DyeStat-Nike Athlete of the Week

2002 Indoor Track & Field

Nike Athlete of the Week
presented by DyeStat

Week 8 - ending February 14, 2002

Sanya Richards
St. Thomas Aquinas FL senior

There was a national championship calibre set of sprint stars at the Midwest Indoor Track Classic in Lincoln NE February 9, and Sanya Richards was the brightest star of stars.

Richards won the 400 meters in 53.71, fastest of this season and US#6 all time. This race produced the top 3 times of the year to date (Tiffany Abney 54.16 and Tracee Thomas 54.22).

Richards also won the 200 meters in 23.86, just 0.01 off Shana Cox's US#1 mark for the season. Remarkably, it wasn't even a PR for Richards; that honor goes to her 23.64 of 2 years ago that is the fastest ever by a US sophomore and was a national indoor record until Angel Perkins knocked it off at NSIC last year.

With each win, Sanya pumped her fist and waved to her mom and dad in the stands. A Caribbean island native, Richards has applied for US citizenship.

Brendan Christian
Reagan Austin TX senior

Brendan Christian suffered a slight muscle pull setting the indoor 200 meter national record of 21.02 last March, and he was just a tad off form the entire outdoor season. If his performance February 9 at the Midwest Indoor Track Classic is any indication, his senior year will make up for that and send him across town to the University of Texas next fall in a blaze of glory. Christian grabbed the US#1 spots in DyeStat Elite 2002 Indoor rankings in both the 60 (6.63) and 200 meters (21.16). The latter was the fastest US indoor 200 ever apart from his record race at NSIC last March, and observors thought he would have broken his own record if (1) he hadn't gone off stride slightly on the far turn or (2) he had been pushed by anyone like he was by Glenn McFadden (21.05 US#2 all time) in the record race.

Christian acknowledged he was in good shape this year and ready to go. Apart from his individual exploits at MITC, Christian anchored a Texas all-star "unattached" relay team in a blistering 1:26.05 4x200, more than a second better than the US prep record and 2 seconds faster than the best in the US this year. It doesn't count for records or ranking, however, because it does not represent a single high school.

Honorable Mention Week 8 (in event order)

The Nike Athlete of the Week is being presented for 11 weeks through March 7. The weekly winners will be honored at the Nike Indoor Classic, Landover MD, March 9.-10

Charter Sponsors
DyeStat thanks these organizations for providing significant support to DyeStat
in the 2001-2002 school year, earning Charter Sponsor status for 5 years.

Great American Cross Country Festival Inc.

National Scholastic Sports Foundation

Midwest Indoor Track Classic


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