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by John Dye
Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Greenbelt MD, has more state championships
than any other school in Maryland. They came to New York for a bigger
stage and they won big applause in the Big Apple.
First, the girls swept the 4x400 relay
in 3:45.62, new US leader on the DyeStat
Elite for 2002 indoor, with a huge 6 second margin over A.P.
Randolph NY 3:51.05 US#3. Splits were Crystal Anyanwu 57.1, Romona
Modeste 56.8, Tiondra Ponteen 54.9, and Renee Clarke 56.8. They
may be the best team in Maryland of any age. Their time was 0.07
faster than the University of Maryland's winning team in the college
meet, Terrapin Invitational, at the PG Sportsplex Saturday. Eleanor
Roosevelt is a Prince George's County MD magnet school for science
and technology and also, evidently, for track athletes. Three of
the 4x400 squad transferred from other schools: Clarke from T. C.
Williams VA, Ponteen from Washington Irving NY, and Anyanwu from
High Point MD.
With the same lineup except 55 meter finalist (3rd) Kaprice Williams
instead of Anyanwu, Eleanor Roosevelt blitzed through the 4x200
relay in 1:39.03, another new US leading time, with a
2-second margin over Boys and Girls NY. Splits for Eleanor Roosevelt:
Williams 25.2, Modeste 24.4, Ponteen 24.7, and Clarke 24.7. Boys
and Girls led with its best two runners (Meisue Francis 25.1 and
Desiree Moorer 24.3), but Ponteen took the lead on the third leg
backstretch and anchor Renee Clarke improved the advantage. The
Roosevelt girls seemed to resent the fact that PG County rival Largo
MD was US#1 off its Seton Hall Games win last week. Roosevelt beat
Largo at the F.I.T. Relays at George Mason VA in December with a
1:41+ without spikes, but were disqualified.
As DyeStat talked to the winning Roosevelt girls, the boys team
said "What about us?" Then they went out and earned their
own cheers with a convincing boys 4x200
win in 1:29.61, just 0.27 off of Poly Prep NY's US leading time.
Girls 4x400 -
Standing, from L: coach Ameerah Bello, Crystal Anyanwu, Renee
Clarke,
and Ramona Modeste. Seated: Tiondra Ponteen
Girls 4x200
2nd exchange - Boys & Girls has one-step lead over Roosevelt.
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3rd leg - Ponteen grabs lead
on the backstretch
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Anchor - Clarke finishes up.
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Boys 4x200 finish
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