, NJ’s Michelle Smith (1:01.26); Tallahassee, Fla.’s Loreal Smith (1:01.34); Anderson, SC’s Nyoka Norman (1:01.77) and Coral Springs, Florida’s Deandra Doyley (1:01.94.) Michelle Smith, a junior, was first underclass finisher; Doyley was top soph, just ahead of Winslow Township’s Krystal Cantey, who’d anchored the 800-meter sprint medley winners.
“I started really bad, but I got myself together and finished the race OK,” said Sappleton, who owned a 58.94 PR. “It was a pretty good race; I wasn’t happy with my time, but I was with my mechanics.” The AOC champion heads for the University of Pittsburgh this fall.
4 X 100 RELAY – The purple-and-white-clad Skyline girls, who’d dashed off with the 4x200 Friday, left no doubt about their dominance in the one-lapper, either. Krystin Lacy, Chantelle Curry, ShaTara Taylor and Tara Thomas blazed their lap in 45.63, winning with daylight to spare. They bettered the FAT meet finals record of 45.89 by J.W. North of Riverside, California in 2001, but were oh-so-slightly shy off the 45.47 turned in by Elsik of Alief, Texas in the 2002 heats.
The Skyliners had lowered the Texas state record to 44.60 in their 5A State meet, climbing to second on the all-time U.S. charts, trailing only Long Beach Poly’s 44.50 in April at the Penn Relays.
With Poly focusing on individual racing at AOC, Skyline won handily. Another Texas foursome, MacArthur High, came in with 45.66 credentials and took second hee in 46.41. There was another big gap before Largo (47.29) edged Mount Tabor (47.48) for third. “I was just ready to go out there and rock ‘n roll,” said Thomas, smiling. “We could have run better, but that’s OK.”
800-METER RUN – Heading in to the two-lap finale, Tamieka Grizzle’s AOC 1996 mark of 2:04.55 for George Washington High of NYC was considered vulnerable. Oh, it will remain in the books through 2005 – but had to weather an all-out attack. Warrenton, Virginia’s power-striding Sarah Bowman, a junior at Fauquier High, “went for it” from the gun, covering 400 meters in 59.8 and 600 in 1:31.2. With the crowd roaring encouragement, Bowman weakened only slightly and came on home in 2:04.94. This was the 18 th best time in U.S, scholastic history and the fastest in the nation in eight years.
Certainly Bowman was impressive, but once again, the National mark of 2:00.97, by Fort Washington, Pa.’s Kim Gallagher, dating back to 1982, stayed far out of reach. Bowman easily bested her PR of 2:07.69 at the Taco Bell Classic this spring. She’d won theAOC freshman mile title in 5:05.62 in 2002. Geena Gall of Flint, Michigan fought off all others to take the silver in 2:08.59, with Westerly, RI’s Samantha Gwrych (2:09.90) third and Ocean City, NJ’s Renee Tomlin (2:11.25.) The first five all are underclass runners. Top senior Kelly Robinson of Holt, Michigan ran sixth.
Determined Meghan Shinkwin of Nashua, NH, started off the 800 series with a tight-as-can-be 2:15.41 first heat decision over Mechanicsburg, Pa.’s Jen Gray at 2:15.49.
Bowman’s AOC first choice of events was the mile – she’s run a 4:46 – but she may have a better future at two laps than four. “I wasn’t training for the 800,” Bowman said. “I haven’t run the 800 too much, so didn’t really know what to expect. I usually go out hard (as she did here.) I know I can work on it. I know I can improve on it.”
400-METER DASH – These days, Mikele “Miki” Barber, alumna of Montclair, NJ High and the U. of South Carolina and member of the USA Sydney 4x400 relay squad, is focusing on the upcoming Olympic Trials. But her AOC record of 52.36, set in 1998, remains untouched.
Natasha Hastings of Brooklyn’s A.Phillip Randolph High, came to Raleigh with a sensational portfolio (a 52.09 lap last year at the Junior Nationals, a spot on the USA 4x4 team at this winter’s World Indoor Championships, and a nation-leading 52.43 at the Golden South Meet this spring.
Call her the AOC champion now, too. Blasting around the second turn and down the home straight, Hastings sped across in 52.89.
“The start is the hardest part of the race for me; I know I was getting out a little slow,” she said. But I know that was going to make up some ground in the second 200. “And, yes, this was a great field. Everybody proved they belonged.” A full stride-plus back in second was Bianca Knight, the sensational Ridgeland, Mississippi freshman, at 53.35, 86/100ths off the National frosh record. Missouri City, Texas’s Brandi Cross grabbed third in 53.69, while Nicole Leach, star of Philadelphia West Catholic’s brilliant relay units, held on for fourth in 53.78. Another sensational freshman, Towson Catholic, Maryland’s Devon Williams, best known for her 800 and one-mile exploits, dipped down to 400 and took seventh in 54.88.
Nine runners beat 55, 17 were under 57, all but four finishers bested 58.
1-MILE RUN - “This is going to be spectacular,” AOC announcer Doug Speck declared, warming up the crowd, which had reconvened at Paul Derr Track Stadium after a lightning-necessitated delay of just over an hour. “This will be the deepest field in American history. All 13 runners have broken 4:50.” Again, he promised, “This will be absolutely spectacular.”
It was.
Kinetic Track Club/Saratoga Springs, NY’s sensational sophomore Nicole Blood took it away from front-running Roseville, California senior Caitlin Chock in the final 40 meters. Blood’s 4:42.40 clocking demolished the 25-year-old National sophomore record. Deanna Coleman’s 4:42.5 hand-timed clocking for Issaquah, Washington High had been in the books as a 10 th-grade standard since 1978. Chock got to the line in 4:42.52.
The all-time charts will now list Blood as the ninth fastest American miler ever, Chock 10 th. There was honor for many as the top seven broke 4:50 and 21, all told in the three-section race, went under five minutes.
Oviedo, Florida’s Jennifer Barringer took it out through a 32.9 opening 200 and a 1:08.9 lap, with Virginian Sarah Bowman, who’d already won the 800, and Blood two strides back. Blood and Chock led through 1:46.4 at 600, the pace slowing just a tad. Soon, it was Chock alone in front, passing 800 in 2:23 and 1200 in 3:32.6.
It seemed Chock was going to breeze home in a sub-4:40, but the slender, determined Blood had other ideas. “Come on folks, with a strong last lap she can do it,” Speck implored the crowd. Blood got the message loudly, clearly. And when she edged ahead, Chock had no response.
“Let’s bring ‘em in,” Speck urged. “What a race, wow! Let’s all give them all a hand.”
Bottom line: This was the greatest depth in a high school girls mile in U.S. history.
Another Saratogan – Alicia Follmar, a Saratoga, California junior – ran a strong third in 4:46.77, just in front of Lincoln, Mass.’s Lindsay Donaldson at 4:46.94. Sunni Olding, the AOC two-mile champion, took eighth in 4:50.03; Sarah Bowman, the AOC 800 winner, ran ninth in 4:51.62.
Blood, all smiles, described herself as “5-foot-2, 100 pounds and all muscle.”
“I think I was in last place the first 200,” she said. “When Caitlin took the lead, she pushed a really hard pace. I was trying to stay with her. On the last lap, I felt really strong and started reeling her in. I was pushing her hard. It was one of those finishes, awesome.”
100-METER HURDLES – The 2004 season marked a full quarter-century in the National books for Beaver Falls, Pa.’s Candy Young and her blazing 12.95 Joanna Hayes’s AOC record of 13.38, set for Riverside, California High in 1995, is getting up there on the venerability charts, too.
They’ll be there for another year – at the very least. Tamarac, Florida senior Tia Moss took the AOC crown handily in 13.67, but was the lone finalist to break 14. Dallas’s LeeAndrea Robinson took silver in 14.09; Springfield, Md.’s Tiffany Nesfield claimed bronze in 14.12.
“My start wasn’t all that bad,” said Moss. “I was just trying to make sure I had a strong trail leg coming across. I was trying to pick up between (hurdles.)I think I took control of the race about the fifth or sixth hurdle.”
200-METER DASH FINAL – They call Long Beach Poly star Shalonda Solomon “Speedy.” The designation fits perfectly. She’d run third in the AOC 100 final Friday and ran second in the 200 at the California state meet the week before, but there was no beating her in the half-lapper Saturday night.
“Speedy” took it in 23.42, turning the tables on a pair of gold medalists, A. Phillip Randolph of NYC’s Natasha Hastings, who’d taken the 400 earlier Saturday, and Huntsville, Texas’s Cleo Tyson, 100-meter titlist Friday. This time, Hastings settled for second in 23.66; Tyson’s 23.71 got third.
“I felt better than yesterday,” said Solomon, “but my legs were still tight. I knew I had to go, and put it in another gear. I know I beat a very good field.”
Bianca Knight, the brilliant Ridgeland, Mississippi freshman, stamped herself as a top 2005 candidate, with her 24.14 fourth-place.
4X400 RELAY - Multi-talented Skyline came up from Dallas intent on a three-for-three sweep, and the Texans (winners earlier in the 4x1 and 4x2) got just that. Champions at 3:38.45 in 2003. they repeated in 3:41.77. ShaTara Taylor, Chantelle Curry, Krystin Lacy and Ashley Harvey – all juniors – had no problems taking it all.
Natasha Hastings-led A. Phillip Randolph of Brooklyn nabbed silver in 3:43.78. Hard on Randolph’s heels were the Blazin’ Raiders (3:44.85) and Philadelphia’s West Catholic (3:45.43.) Northwestern of Miami came here with a 3:43.21 mark at the Florida 4A State Meet but wound up sixth over-all at 3:51.10.
DISTANCE MEDLEY FINAL – Red Bank Regional’s national and AOC-record 11:37.86, a capper to the brilliant 2003 meet, was a gem to remember, Katy Trotter rallying the New Jerseyans from Count Basie’s town past the field with a rousing anchor mile. But its lifespan was just one year. “It’s gone, it’s history,” said AOC announcer Ian Brooks. It’s now number three on the all-time list, after Bay Shore, NY (11:33.42) fought off Eureka, Missouri (11:33.87) in a sizzling down-to-the-wire duel.
Bay Shore, second to Red Bank last year and repeat winner of the AOC 4x800 Friday night, won it with Mary Liz McCurdy. Samantha Jackson, Sarah McCurdy and Laura Cummings.
“We wanted the National record so bad,” said Mary Liz McCurdy. “We ran second twice, I can’t describe how much we wanted to win this.”
Cummings’s 4:50.3 decided it all; Eureka anchor Merideth Snow, a sophomore, ran 4:52.9. “It was one of the most exciting races of my life,” Cummings said. “We really worked for it, and came together this year.”
Said Sarah McCurdy, an eighth-grader: “It’s better than I thought; I’m so excited, I didn’t think it would be this exciting. I’m really psyched.”
Eureka held a six-meter lead after three carries and 2400 meters, but Bay Shore was in solid contention. With soph sensation Nicole Blood, newly crowned AOC mile champion, anchoring Kinetic Track Club/Saratoga Springs, NY seemed to have a shot at gold, too. But the intense pace of the front-runners and Blood’s previous mile effort were too much for Saratoga to overcome. Still, their 11:43.81 moves up to sixth all-time.
The Shore Conference of New Jersey – Red Bank Regional’s league – was well represented by Southern Regional/Hammer Track Club, a solid fourth in 11:56.60.
POLE VAULT – The AOC record, 13-1 ½ by Lacy Janson of Sarasota, Florida’s Cardinal Mooney High in 2001, was on shaky ground to begin with. New York State titlist Tiffany Maskulinski of Iroquois High in upstate Elma, had demolished her state and all-time U.S. junior-class bests with her 13-5 clearance two weeks ago. Sure enough, Maskulinski soared to the AOC gold medal and gained a share of the meet record with a 13-1 ½ clearance on first try, good going in the muggy atmospherics. Jenn O’Neil of Fairport, NY also went 13-1 ½, but needed three tries to get over and wound up second on the misses rule.
No one else was close to these two. Madison, Wisconsin’s Jenny Soceka cleared 12-5 ½ for third. Earlier this spring, Lindsay Regan of Easton, Pa., the Penn Relays champion, became a vaulter-to-watch with a 13-2 performance, just two inches off the national sophomore record. But she wasn’t in that kind of form here, bowing out after a 11-11 ¾ clearance that shared fourth with Tallahassee, Florida’s Lori Bowen. Out of reach to all, once again, was the National record of 13-8 ½ set in 2003 by Californian Kira Costa, of Fresno’s San Joaquim High.
TRIPLE JUMP – Erica McLain, the super-springy Plano, Texas senior headed for the Stanford, had already taken the AOC long jump with a 19-1 ¼ Friday, and had won the Texas 5A and Great Southwest TJ titles in recent weeks. Now, she’s the second repeat AOC TJ champion, as well, joining 1998-99 winner Jodi Schlesinger of West Nyack, NY, on this short, elite list.
McLain’s 2003 43-1 was an AOC meet mark, and now she’s upped it to 44-1 ¼, a mere inch shy of the National record, Ychilindria Spears’s 44-2 ¼ for Luling, Texas High in 2001. (Spears’s mark is also a junior-class best; McLain’s now the longest TJ-ing senior.)
After opening at 43-3 ¼, McLain fouled her next two efforts, then delivered the big 44-1 ¼ in round four. All four of her legal efforts far eclipsed runnerup Jacksonville, Floridian Tiara Swanigan’s 40-7 ¾. Miami’s Nicole Moore gave Florida a 2-3 finish with her 40-2 ¾.
SHOT PUT - Michelle Carter’s 2003 record throws (54-10 ¾ National; 54-4 ¼ AOC) seem destined to last a while. The Red Oak, Texas, High grad, daughter of ’84 Olympic silver medalist Michael Carter, won’t be easily displaced.
Michaela Wallerstedt, the Burke High, Omaha, junior who’d taken the silver in Friday’s shot put, came back with the SP gold on a 49-6 ¼ toss. The rain-interrupted competition wasn’t close. “I thought I had about four or five good throws,” said Wallerstedt.
Six-foot-three tall Megan Howard of Nipomo, California’s Arroyo Grande High, flew into NC with 50-3 and 50-2 marks this spring, and a U. of Arizona scholarship assured, but settled for AOC silver at 47-3 ½. North Canton, Ohio’s Ashley Muffet landed third spot at 45-1.
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