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Nike Indoor Nationals
March 13-15, 2009 - Reggie Lewis Center, Boston MA

Preview: New Bern NC Boys Relay


 


One more record shot at NIN
Track Eastern Carolina zeroes in on Muir mark

by Rich Gonzalez, DyeStat/ESPN RISE

It doesn't take Einstein-like skills to do the 'fast' math:

Less than halfway through the school year + More than halfway to breaking Muir's indoor relay records = A burgeoning new national standard in baton-toting excellence.

Track Eastern Carolina (right, photo by John Nepolitan), comprised of student-athletes from North Carolina's New Bern High School, has already smashed an indoor national relay record once held by Muir High of California athletes, buried one of their long-standing Simplot Games meet records, and now takes dead aim at their remaining two prized all-time indoor marks as the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston quickly approach.

Fuquawn Green, siblings Anthony and Andrew Hendrix, and Miles Sparks have repeatedly been the "Fab Four" on the oval this winter, breaking meet, arena, regional, state and national records, most notably in swiping away Muir's 13-years-standing national indoor 4x400-meter relay record by blazing 3:13.06 to win the New Balance Collegiate Games early this month.

The achievement certainly grabbed the attention of longtime track and field aficionados from coast to coast, as the Muir crew -- a quartet once given the nickname "sliced bread", as in 'the greatest thing since...' -- was the rave of the nation in the 1990s, with all-world dasher Obea Moore anchoring the most illustrious sprint relay arsenal in prep history in 1996 and 1997.

So just how good was Muir? 'It was all Obea,' you say? Hardly.


Muir "support crew" (l to r): Makio Haywood, Sultan McCullough and Xavier Savant
How would you like to be a 20.62 wind-legal 200-meter dasher outdoors, and be considered 'second fiddle' on your team? That was Sultan McCullough.

Or how about a 21.45/47.55 half-lapper/one-lapper always in danger of being dropped from the relay unit? That was Jucorie Tryon.

Or a 21.64 deuce dasher occasionally watching from the stands? His name was DeAngelo Steward-Holmes.

Or a 36.18 300-meter intermediate hurdler who could split 47.5 on the relay? That was Makio Haywood.  

Or speed demons splitting 48.6 or faster and relegated to the reserve crew? Those were Shaheed McCullough, Xavier Savant and DeSean Holmes.  But the headliner was always William "Obea" Moore.

Why?

Obea Moore was the Show

Well, try 45.14 for 400 meters as a high school sophomore. ... 20.68 as a prep for 200 meters. ... or 1:49.16 for 800 meters.  Wind-legal 10.72 for the 100 in his only foray at the distance one season as a high school underclassmen. He ran 4:24 for 1600 meters during a workout on a dirt track. Sub-9:45 for 3200 meters during another practice session.  Unmatched range, indeed.

"The cross-country coach wanted him too," said Muir coach Clyde Turner at the time. "That'd be like taking Secretariat off the horse track and putting him on the carousel at the carnival."

The only way you'd find Obea (right, photo by Kirby Lee) and the Muir Mustangs performing in a circus is if they were racing cheetahs. It'd be a good show, too.

Muir quartets still own four of the six fastest outdoor times in high school history in the 4x400 meters -- their signature event --  dipping under 3:09 all four times. That spring, their outdoor show was just as entertaining, leading America in the 4x100 (40.28) and the 4x400 (3:08.72); the 4x200 was rarely contested in California at the time, where they posted the nation's sixth-best time in an early-season hand-timed effort.

In perhaps their greatest show of eye-popping depth that season (when Turner claimed to have 11 kids who had broken 50 seconds for 400m in practice), Muir took first and second in the same 4x100 race at the Arcadia Invitational, their "A" team smoking to a 40.28 and their "B" team avoiding fumes, ashes and burned rubber to finish in ... 40.90. Yes, their "B" team!

Indoors, they were even more dominant.  At the close of the 1997 indoor season, the Mustangs owned the national records at 4x200, 4x400 and the sprint medley relay. They didn't win races by 12 seconds because they were 12 seconds faster than the others. They won by 12 seconds because they were so fast, their competition ran itself into the ground in trying to keep up, only to blow a gasket or two.  

In short, Muir was beyond compare.

Was.

Enter Green, Sparks, Hendrix and Hendrix...Version 2.0.


New Bern relay squad on a record hunt

A squad years in the making, loads of individual talent synergistically cultivated into a single, swift-moving mass, the Track Eastern Carolina crew has rocketed to the club and high school sprint world's zenith in literally record time.

Denied the 4x400 national indoor record once in late January because their 3:13.24 was achieved on an oversized track (KTC Indoor Classic), T.E.C. did not miss the mark a second time, nailing the bullseye a week later to 'Bern' a 3:13.06 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the New York City Armory.

"That was a big boost for us, it further validated the work we've put in," said co-coach "Big Dave" Simpson. "It got the ball rolling."

Like sharks smelling blood in the water, the Track Eastern Carolina crew continued its assault on the Muir, er, national record book in bee-lining to one of the Moore-led crew's favorite stomping grounds: the wood-banked boards of Idaho State University for the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho.  Two events entered ... two more meet records broken, including one previously held by Muir. The Hendrix brothers, Sparks and Green first teamed to blaze 3:26.28 in the sprint medley relay to best Muir's Simplot Games record by more than 1.5 seconds (left, photo by Robert Rosenberg) , then ripped a 1:27.60 in the 4x200 to quash the meet record by Elzie Coleman-led Newburgh NY. Both records were sweet, but taking another from Muir claimed special value.

"They're the ones that hold most of the records in track," quipped Anthony Hendrix. "We're just trying to break them, and then twenty or thirty years from now when we have kids, and they're running, we can be like, 'Hey look, we still hold that record.' "

Meet records are nice, but...

"They have very high goals," co-coach Nick Sparks said after that Simplot triumph. "It's always great to come out with another US#1 and a couple of meet records, but their goals are a little bit higher than that.  It gives us something to shoot for in a month at the (Nike) Indoor (Nationals in Boston)."

And the lineup in pursuit of national records could shift slightly at NIN, where the crew will compete in the 4x200, 4x400 and the sprint medley relay, with Greene running the 200 meter dash individually (a completely different lineup is entered in the 4x800). A fifth team member, who missed the Simplot Games trip due to food poisoning, is expected to make the Boston trip in supplementing the Track Eastern Carolina race-day arsenal.

Factors in their favor

The Reggie Lewis Center track facility in Boston, site of NIN, holds special significance for the Moore-led Mustangs Racing Club, where across three days in 1996 and 1997 the team claimed then-national records in the sprint medley (3:24.69 in 2007), the 4x200 (1:27.34 in 2007) and the 4x400 (3:13.34 in 2006). "The arena was a zoo," said Turner, never at a loss for words. "If there was a blackout in the city, it wouldn't have mattered. The crowd electrified the building when those records kept falling!"  

Several items weigh in Track Eastern/New Bern's favor heading into the stretch drive:

  • They'll arrive in Boston three weeks sharper in fitness than in Pocatello. More time for speedwork, additional practice on handoffs, added consideration for personnel selection.   
  • The rubberized Reggie Lewis track in Boston (actually the suburb of Roxbury) offers better traction and thus performs faster than the wooden oval in Pocatello; Muir ran anywhere from nearly 1.7 seconds to 3.7 seconds faster per relay from Pocatello to Boston, depending on the event distance.
  • The more intimate setting in Boston (seating capacity of roughly 3,700 in a compact arena) in an amped atmosphere of a national championship.

"I'm definitely excited because it would be our last indoor meet to try to break the records," said Andrew Hendrix.

They've been systematically pointing to -- and preparing for -- this.

"It's a lot of pressure, but we've been training together forever, so we kind of deal with it really well," said Miles Sparks. "We go in to it one-minded and hope for the best. We don't really think about going for the record, we just think about running fast and the records usually come with it."

Coach Sparks with Cathy and Miles. Photo by Donna Dye
Could the magnitude of nationals create too much pressure?

"That's why we travel as much as we do," says Coach Sparks, Miles' father. "They go to big meets, so they're used to it. By the time Nationals comes around, they're very calm and disciplined. Coming to (meets like New Balance and Simplot) and having success builds a level of confidence in your teammates, confidence in your own abilities, and confidence that you can reach the goals, you set for yourself."

Indeed, overcoming such potential adversity has laid foundation to a wealth of mental prosperity.

As great as both Muir and Track Eastern are in their respective eras, clear differences exist. Dissecting individuals' respective performance marks, Muir ranks physically superior. But when it comes to the symbiosis required to perform as a unit with maximum precision, Track Eastern achieves more output while equipped with less input. It's the essence of teamwork.

"They love the relays and they have sacrificed their chances at individual national records," added the elder Sparks. "It's been a very good season. We have at least one national record, and hopefully we'll get a couple more."

That's just indoor season. Once the outdoor campaign rolls around, Hawthorne High of California's coveted 4x400 national record (3:07.40) comes into view as does Muir's stunning consistency (10 times running 3:11.75 or faster in 1996-97).  Coach Simpson has indicated the New Bern HS crew will attend the Arcadia Invitational in April, where Golden State fans -- including ardent Muir supporters -- can judge for themselves; Muir High is a 14-minute drive from Arcadia High.   

By then, the New Bern/Track Eastern crew could be sporting plenty of tattoos.

According to Coach Sparks, the relay team members inked "3:13:06" down the sides of their arms to commemorate their national 4x400 record.

Even Miles Sparks, eldest son of the clean-cut, conservative author?

"Ahhhh ... not yet. No," said dad before pausing, then adding, "We'll see if he gets that."

Maybe Miles is just waiting. Maybe he's budgeting space on his arms for more records down the road.  

Then again, maybe Catherine Sparks (his mom) has torpedoed the whole tattoo idea altogether.


Muir CA and New Bern NC, by the numbers


Muir indoor 4x200

1997: 1:27.34; 1:29.01

1996: 1:28.64; 1:28.91


Muir indoor 4x400

1997: 3:13.68; 3:17.42

1996: 3:13.34; 3:14.84; 3:21.75 in 96


Muir indoor sprint medley relay

1997: 3:24.69; 3:33.46

1996: 3:25.90; 3:27.80


Muir outdoor 4x100

1997: 40.28; 40.35; 40.55; 40.90 (B team)

1996: 40.64


Muir outdoor 4x200

1997: 1:26.1

1996: 1:26.19; 1:26.35


Muir outdoor 4x400

1997: 3:08.72; 3:10.40; 3:10.99; 3:12.16; 3:12.83

1996: 3:08.66; 3:08.75; 3:08.92; 3:10.40; 3:11.02; 3:11.64; 3:11.75



Track Eastern Carolina indoor 4x200

2009: 1:27.02

2008: 1:30.02 


Track Eastern Carolina indoor 4x400

2009: 3:13.06

2008: 3:20.72


Track Eastern Carolina indoor sprint medley

2009: 3:26.28

2008: 3:29.24


New Bern outdoor 4x100

2008: 42.24




New Bern outdoor 4x200

2008: 1:27.26




New Bern outdoor 4x400

2008: 3:14.55
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