Friday is the relaxing day at the NSIC meet. Not the wall-to-wall finals of Sunday. Boy, was that assumption wrong this year. TWO National Records on day one. A surprise visit from Bay Shore to push Mountain View to one of those records. And an even bigger surprise, with the appearance of one X-Man from Florida - one Xavier Carter - to set the tone for a Saturday and Sunday that could lead to even more records.
But the day started with a new scholastic record from a mighty might, a 13-year-old who lead from the gun and gunned her way to the 5000 meter girls' record. Briana Jackucewicz from New Jersey, ran an incredible 16:43.02, smashing the old record of 16:52.48 (set by Cathy Schiro NH in 1983) by 9 seconds. Walt Murphy of Eastern Track believes that this is the first time a middle school athlete has set a national record since Mary Decker. Rare air, indeed.
In the girl's DMR Mountain View HS of UT smashed the old record of 11:49.34 (Red Bank, NJ 3/8/02) with a blazing 11:35.43. Also under the old record was Bay Shore of NY with an equally blazing 11:43.51.
Mountain View ran with the team of Heidi Houle, 3:32.1, Malynne King, 58.6, Ann Marie Thomas, 2:17.7, and Heidi MaGill, 4:47.0. Bay Shore was paced by Mary Liz McCurdy, 3:32.6, Precious Moore, 63.0, Sarah McCurdy, 2:19.0, and Laura Cummings, 4:53.8. From the second heat St. Hubert's finished 8th overall with a time of 12:18.02.
In the boys' DMR the Patriot Track Club from Poughkeepsie, NY won with a time of 10:09.31. Close on their heels were Wachusett HS from Holden, MA and Cardinal O'Hara from PA. Wachusett ran 10:10.40 and O'Hara ran 10:10.80. Those 3 times were the 4th, 6th, and 7th fastest high school times ever. Also running the DMR was the team from Archbishop Carroll who turned in a 15th place finish with a clocking of 10:34.47. Cardinal O'Hara used the foursome of Greg Thomas, Jack Braconnier, Matt Willard, and Steve Hallinan to capture 3rd at the NSIC. O'Hara was in contention for the entire race until Steve Hallinan pulled into the lead during the mile leg. Through 3/4's of a mile Hallinan built a substantial lead over the anchor legs of Westfield NJ and CBA NJ, before the closing kicks of the anchors from Wachusett and the Patriot Track Club. O'Hara's splits were Greg Thomas, 3:08.7, Jack Braconnier, 49.5, Matt Willard, 1:59.3, and Steve Hallinan, 4:13.0.
In the boys' 1600 Sprint Medley the US # 1 ranked team Transit Tech, from Brooklyn, NY, placed first with a time of 3:26.71. Cardinal O'Hara placed 18th with a 3:43.94.
In the girls' 1600 Sprint Medley the US # 2 team Archbishop Philip Randolph, from NY, placed first with a time of 3:55.92. Their splits were 55.1, 29.7, 25.9, and 2:10.3. Wyomissing placed 25th with a time of 4:21.27.
An inch-and-a-quarter separated Buffalo NY junior Mary Saxer and Angela Wells of Simon Gratz (PA) in the Long Jump. Wells' 19' 2" leap came in the prelims. Francois Grason, a Southwood Lousiana junior, leapt 24' 3 1/2" to win the Long Jump. That's US#2. Lauren Biscardi,Infant Jesus Track Club, cleared 5'8" to win the High Jump. Four other girls were over 5' 7". Somerville (NJ)'s Kyle Calvo won the boys' High Jump, going over 6' 91/2" on his second attempt. Courtney and Lindsay Regan, the pole vaulting sisters, are in New York before competing at the Nike meet. Both advanced from qualifying Friday. Lindsay will take her first crack at the sophomore class record of 13-00.25 in New York at NSIC. Delsea, NJ senior Jocelyn White took the Shot Put with a throw of 43' 1 1/2".
In the boys' 60 Meter Hurdles the fastest qualifier to the semifinals was Kedrieck Gibbons from Natchez, MS, US # 2, with a 8.00. Other nationally ranked qualifiers were Khai Berry, US # 2, Yudehweh Gbaa, US # 6, Ryan Fontenot, US # 7 and James Myles, US # 10. Mike Anderson from Penncrest was third in his heat with 8.54, missing the semis by .13 seconds.
In the girls' 60 Meter Hurdles the fastest qualifier to the semifinals was Marie-Eve Dugas from Una-Laval Quebec, with a 8.78. Mycaiah Clemons from Valley high school was second in her heat and qualified for the semifinals with a 8.84. Also moving on was US # 5 hurdler Dashanta Harris from Poly Long Beach.
In the boys' 60 Meter Dash the fastest qualifier to the semifinals was Tyvon Branch from Cicero North Syracuse with a 6.87. Michael Grant, US # 4 was the second fastest qualifier with a 6.88, while Derrick Jones, US # 5, was the third fastest qualifier with a 6.91. Andrew McCloskey from Penncrest missed qualifying by a mere .02 seconds.
In the girls' 60 Meter Dash the fastest qualifier to the semifinals was Courtney Champion, last years 4th place finisher in the finals, with a time of 7.43.
In the Boys 5000 Meters Stephan Shay, unattached, won with a time of 15:12.74. Two Cedar Cliff runners competed in the 5000 as well. Sophomore Justin Keller placed 18th with a time of 16:39.35 and Junior Tim Johnson placed 19th with a time of 16:40.66. Their assistant coach Matt Wagoner was on hand to provide them with guidance and to provide my dad and I with a mid-afternoon snack. Thanks for cake Matt!
In relay trials, the Shalonda Solomon-led Poly Long Beach 4x400 will square off Sunday again the Natasha Hasting-led A.P. Randolph squad. Also advancing were two Texas teams, Fortbend Thurgood Marshal, and Hightower. Boys & Girls and Largo, MD will round out the finals. In the boys 4x400, it will be Dewitt Clinton, NYC, Camden, Poly Long Beach, Northern Lousiana Roadrunners, Jenks HS from Oklahoma, and Motor City TC from Detroit.