John Dye's report from the Montgomery Invitational in Maryland indicates that sanctioning issues prevented the Long Beach Wilson sprint unit from competing. In short, indications were sprinters from the Long Beach area powerhouse were given late notice they would not be allowed to compete.

Apparently, under Maryland association rules, the California group would have had to have competed as a high school team to compete against officially assembled Maryland squads. Many California athletes traditionally travel indoors and compete "unattached". Such was not allowed here.

According to John Dye, those Wilson athletes found a nearby meet to compete in unattached, rolling to 3:53.50 in the 4x400, with some other very fine efforts!! See John Dye's report below. The Girls 4x400 and Ashley Freeman's fine 1:15.38 500m effort are the #2 prep marks for the year in the entire nation. Mackenzie Hill added an 8.87 60mHH #3 mark in the nation this winter, as well as a 57.06 400m heat. It appears the trip was not a total loss by any means!!

From John Dye's report on DyeStat mainpage and email correspondence:

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Wilson Long Beach CA could not attend because of state association rulings. Meet Director Tom Martin said, "The State of California would not let Wilson run as anything but a club or unattached and the Maryland association wouldn't let any team other than an official HS team compete."

Long Beach Wilson girls ran unattached at George Mason University in the 4/400 and other events. Here is the results of the 4/400

4x400 Meter Relay
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School Finals H# Points
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1 Univ. of South Carolina 'A' 3:43.43 1

9 Unattached 'A' 3:53.50 3 (Unat/Wilson HS) #2 PREP TIME NATION 2003
1) 106 Hill, MACKENZIE 2) 105 Wright, Tiffany
3) 104 Hood, Tiana 4) 107 Freeman, Ashley

Women 200 Meter Dash
1 689 Bailey, Aeen Usc 24.06 1
20 104 Hood, Tiana Unattached 26.16 8 (Unat/Wilson HS)

Women 400 Meter Dash
1 693 Demus, Leshinda Usc 55.01 1
5 340 Hamilton, Kori Georgetown 56.57 2
8 106 Hill, MACKENZIE Unattached 57.06 2 (Unat/Wilson HS)
22 105 Wright, Tiffany Unattached 1:00.13 3 (Unat/Wilson HS)

Women 500 Meter Run

1 704 Washington, Demetr Usc 1:11.34 1
9 107 Freeman, Ashley Unattached 1:15.38 7 (Unat/Wilson) - #2 PREP TIME NATION 2003

Women 60 Meter Hurdles

Preliminaries
1 648 Morrison, Melissa Unattached 8.21q 1

8 106 Hill, MACKENZIE Unattached 8.87 4 (Unat/Wilson) - (#3 PREP TIME NATION 2003)

Women 4x800 Meter Relay
1 Unattached 'B' 8:49.91 2

7 Unattached 'A' 9:51.50 2 (Unat/Wilson HS)
1) 109 Scott, Gleniss 2) 110 Collins, Jasmin
3) 111 Gold, Bina 4) 108 Young, Marina

They must have been in the area for Maryland HS meet and went across the river when the ruling went against them. - John Dye

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