Miramar Invitational: Miami Northwestern 4x4 Recrord, Sans Asterisk!

Miramar Invitational
Jason Byrne

Complete Results...

 

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The official results are now in and Miami Northwestern finally did it in the 4x400 and broke Killian's 1969 state record! They ran to an unpushed 3:10.69 at the Miramar Invitational, fueled by a monsterous 44.8 lead off leg by Hugh Graham, Jr.

 

"I have no idea how I did that," Graham told flrunners.com about this split, "when everyone was showing me their watches I couldn't believe it!"

 

Constant rival St. Thomas Aquinas was in this race with them, but never pushed Northwestern after that opening leg and since Arman Hall was forced to pull out after an injury during the 100.  Carol City was second in the race with a 3:14.35 and Aquinas third in 3:17.24.

 

After flirting with the record all season long, Northwestern finally got under the 3:10.7 mark (converted from a 4x440 Yard time) of the 1969 Miami Killian team. That gives them the outright claim as the all-time best 4x400 team in state history. To be sure the team is not done yet and with the steady improvement shown from everyone on the team and more handoff work, 3:09-point is certainly not out of the question.  If they did that they would be the first high school team outside of track powerhouse states California or Texas to accomplish that feat.

 

To go along with his incredible 44.8 split in the 4x400, Hugh Graham Jr. also laid down a nice 21.12 win the 200.

 

The boys 100 was hot as Orville Reynolds of Douglas blazed to a 10.38 with Ates of Flanagan (10.44) and Brown of American (10.50) just back. The race, however, would have been amazing but instead was disasterous. This event saw two of Florida's brightest sprint stars go down and pull out with an injury.  Reportedly Dedric Dukes was leading the race and headed toward 10.1 territory when he fell to the track with an injury. Shortly thereafter Arman Hall did the same. In the Miami Herald article there are some photos of this race where you can clearly see Hall wincing and Dukes laying on the track. Tragic. With districts only a couple of weeks away, the two athlete's seasons may be in jeopardy ... especially after losing Jerimy Strainge for the season last week, let's hope they both are able to return soon.

 

Not to be outdone by the boys, Miami Northwestern's girls more than held their own. They beat out St. Thomas Aquinas 9:25 to 9:28 in the 4x800 and did it again in the 4x400 winning 3:47 to 3:51 over STA.

 

Miami Jackson's Robin Reynolds added some more hardware to her collection by winning the long jump in a season best 18-8.5, 100 meters in 11.84, 200 in 24.35, and in 54.21... quite a day!

 

American Heritage sixth grader Daesha Rogers just keeps getting better. She nailed down the state lead in the 800 meters with a 2:11.36 victory.

 

In other highlights from the meet...

 

DeMatha Catholic (Maryland) won the 4x800 in 8:00 over Carol City (8:06) and Varela (8:08).  Cyrus Johnson of Ely won the triple jump in 46-0. Phillip Dorsett of St. Thomas won the long jump in 23-1 and finish in a second place 21.28 in the 200.  State leader Amber Monroe of Northwestern won the discus in 142-0.

 

Look at all of the Bronze Elite Performances!!

 

Girls Highlights

Boys Highlights

 

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