Wayne OH boys take advantage of second chance.
by Elliott Denman
The listed USA record of 29 seconds flat was set by New Jersey's Metuchen
High back in 1972, but that was a four-barrier race rather than the five they
run at Nike Nationals, where Anderson, South Carolina's 29.45 of 2004 is
fastest-ever.
Some confusion reigned as both Yonkers, NY and Wayne Track Club of Ohio
were given second chances, after obstruction calls on meet aides re-righting
hurdles.
When the dust finally settled, Wayne Track Club won it all in 30.56 over
Yonkers Track Club's 31.18 and Archbishop Curley's 31.93.
Wayne ran it with senior James Traylor Jr., sophomore Keith Dixon Jr.,
junior Daniel Snyder and senior Mike Mickens.
"I wasn't too sure why we got to rerun it, but I know one of our men
fell," said Traylor. "I knew we had a chance to get it. We got a second chance and I just thank
God for that."
Their second chance turned golden.
"We were in the back room and we were kind of sad and quiet," said Traylor.
"Then someone came up to us and said you guys are going to get to rerun it.
"Our teammates came up and then our coach came running in. Then, we just went out and ran.
"Our second leg, he fell (running the first time), but he was good, though. I knew after the first
time, our fourth leg could have had it. I'm just happy we got a second chance. I knew we had it."
The second race restored smiles to each of their faces.
Said Snyder: "I had my head down hoping we could get a second chance and
someone came in and said 'we got a second chance!' I was like 'what?' I didn't
believe it. I thought they were messing with us. We were like 'hold on.' It was a
surprise."
How about the time?
"We're proud of it," said Snyder. "We can break 30. We can go faster."
Yonkers ran with Luis Arvelo, Earl Noel, Dominic Evangelista and Kelton Cumberbatch
Why their second chance?
"They said someone walked in front of me before our race," said Arvelo.
"He was fixing my hurdles and he didn't fix it fast enough so he got in my way.
So I hit the hurdle and got a real bad bruise. I'm not complaining, we did great.
"Whatever time we get, we get. This is a tough race. Anything can happen,
just like you saw right there. We wanted to come out here and win." |