Thursday
Girls 400H, field events, relay heats (4x100, 4x400, and 4x800), mile, DMR, and 3000.
Thursday results on Penn Relays site
photos by John Dye unless otherwise stated
Nicole Leach - Poly Long Beach - Shana Woods - Saratoga NY - Lindsay Regan - Sarah Bowman - Laura Cummings
Penn Relays record for Nicole Leach
Nicole Leach 57.84 400H is Penn Relays record - West Catholic Philadelphia PA junior shakes off a bad start and roars down the stretch to beat the old record (Melanie Walker JAM 2001) by 0.01 second.
photo by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun |
Sarah Bowman romps in mile. Fauquier County VA junior bolted on top at the outset and never looked back. She finished in 4:48.55, seven seconds ahead of Broadneck MD sr Lauren Centrowicz 4:53.75. Pre-race favorite Devon Williams, the national indoor athlete of the year, was never a factor, fading to last late and dropping out.
photo by John Dye |
Big day for Saratoga NY
Saratoga NY wins first Penn Relays title. After years of dominating the US cross country scene, coach Art and Linda Kranick's team finally rewarded them with the big Penn Relays winner's plaque by winning the DMR in 11:45.62, US#8 all time on Jack Shepard's High School Track lists. Saratoga led from the second lap, with Nicole Blood's 4:46.6 anchor holding off Edwin Allen JAM 11:49.80. San Pasqual CA 11:58.62 was third. Edwin Allen was later DQ'd for using Kay Ann Thompson 4:48.1 on anchor; she had already run four years at Penn. |
Saratoga NY 9:03.97 is second fastest qualifier for 4x800 finals, with Nicole Blood coming from behind on anchor with the fastest split (2:10.8) of the day.. Defending champion Edwin Allen JAM ran 9:00.94. "Our goal in the finals is to get under 9 minutes," Saratoga coach Art Kranick said. |
Saratoga DMR girls celebrate
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Big Day for Poly Long Beach CA
Poly Long Beach CA advances to Championship of America finals of both 4x100 and 4x400 in the fastest times of the day, with Shalonda Solomon burning up the anchor leg in each. In the 4x400, Poly ran 3:39.98, fastest time of the day, with Solomon's 51.9 split second only to her own Penn Relays record split of 51.7 last year when Poly set the US national record in this event. Running in the heat before, Poly's chief rival Holmwood Tech JAM ran 3:40.38. In the 4x100, Poly ran 45.69, well ahead of Holmwood Tech and Vere Tech JAM, both winning heats in 46.08. Poly is the only US team in the finals, with six Jamaican teams and R.M. Bailey of the Bahamas trying to dethrone the Californians. A bunch of high 47 second teams were shut out of the finals. |
Shana Woods wins LJ on first jump -
she sits out relay heats but will be ready for finals Friday.
Shana Woods 20-4.25 LJ - Poly Long Beach CA soph's first jump is the winner. The top two seeds, 20-foot Jamaicans Petta Gaye Beckford and Tamara Francis, were no shows.
photo by John Dye |
Laura Cummings 9:51.28 wins 3000. Bay Shore NY junior and Midlothian VA jr Amanda Patterson ran the exact reverse of their 2 mile in the Nike Indoor Championships, when Cummings sat on Patterson until the last lap and then surged in front for the win. But Cummings spoiled the symmetry after Patterson took the lead with 300 meters to go by surging back on the far turn for the win. Cumming said she is usually not a kicker, and she couldn't remember regaining a lead after losing it late. "But I really wanted to win this one," Cummings said.
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Lindsay Regan PA 12-7.5 PV. Easton PA soph took the lead when indoor national record holder Danielle O'Reilly NJ missed once at 11-11. After both cleared 12-3 easily, Regan made 12-7.50 on her first try as O'Reilly missed three times.
Vic Sailer, PhotoRun
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