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PORTLAND OR 5/26/02 -- Prep 400-meter star Sanya Richards joined
Olympic company and showed she belonged as she ran second in the
Prefontaine Classic in 51.16. It made Sanya the fifth fastest US
high school girl ever at 400 meters (Monique Henderson 50.74, Denean
Howard 50.87, Sheila Ingram 50.90, Sherri Howard 51.09).
photos by Erik Palmer, trackwire.com
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Richards and LaTasha
Colander-Richardson
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1 Michelle Collins USA 50.87
2 Sanya Richards USA 51.16
3 Jearl Miles-Clark USA 51.22
4 Nadjina Kaltouma Chad 51.48
5 Latasha Colander-Richardson USA 51.77
6 Karen Shinkins Ireland 51.90
7 Suziann Reid USA 52.67
8 Monique Hannagan USA 53.81
Sanya was disappointed she didn't break 51 seconds, but she was
ecstatic over joining the elite environment.
"It's unbelievable," she told Sharon Robb, of the Fort
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "Olympians surrounding us, talking
with them, shaking hands with them, people clapping for me. I saw
Marion. I saw Gail Devers."
Richards said she was not nervous at the start. "I was talking
to myself, 'This is it.' I went hard through the first 100 and stayed
with the leaders on the back stretch. Collins made her move on the
second turn and I went with her. I couldn't catch her, but I felt
real strong. This is just the beginning."
Sanya's next crack at Monique Henderson's US record will be the
adidas Outdoor Championships at Raleigh June 14-15, followed by
the USA Junior Nationals at Palo Alto CA June 21-22. As a freshly
minted US citizen, Richards hopes to be 1-2 at Palo Alto to make
the USA team at the World Junior Championships in her native Jamaica
in July. After that, she heads to Austin TX to enroll in the University
of Texas.
DyeStat US
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