By Christopher Hunt
They didn’t start a big celebration or round up the team for a victory lap. They accepted their award, smiled for pictures, packed up and left. They had done all this before.
Cardozo won its fourth straight PSAL City crown Saturday, outlasting Medgar Evers, 82-67. It may have seemed routine that the Judges won, but this one was different. Three years ago, with just four girls that could score, they still controlled the meet. Last year, with a group of sensational newcomers, they ran away with the meet.
This year was different. This they had veterans with quality rookies and another team that would challenge them until the end of the competition. Cardozo went into the 4x400 relay, the last event, thinking they held just a one-point lead and needing to finish ahead of Medgar Evers to defend the title.
Ahytana Johnson gave the Judges the lead on the first leg, a lead that freshmen Ugonna Okpala and Sabrina Sutherland held before junior Chamique Francis put the race away. With Okpala, a rookie to the relay, Cardozo finished in 3:50.45.
“Trying to win a city championship with the caliber of athletes in this league, you have to be smart,” Cardozo coach Gail Emmanuel said.
That meant making adjustments when Medgar Evers came within striking distance. Cardozo didn’t get the points they expected in the 1,000. Alexis Panisse struggled to comeback in the 1,000 after finishing third in the 3,000 earlier. Emmanuel also hoped Sutherland could capitalize on Bayside senior Alaine Tate’s tired legs to win the 1,500.
Sutherland finished second behind Tate in 1,500 just after Tate had won the 1,000. To compensate, Emmanuel pulled Sutherland from the 4x800 to ensure Cardozo could win the 4x400. That was before that was before they realized Francis had provided a cushion by winning in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 4 inches.
Francis earned the meet’s most outstanding performer, also claiming the 300 in 38.83. The junior clocked 38.21 in the trial heats. Her time is the second-fastest time in the country this season behind Columbus senior Whitney Fountain, who missed the meet to compete at the Gibson Relays in Jamaica over the weekend. When Francis first crossed the finish in the trials the clock read 37.81, which would have been the national leader.
“I was so close,” Francis said. “That’s what I wanted, to run 37. But they had to roll it back. I guess there’s always next year.”
Francis said she would opt out of racing the 300 at the state championships next Saturday at Cornell University in Ithaca. Sophomore Lateisha Philson won the 55 hurdles in 8.00 (7.98 in the prelims, US #2). Philson will enter the state meet with the best chance to challenge defending champion and national leader Madalayne Smith of Saratoga Springs (Section 2).
Nyanka Moise-Joseph led the charge for Medgar Evers, winning the 600 in a personal best 1:34.82, edging out Annis Mars of Boys and Girls, who placed second in 1:34.95. She finished fourth in the 300, where Medgar Evers picked up 13 points. Teammate Rachel Leeke finished second in 39.00 and Shakele Seaton was sixth.
Then Moise-Joseph blew by Cardozo’s anchor leg to win the 4x200 on the final straight in 1:41.72. Cardozo finished in 1:41.72.
“Last year there was only three of us that made it to states,” Moise-Joseph said. “We want to bring the whole team. (I knew I could catch her) from the start. There’s nothing you can’t do if you train hard enough.”
Medgar Evers lost major potential points competing without Shnell Wishart, who could have won the long and triple jump. Head coach Nicola Martial would not disclose the reason for Wishart’s inactivity, although she did attend the meet and was not injured.
Bayside’s Tate was the only double-winner on the track, taking the 1,000 in 2:57.29 and the 1,500 in 4:54.75. Tate said, despite the tight schedule, she would repeat the double at the state meet.
“Those are my events,” she said. “I like to go home with two awards. Everyone else is leaving with two. I want two awards too.”
But it wasn’t just about awards. Tate also has something to prove.
“I remember in the summer time I was reaching out to all of these coaches and no one wanted me,” said Tate, who has committed to Hampton University. “Now I’m on the national board and I want to stay there. I kind of want to throw it in everybody’s face. So it’s not just two races. It shows that I can be up there and I ran run with those girls.”