105th Penn Relay Carnival
April 22-24, 1999 at Franklin Field, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA. For complete
information, see the Penn Relay
Carnival web site
Day 3 Highlights - Saturday, April 24, 1999
MD Northwestern 3:10.35 !
MD Northwestern's 4x400 relay champs
(3:10.35): Ali Najjar, Dwayne Thomas, Robert Wingate-Robinson,
James Graham. (Time should be 5:08 - my camera doesn't know
about daylight savings time.)
Attendance: 44,639 (4th largest ever)
3-day attendance: 96,358 (new record by 5,378)
Jacob Freeman demolishes
US Hammer record
Saving the best for last - Northwestern 3:10.35 !
MD Northwestern ended the HS portion of the
meet by topping just about everything that had gone before, and
that was plenty. When James Graham finished a 45.9 anchor
split in the 4x400 relay, 3:10.35 was the number on the
finish line timer (unofficial). An Olympic chant of U-S-A
started when Graham took the baton and continued in a
rising roar all through his quick spin. Graham ran
his blistering lap without competition as the expected threat
from four Jamaican teams failed to materialize.
Ali Najjar took the lead immediately with a
48.6 opening lap. Second leg Robert Wingate-Robinson (48.4
split) was collared on the backstretch but responded and gave
third leg Dwayne Thomas a clear lead. Thomas upped the
ante to 47.5 and everyone knew the race was over as he handed
the baton to Graham with a 20 meter lead.
PA Chester finished second far up the track
(3:14.18), leaving Jamaica to settle for third and fourth
with Jamaica College (3:15.63) and St. Jago (3:19.09). NJ
Woodrow Wilson was fifth (3:21.72). JAM Ardenne and NJ
Camden were disqualified, and JAM Wolmer's Boys did not compete.
The now-ritual parade lap with the American
flag had a twist. Dwayne Thomas, who is a Jamaican
attending high school in the US, got a small Jamaican flag from
one of the thousands of countrymen in the crowd and proudly
carried it too. So the Jamaican crowd joined the American
crowd in cheering the victory. Flag waving tally for the
day's three big relays: 1 for USA, 1 for Jamaica and 1
sort of a tie.
The finish line clock's time held up as
official, making it the third fastest ever at the Penn Relays
behind CA Pasadena Muir (Obea Moore) 3:08.72 in 1997 and JAM St.
Jago 3:10.27 in 1998.
Graham was selected as the outstanding high
school male athlete in relay events.
And for the first time this week, no one was
asking whether Dwight Thomas would run. This year's
national indoor 200 and 300 meter champion and his brother
Dwayne made a controversial mid-year transfer from MD High Point
to Northwestern last month, but reportedly became academically
ineligible (Northwestern's coach would not comment) and did not
run today.
Freeman gets Hammer Throw Record
- Competing in the Olympic Development Hammer
Throw event, RI Bishop Hendricken senior Jacob Freeman smashed the US
high school 16-pound hammer throw record with 216-2 on his first
attempt. That was more than 13 feet better than one of the
oldest records in Jack Shepard's "High School Track
1999" book (202-9, Manny Silverio, N. Bergen NJ, 1976).
Freeman went on to better the old record twice more in his two
other legal throws: 216-2 and 209-1. He fouled three
times, so all of his legal throws broke the old record.
Freeman finished fifth in the event against
Boys 4x800 Championship - Jamaicans turn to wave the flag
- After the US flag-waving victory in the
4x100, the big Jamaican share of the crowd got its turn for full
throated roars when Jamaica College turned in a blistering
7:37.70.
Fastest qualifier VA T. C. Williams used its Friday anchor
Brandon Alexander in the third leg today (1:53), but gained only a
3-step lead. Jamaican anchor Mashel Jackson (1:52.9) put away TC Williams
anchor John Diamond (2:00) in
one lap and then sprinted to the wire. NY St. Peter's
(7:43.21) rallied for second behind 1:52 and 1:52.9 third and
fourth legs from Ali Abiola and Rolando Ortiz. T C
Williams finished third (7:44.51). It was the second
fastest Penn Relays 4x800 (1990, JAM St. Jago, 7:35.89).
Boys 4x100 Championship -
VA Potomac 41.26 beats 3 Jamaican teams in final and takes a
victory lap waving the American flag, only the third time in 15
years that a winner could wave any but a Jamaican flag.
Small School Final: NJ Pleasantville 42.12
Large School Final: MD Dematha 42.19
College 4xMile - Arkansas 16:07.96, new US college record
- the big crowd cheered Arkansas anchor
Seneca Lassiter all around the track and erupted when he crossed
the finish line with the record - his split was 3:55.3.
The rest of the winning team were Sharif Karie, Matt Kerr, and
Mike Power. (It's not high school, but it had to be mentioned.)
Northwestern shines in 4x400 heats without Dwight Thomas
Transfer Dwight Thomas did not run for MD
Northwestern, reportedly because he is academically ineligible,
but the Maryland team still ran 3:13.33 behind James Graham's
47.0 anchor for the fastest 4x400 qualifying heat . That
matched Northwestern's time in last year's Penn Relays.
Next fastest qualifiers were JAM Camperdown 3:16.07 and PA
Chester 3:16.20.
Fastest heat times (top 8 run in the
Championship at 5p) 3:13.32 MD Northwestern
3:16.19 PA Chester
3:16.90 NJ Camden
3:16.75.JAM Ardenne
3:17.37 JAM Jamaica College
3:18.07 JAM Wolmer's Boys
3:18.11 JAM St. Jago
3:19.17 NJ Woodrow Wilson
3:19.29 VA Centreville
Boys 400 Hurdles - New Record for Rickey Harris - Rickey
Harris, VA Centreville 11, set a new Penn Relays record 50.63 in
winning for second straight year. Harris said he was
"shaking with fear in the starting blocks, so I came out
fast." And he did, turning the oval
unchallenged and recording the 7th best all-time mark by a US
high schooler. His time would have placed second in the
college men's competition today and third in the Olympic
Development races. Harris was named the outstanding high
school male athlete in individual events.
Boys 4x400 Qualifiers (930a-1235p)
Boys 4x100 Championship - VA Potomac 41.27 beats 3
Jamaican teams in final
Small School Final: NJ Pleasantville 42.12
Large School Final: MD Dematha 42.20
Boys Long Jump - Aundre Edwards, JAM
Wolmer's Boys, was a big winner with a leap of 23-11. Best
American was runner-up Nick Brown,, NJ Bridgeton, 22-8.5
Boys Triple Jump - Allen Simms, MD
Eleanor Roosevelt, PR'd by 13 inches and won the event by two
feet with a leap of 49-9.25.
Boys Pole Vault
NY Guilderland's Joel Carusone was the
champion with a leap of 15-3.
Boys Shot Put
1. 59' 0 Jeff Chakouian, MA Seekonk
2. 57' 0 Theis Weckesser, PA Chestnut Hill
Boys Discus
Nick Welihozkiy, VA W. Springfield, won with
a throw of 190-11. Next were Terrence Glover, NJ Hamilton
West 184-7, and Tim Bilmanis, MD Thomas Stone 183-6.
This page was updated on 09/12/99
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