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LB Poly 4x400 National Record Setters - 4x100 group 44.96!!! (Kirby Lee
Photos)
PHILADELPHIA_It will be hard to top the Poly High girls showing in the
Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field on Friday.
The Jackrabbits set a national record in the 1,600-meter relay, set a
state record in the 3,200 relay and improved on their No. 2 U.S. mark
of all-time in the 400 relay.
Poly brought the crowd of 35,003 to its feet in the 1,600 relay when senior
Shantae McKinney, junior Jasmine Lee, freshman Shana Woods and junior
Shalonda Solomon timed 3 minutes, 35.55 seconds to break the national
record of 3:35.72 set by Wilson in 2001.
Shalonda Solomon turned in a 51.6 anchor, the fastest split by a high
school girl in the Penn Relays 109-year history, thrusting her right arm
in victory as she crossed the finish to hold off Sheryl Morgan of runner-up
Holmwood Tech of Jamaica (3:36.84) on a chilly, overcast afternoon.
Poly was greeted with a standing ovation the partisan flag-waving Jamaican
crowd as they circled the track for a victory lap.
Three hours earlier, Solomon anchored Poly's 400 relay with her sister
Shana, senior Dominique Dorsey and Lee to victory in 44.96 to join St.
Bernard of Playa Del Rey, the national record holder at 44.70, as the
only U.S. school to break 45 seconds.
In the 400 relay, Poly improved on its area record 45.01 in the Arcadia
Invitational two weeks ago and became the first non-Jamaican school to
win the event since the Jackrabbits won in 1995. In the 1,600 relay, Jamaicans
had won four of the last five before Poly's triumph Friday.
``It really helped to have everybody cheering for us everywhere around
the track because when we first got here, they were all against us,''
Lee said. ``We know were in shape to break the 4 x 100 record now. Today,
we ran our hardest we had a little problems with handoffs but we know
we're going to get it soon.''
Poly opened the day with a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter relay.
Sophomores Gabrielle Bournes (2:12.5) and Samantha Allen (2:15.2), junior
Briana Powell (2:17.3) and McKinney (2:12.7) timed 8:58.00 to finish as
the top American team behind Jamaica's Edwin Allen Comprehensive (8:52.59).
Poly's mark was the fastest U.S. mark in the nation this season and broke
the Jackrabbits' state record of 9:03.29 set in 1997.
Poly's performance in the 1,600 relay was its fourth national record of
the season. The Jackrabbits, who came tantalizing close to Wilson's mark
with a 3:35.99 effort in the 2002 state meet, set national indoor 1,600
relay and 800 relay records in the National Scholastic Championships in
New York City in March. Poly broke the outdoor 800 relay record by more
than three seconds in the Arcadia Invitational.
``We just had to stay focused, not get caught up in the crowd and get
out here and run and put it all out,'' McKinney said.
Poly coach Don Norford said had been planning since to take shot at the
1,600 relay at the Penn Relays since January. Poly knocked nearly eight
seconds off its season outdoor best on Friday.
``We knew that coming in that we would have to break the national record
to win it,'' Norford said. ``We hadn't run the mile relay really hard
until today. We knew we could break the record and made the decision when
to it. You can't go to the well too often. We want to keep the record
for awhile. This is just a start.''
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