Simon Gratz Senior Tymerah Burgess was AAA favorite at District 12 preliminaries in both the 100 and 200, but tragedy struck. Burgess, who had been nursing a hamstring injury and groin pain, could not complete her first race of trials in the 100 meter dash. She ran about 40 meters before pulling up and then hobbling to a stop. The crowd, coaches, and athletes were in shock, because everyone expected Burgess to win the prelims easily and then go on to win finals.
But that would not be. Her teammates and coaches were noticeably disappointed that she would not be able to compete for state titles and possibly a chance to become All-American at outdoor nationals in June.
"Yeah, she had done a session of acupuncture recently, but we still were not sure about her competition condition," champion-producing assistant coach Fred "Beetle" Daniels said when asked if Burgess was a questionable decision to run in trials."Our 4x100 relay is done because we only have four girls, and with Tymerah out we can't run with just three girls," added Daniels. "She was getting back to form, she was about 85%."
When legendary Gratz's head coach Robert Massie was asked his feelings after disastrous injury robbed his star athlete of her chances to be crowned district and state champ, here is what he had to say.
"Tymerah had an outstanding track career. In 9th and 10th grades she was 100 and 200 meter District 12 champion, and also she was a 100 meter finalist at state champs in both years. In 11th grade she was state indoor champ in the 60 meter dash," Massie said."This year she had the #1 time in the 55 meter dash. Both this year and last year she had one of the top 100 meter times (PA and nationally) before injury."
Burgess has been a PA and regional crowd-pleaser for years and surely will be a great high school athlete missed from District 12.
With her full recovery it should be expected that Burgess will be a college standout just as she was always a high school standout representing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania well.