Relays win 4x400, break national record in 4x800
By Christopher Hunt
PHILADELPHIA – Roosevelt (Md.) coach Desmond Denham said that his girls wouldn’t have to run for the rest of the year. No more practice. No races.
Clearly, he was joking. But the fact is that Roosevelt proved in one day, on the grandest stages this sport offers, that they house two of the best relays in United States history.
First, Dominique Lockhart (2:13.0), Amirah Johnson (2:08.6), Brittany Ogunmokun (2:11.9) and Tasha Stanley (2:09.6) crushed the national record while finishing second in the Championship of America 4x800 relay in 8:43.12 at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field, breaking a mark second by Boys & Girls of 8:50.41 set in 2002. But they finished second. Holmwood Tech anchor Bobby-Gaye Wilkins out-kicked Stanley in the stretch to win in 8:41.92.
Stanley couldn’t hide her frustration. And she held it until six hours later when she anchored her to teammate to a win in the 4x400 Championship of America. Christian Hickson, Afia Charles, Doris Anyanwu and Stanley won in 3:37.16, the fastest time in the country this season and the 11th fastest time in U.S. history.
Minutes after the race a reporter asked her when she finally got over the loss in the 4x800.
“Right now,” she said.
“This weekend we came in focused and we wanted to defend our titles in both relays. We weren’t able to do that because we won the 4x400 and we still broke a national record by seven seconds.”
Roosevelt went into the 4x400 with the fastest qualifying time and a group of Jamaican teams waiting for a misstep. But Boys & Girls changed the complexion of the race when coach James Jackson decided to change the order. He put their best leg, indoor national champ Nadonnia Rodriques, on the leadoff. Rodriques (53.3), Meagan Gillespie (54.8) gapped the field and shocked the crowd. Deandra Nelson (54.9) held on but Roosevelt sophomore Afia Charles turned in a 53.2 third leg and had Stanley and Boys & Girls anchor Hadassah Bruno receiving their batons together.
Once Stanley took control by the back straightaway no one could catch her.
“Boys and Girls definitely helped us,” Stanley said. “Without them we wouldn’t have been able to run the time we did.”
Boys & Girls strategy was to create enough space that the lead would be too much for anyone to come back on. But Charles erased the lead with her performance and gave Stanley a chance to put the race away.
“We knew we could play it our way,” Dunham said. “I could definitely understand the strategy. With the things (Boys & Girls coach) James Jackson has accomplished, sometimes you have to go on the offensive. I think they are responsible for throwing of a lot of competitive teams of their games.”
Boys & Girls finished fifth in 3:41.79. The team ran 3:40.17 Thursday, the second-fastest time in New York State history.
Behind Roosevelt and Holmwood Tech in the 4x800 was Cardozo, which finished fourth in 9:01.46 with Cody Newman
(2:16.4), Allison Lee (2:16.0), Tessa West (2:17.4) and Dalilah Muhammad (2:11.7). Muhammad brought the team up from eighth place. But Cardozo coach Gail Emmanuel also switched the relay’s order by putting Newman on the lead and West third. With 12 of the best teams in the U.S. and Jamaican on the start line, Emmanuel wanted to ensure her team would be in a position to compete so she looked to Newman’s experience.
“It didn’t bother me,” said Newman, who earned a soccer scholarship to Duke. “I like to run aggressive. I’m used to using my elbows from soccer.”
The switch also worked for West, who ran three seconds faster than her usual 2:20 leg. The time is faster than the group has ever run together. Emmanuel decided right after the race that they would run the relay at Nike Outdoor Nationals in June.
“It’s crazy in here,” Muhammad said of the atmosphere. “You hear everything. … Any time you run against international competition it is a good experience. It makes you better.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.