US
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2002 Nike Athletes of the Yearthe dominant high school track and field athletes Allyson Felix2003, LA Baptist CA |
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This was what her season had prepared her for. Allyson Felix was rocketing toward the finish side by side with Sanya Richards in the Junior Nationals 200 meter dash at Stanford. Allyson had lost to Richards indoors at the Midwest Classic in Nebraska and NSIC in New York, when Richards set a new national indoor record. But outdoors, Felix was the undisputed US#1. She went under 23 seconds four times, flirting with Marion Jones' state and national records with a wind aided 22.69 in the prelims of the California State Meet. And Felix is always strongest in the last 30 meters. But suddenly the pain of a pulled hamstring shot her body. Finish line photographers saw Allyson's face through their lenses grow distorted with pain. She fought gamely to the finish line before collapsing as Richards won by three hundredths of a second. The loss could not cancel Allyson's banner season that featured sprint doubles at Simplot, Arcadia, and the California State Meet, plus single wins at Mt. SAC and NSIC. Her 22.83 into a 1.3 mps headwind in the California State Meet finals made her the third fastest ever at 200 meters behind Marion Jones and Chandra Cheeseborough. Allyson has one more high school season left, so there is no telling what she can do before she graduates next June.
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