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| girls relays | 07-08 most outstanding performers |
This is the fourteenth of a series of DyeStat year-end awards for 2007-08. The DyeStat Most Outstanding Performers series, which follows the DyeStat Athlete of the Year awards, includes top honors for boys and girls distances, sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws, relays, and multi-events. Selections are made by DyeStat editors and are based a combination of multiple major victories/honors won and performances on all-time and yearly lists. Performances from outdoor track, indoor track, and cross-country are taken into account..
Text by SteveU - Photos by John Nepolitan, John Dye, and John Sullivan
Eleanor Roosevelt MD
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 The nation’s unquestioned baton queens, racing for their last year under mentor Desmond Dunham, continued a three-year reign of winning multiple national titles and threatening or breaking multiple records. Indoors, the newcomers and veterans were getting to know each other, as three of the biggest stick-carriers for Roosevelt had graduated the previous spring. They still led the nation with an 8:59.37 4x800 (=#2 all-time) and 3:45.38 4x400, and won NIN titles at 4x400 and the sprint medley relay. But Penn and a shot at the Jamaicans is always the top goal of this program and 2008 was no different. While the Blazin Raiders could not repeat their feat of knocking off the visitors in the 4x800, their runner-up 8:43.12 crushed the HSR and was their performance of the year. It was the 4x400 there, however, that brought the joy of victory with a US#1 3:37.16, #8 all-time – and best-ever team not from Long Beach CA! They improved on that and moved up the all-time list to #7 with a 3:37.02 at NON, while also taking the SMR in 3:53.95 (US#1 and #8 all-time behind HSR they set last year) and 4x200 (1:36.95). | Warwick Valley NY
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 Warwick Valley’s versatile distance crew put up all-time great performances, both indoors and out, in the 4x800 and distance medley. At NSIC, they put together a US#1 11:44.44 DMR, good for #4 all-time, and took 2nd in the 4x800 in 9:06.33. At Penn, they were just 3rd in a great DMR, giving them extra motivation to win at NON. The first night in Greensboro, the New York school took the 4x800 in a US#2 8:55.74, just outside the top ten all-time. But Saturday, they rocked the country and closed out the meet with their HSR 11:31.81 in the DMR.
| Burnt Hills NY
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 In the longest relay on the track, the New York school scored championships and US#1s in both seasons, though it took an all-out effort to top the previous #1 (Saugus CA) in the latter. At NSIC, they rolled to a 20:14.24 4xMile, good for #3 all-time and winning by 19 seconds. They were also 2nd in the DMR at 11:51.08. At NON, they came out Saturday morning and stopped the clock at 20:09.87, another #3 all-time, and a tick faster than Saugus’s best.
| Fort Worth Dunbar TX
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 Although they never got out to a national meet – or out of Texas, for that matter – this school was the unquestioned leader at 4x100 and 4x200. The squads were paced by Victoria Jordan, whose 11.16 100 led the US and who brought a 22.84w 200 best into the year. At the Texas State Meet, their 4x1 hit their best – a US#1 45.17 for #13 all-time, while their 4x2 went 1:36.17. Their US#1 and 4x200 best of 1:35.94 came in their region meet, which gave them #11 all-time.
| | | | Honorable Mention |
Saugus CA – The California girls distance powerhouse didn’t go for any of the national meets, but at Arcadia they put together a stunning 20:10.76 for the 4x1 Mile. At the time, the mark was the third-best ever and held up as US#1 until Burnt Hills NY beat it by less than a second at NON.
Saratoga Springs NY – Always prolific in the distance relays, Toga’s best this year wasn’t in victory, but in a runner-up 11:36.81 DMR at NON, good for #4 all-time. Earlier in the spring, they hit 8:58.67 for 4x800, #3 for the year. At Penn, another runner-up effort yielded a swift 11:42.49 DMR. Indoors, they won the NIN 4x1 Mile and had an 11:48.88 DMR early that stood as #1 until NSIC.
Benjamin Cardozo NY – Led by Dalilah Muhammad, Cardozo scored a fast 9:05.60/4:03.16 4x800/SMR double win at NSIC. The latter mark was US#1 for the year. They were also the 2nd US team at the Penn 4x800 at 9:01.46, #4 for outdoors.
Mountain Brook AL – Although they didn’t try for a huge mark outdoors, this outfit’s double at NIN enabled them to make this list – a meet record 9:04.80 4x800 and near-meet-record 11:57.50 in the DMR.
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Year-End Awards Index |
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