110th Penn Relays
Apr 22-24, 2004 at Franklin Field, Philadelphia PA

 


Preview

by John Dye

USA v. Jamaica. Poly Long Beach CA v. Holmwood Tech JAM. These are the main plots of the 110th Penn Relays for the high school fan. Necessary reading are results of the Jamaican national championships (HS), the Carifta Games (Caribbean under 20 and under 17 championships), and the Arcadia Invitational. Thursday is all girls. Friday is shared. Saturday is for the boys, with the 50,000 strong Saturday crowd also enjoying top collegiate and elite (USA v. the World relays) competition.

On the eve of the meet, here are the highlights that we expect:

Thursday

Girls 400H, field events, relay heats (4x100, 4x400, and 4x800), mile, DMR, and 3000.

The main show is the Poly-Holmwood battle, with Vere Tech JAM spoiling to beat both. A subplot is whether the Saratoga NY girls, juggernaut of the cross country scene, can win their first Penn Relays title.

Each of the top three girls sprint relay teams are led by superstars. Shalonda Solomon, headed for the University of South Carolina next year, leads Poly with her ferocious anchors, a US#1 200m (23.70) and a US#2 100m (11.50). Holmwood Tech has Anneisha McLaughlin, with the spiralling hairdo, a silver medal in 200 meters at the 2002 World Juniors, and a 52.80 Class 1 gold medal in the Jamaican national championships. McLaughlin lost the 200m at nationals despite a 23.48 time because Vere Tech's Simone Facey ran 22.71, breaking Veronica Campbell's meet record. Facey doubled in the 100 at 11.22 +1.1, making her one of the fastest women in the world so far this Olympic year.

Let's look at the team records. Jack Pfeiffer's preview on the Penn Relays web site sums it up best: "Holmwood Tech's girls are setting records in Jamaica; Long Beach Poly's are setting them in the States. For the second year in a row, they will settle their differences at the Penn Relays." Poly, defending Penn champion in both of the sprint relays, has set six US national records in the past 2 years.

4x100: Three sub-45 teams. Poly won Arcadia at 44.95. Holmwood and Vere ran 1-2 in Jamaica championships at 44.26 and 44.77. Records are in jeopardy -- Penn Relays 44.78, US 44.63.

4x400: Poly may have a slight edge here. They own the US record both indoors and out, with the outdoor record 3:35.55 coming at Penn last year. Poly won Arcadia by more than 6 seconds at 3:36.43. Holmwood and Vere were 1-2 in the Jamaican championships at 3:37.43 and 3:40.29.

Saratoga, led by sophomore star Nicole Blood for the fourth straight year, is entered in both distance relays (9:15.13 indoors in 4x800 and 11:49.99 in DMR), but they have strong competition.

4x800: Boys and Girls NY (9:06.75) and Bay Shore NY (9:08.07) were 1-2 in the US indoors. Defending Penn champion Edwin Allen JAM won last year in 8:52.59 and has bettered that time this year, but will not have the services of Kay-Ann Thompson (Jamaican championship meet record 2:03.75) because she has already run 4 years at Penn.

DMR: US record holder Mountain View UT (11:35.43) is not here, so the favorite role might fall on Saratoga (11:49.99 indoors). Arcadia winner San Pasqual CA (11:55.16) travels east to challenge. The anchor leg pits Saratoga's Nicole Blood, capable of a sub-4:50 time, against San Pasqual's Clair Rethmeier. Both were Foot Locker cross country national finalists at San Diego in December.

Mile: Fine field of US standouts is headed by US indoor athlete of the year Devon Williams. The freshman from Baltimore MD qualified for the Millrose Games mile with a 4:50.76 stunner at the Hispanic Games in January, but she missed Millrose due to injury. Williams came back from the injury to run a US#1 800 meters (2:06.48) at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. Top challengers are Pennsylvania indoor champ Frances Koons (4:53.18), Allison Kieffer NY (4:53.37), always dangerous Heather Iatauro NY (4:53.44), Stanford signee Lauren Centrowicz MD (4:54.26), and Sarah Bowman VA, 4:48.89 runnerup last year to Ari Lambie's 8th fastest US mile ever (4:42.21). Bowman's 2:07.69 800 meters at the Taco Bell Classic 2 weeks ago shows she is back in form after an injury layoff. Katelyn Kaltenbach CO, US#1 indoors (4:45.32) and Arcadia 2-mile champion, is bypassing high school competition here to run in the Olympic development women's 5000 meters Thursday night.

3000: Laura Cummings NY, winner of the Nike Indoor Championships 2-mile (10:38.79), is favored. Top competitors include Amanda Patterson VA, third at NIC (10:45.08), Canadian Mandy McBean (9:51.40 3k) and Jenifer Chichester DC (fifth for Guyana at the Pan Am Juniors last year).

400H: Nicole Leach PA was a surprise second last year (59.00) behind Jamaican Sheryl Morgan. Morgan is graduated, but Leach faces two more strong Jamaicans in Sherene Pinnock and Trishana McGowan, who were 1-2 in the Jamaican championships in 58.22 and 58.80. Kashain Page JAM was fourth in Jamaica (59.95). Two Californians, Talia Stewart and Dashanta Harris are having good seasons. Stewart won 100H at Stanford and Arcadia and won the 400H (61.13) at Stanford. Harris won the Mt. SAC Relays 100H (14.03). Tiffany Nesfield MD, just signed with the University of Illinois, is always a threat.

HJ: Toni Aluko MD tied on best height last year (5-9.75) but was third on misses. Lauren Biscardi NY was New York state champ indoors at 5-9 and won both the NSIC and NIC indoor national championships.

PV: Danielle O'Reilly NJ set the US indoor record at 13-5. Tiffany Maskulinski NY was US#2 indoors at 13-0.Also contending will be Lindsay Regan PA 12-9.5, Jennifer O'Neil NY 12-7, and Anna McFarlane MA 12-5.25.

LJ: Poly Long Beach's Shana Woods is sandwiched between two 20-foot Jamaicans (Peta Gaye Beckford and Tamara Francis) and two high 19-footers (Anna Kay Campbell and Renee White). The versatile Woods, only a sophomore, was US#1 indoors (19-11.75) and set the US indoor pentathlon record at NSIC New York. She also runs on the great Poly relays.

TJ: The US is missing the top three at Arcadia (Erica McLain 43-1.5, Brittany Daniels 42-7 and Gayle Hunter 41-10.25), so three Jamaican 40-footers should rule the day -- Althea Duncan, Latoya Hatch, and Andrea Linton.

SP: All Eastern US girls with no clear favorite.

DT: Amy Bilmanis MD won the Jaguar Inv last week at 149-1 US#7.

Friday

Girls Championship of America finals in 4x100, 4x400, and 4x800. Boys 4x100 and 4x800 heats, mile, DMR, and 3000.

Mile: A lot of the top US milers in an exceptionally deep crop are in the DMR, but the best of the bunch, Victor Gras MA, is in the open mile. With a lifetime best of 4:06.93, Gras could threaten the Penn Relays record of 4:08.7 set 32 years ago. Also in contention are Eric Mack NC, Harry Norton MA, Brian McCabe NY, Greg Williams PA, Jeremy Zagorski NJ and Leonel Manzano TX.

DMR: Jack Pfeiffer calls it "one of the strongest fields in years." Favorites are the 1-2-3 finishers at NSIC New York indoors -- John Jay East Fishkill NY 10:09.31 (Hakon Devries anchoring in 4:08), Wachusett MA 10:10.4 (Michael Banks 4:09), and Cardinal O'Hara PA 10:10.8 (Steve Hallinan 4:12). We could see another three-abreast last lap like last year (Northport NY, Fordham Prep NY, and Cardinal O'Hara.). Three New Jersey teams can't be ignored -- Christian Brothers, St. Benedict's Prep, and Pope John XXIII -- and Shenendehowa (2nd at Arcadia).

3000: Top entries are Ian Fitzgerald PA (2nd last year), Mohamed Khadraoui NJ, Chris Pannone NJ, Nick Hutchins NC, Ahemd Haji CT, Cory Thorne NH, and Kevin Tschirhart NY.

4x100: Five Jamaican teams -- Calabar 40.91, St. George's 41.33, Vere Tech 41.43, Wolmer's 41.55 and Kingston College 41.63 -- have run faster than Arcadia's top two -- Glenville OH 41.84 and Poly Long Beach CA 41.89.

4x800: St. Jago JAM 7:46.13 is the clear favorite. Top US team is Westfield VA 7:48.63. Also Holmwood Tech JAM 7:50.44, Cardinal O'Hara PA 7:53.74, Fordham Prep NY 7:54.63, Shenendehowa NY 7:53.19, and South Shore NY 7:53.51.

HJ: Kyle Calvo NJ cleared 7 feet last week.

Saturday

Half a day of boys 4x400 heats, 400H, field events, and Championship of America finals in the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800.

4x400: USA's best entries are the top three at Arcadia, each with a superstar anchor -- Poly Long Beach CA 3:16.94 (Derrick Jones), Glenville Cleveland OH 3:16.95 (Ted Ginn), and Newburgh NY 3:17.42 (Elzie Coleman) -- but they may be in tough against the top three at the Jamaican championships -- Wolmers Boys 3:13.46, Holmwood Tech 3:14.33, and Kingston College 3:14.70. Poly won here last year at 3:11.22.

400H: Markeno Buckley JAM 52.81 and Tywayne Buchanan JAM 53.00 were 2nd and 3rd in Jamaican championships. Best US entry is Kevin Craddock CA 53.25.

PV: Andrew Rademacher PA is defending champion and won the Nike Indoor Championships at 16-8, which is 18.5 inches better than his Penn Relays height last year. Adam Sarafian NJ went 16-3.25 US#3 indoors. The Penn Relays record of 16-0.5 is in serious trouble.

TJ: US has no answer for defending champion Carlos Mattis JAM 51-4.5.

LJ: Wilbert Walker JAM won the Jamaican championships at 25-0 +0.8 and doubled in the triple jump at 51-7.75 over defending Penn TJ champ Carlos Mattis. Best US hope is Felipe Reyes NY, US indoor leader at 24-5 and Arcadia winner at 23-10.5.

 

 

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