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Long Beach Wilson and the 1600m Medley Relay National Record

Wilson Relay group - Mendola - Hill - Wright - Freeman - Ashley Freeman finishes the National Record contest!! - (Dave Casper photos)

It made for an interesting morning and afternoon after Long Beach Wilson appeared to set a new National Record under very low key conditions in the 1600 Sprint Medley Relay Friday morning, April 18th, at the Mt. SAC Invitational. Announcer Keith Conning, perhaps 15 seconds after the finish realized that a National Record had been broken, announced same, and the fans went digging for the record books, certainly realizing that the Wilson group of Vincetta Mendola, Tiffany Wright, Mackenzie Hill, and Ashley Freeman had smashed the 3:54.39 by by William Penn of Philadelphia from 1997 with their 3:53.28 run. Wow! With two national relay records last weekend at Arcadia by area rivals LB Poly and North (Riverside) it seemed fitting that the super Wilson crew was in on the recent record setting, with the trio probably among prep history's top teams ever! The margin of Wilson's victory, huge for a two lap event, with the splits along the way (25.5 - 24.8 - 53.9 and 2:09.2 by our split crew) leading one to sense that something special might have happened.

The plot became interesting when information came to announcer's assistant Jack Shepard that LB Wilson had been disqualified for a jewelry violation, even though the first set of results had them winning the contest in record time. The DQ was announced over the publica address system, with the attached debate over how a small piece of jewelry could affect someone running in a track relay event. From there on in it became interesting, with the contest that was run just after 10:00 am finally officially sorted out after 3:00 pm by meet officials. The decision by meet management was that the officials on the track had disqualified the Wilson team for one of its girls wearing a jewelry cross, a violation of National Federation rules. It turns out that the call was protested to the Games Committee, with that group overturning the Officials decision, as they did not realize that the cross had been taped down during the event. Wilson was awarded the win and the record.

The team ran the time, and certainly deserves the record. Heck, I, Doug Speck, will not even hold it against Wilson that the record that they broke, was announced by yours truly at the 1997 National Prep Championships in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Event 307 Girls 1600 Sprint Medley Invitational High School

Section 1
1 Long Beach Wilson 'A' 3:53.28 (NEW NATIONAL RECORD - OLD 3:54.39 WILLIAM PENN OF PHILADELPHIA 1997)
2 Rio Mesa 'A' 4:18.22
3 Gahr 'A' 4:18.74
4 Long Beach Poly 'A' 4:20.49
5 Western 'W' 4:21.24
6 Eisenhower 'A' 4:22.08
7 Foothill (Plea) 'A' 4:33.65
8 Crenshaw 'A' 4:47.92
9 Edison (Fr) 'B' 4:58.80
Section 2
1 Long Beach Wilson 'b' 'A' 4:12.68
2 Canyon (Canyon Country) 'A' 4:13.73
3 San Pedro 'A' 4:18.89
4 Upland 'A' 4:23.73
5 College Park 'C' 4:26.02
6 LB Poly 'b' 'A' 4:27.21
7 Cabrillo (Long Beach) 'A' 4:42.63
-- Edison (Fr) 'A' DNS

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