Nike Nationals reporting by John Huth

dyestat photo

Click here for NS photos by Dave Fineman
Click here for video of Ross jumping at 14'-8.25"
Story by John Huth:

The girls won the 4xmile today at the Nike Indoor Nationals.
Kelsey ran leadoff and ran in second place until the half-mile mark, and then put on a burst of speed to get a lead, and the team was never challenged after that. The winning time of 20:25.90 is something like the fifth all time 4xmile in the country ever!
Splits were something like Kelsey 5:08, Kathy 5:03, Melanie 5:06.6, Bridget 5:05. It's kind of hard to do the splits in a 4xmile because the handoff zone creeps forward (remember that a mile is 1609 meters and a bit).

You can catch a photo of them posing with the boys 4xmile winning team of West Windsor Plainsboro at this URL
http://www.dyestat.com//?pg=us-2009-Indoor-Track-NIN-Saturday
The boys 4xmile team set a new high school record. Also Luke Verzbicas from Illinios ran a new high school record in the 5000 last night of 14:18.42. Luke is 16 years old and is a triathalete.

The girls 4x200m relay had a huge PR, running a 1:45.62, which would be a new school record. The handoffs were smooth and each girl ran great. I had splits of 27.16 for Andrea, 25.5 for Dani, 26.7 for Katie and 25.96 for Pebbles. That doesn't quite add up to 1:45.62, but that's the difference between my hand timing and fully automatic. This was good for 12th overall!!!

Ross McDonald was 2nd in the unseeded section of the pole vault competition - clearing 14'-8.25". This placed him 12th overall.
Click here for youtube of Ross at 14' - 8.25"

Tomorrow, Sasha is running in the 800, and we have Sasha, Will, Xhulio and Yuji in the boys 4x8, along with Yong in the hurdles.

Nalis throws the shot, and we have the girls 4x800m relay. They go up against Lincoln-Sudbury and also Southern Regional High School. Southern Regional is running as "Hammer Track Club" and features Jillian Smith, who is very accomplished miler.
I found parking lots further down Columbus Ave, so you can drive in and park reasonably close by.

Go Lions...er... Newton Centre Athletics.

John