By Gary Tim
With a startled stare, Kadecia Baird sits on the mixed-zone floor, winded, while her teammates entreat anxious TV crews for a little time for their star runner to compose herself before talking of the breathtaking run they had just festooned onto the Millrose Games history books.
But, in almost the same time as their record run, the Medgar Evers Preparatory School squad told the patient media about their stellar 3:51.46 record in the PSAL Girls 4x400m relay on Saturday, last.
“We knew we got runners to go out there, stick to our plan to stay competitive ‘til the final leg to kick,” the Guyana-born Baird said about their strategy and, of teammates Paige Thompson Charles, Ja’Nai Cameron and compatriot Ashley Tasher.
Breathtaking to behold, and impossible to subdue, the Medgar Evers team climaxed the non-elite sector of the 105th Games with a final, preposterous act of scene stealing, flashing the burgundy baton eight laps around the elevated oval in the new time to keep the feat-seeking media, busy.
They came from way back in the race’s opening stanza to win the event and add their names to the plethora of new records at the celebrated meet which, after a century, moved seven miles and 135 blocks from the customary Madison Square Garden to the Armory Center in upper Manhattan.
On the grand stage of the famed event it was the biggest night of the duo’s young athletic career; moreso for Tasher. “This is the most prominent level meet I’ve competed at, and for me and my team to win this race is really inspirational for me,” the starry-eyed 15-year old told Stabroek News about their school’s repeat win.
In the second-leg, Tasher moved from 20 metres back in fifth place to within striking distance when she handed the baton to Cameron.
“Well I just wanted to eat up the space. Just bring it closer so that my teammates don’t have to work that hard, and we did it right there,” mused Tasher with familiar nonchalance, afterwards.
With her third-leg teammate maintaining the Lady Cougars’ position, Baird took the baton some eight metres adrift of fellow anchor Alexis Panisse of Benjamin Cardozo High School. The Medgar Evers star blazed out to overtake Panisse on the backstretch, just according to coach Shaun Dietz’s plan. “This time, you know, Cardozo put their fastest runner out front to gain the advantage,” Dietz said. “But, I knew it doesn’t matter what they do, because I have four girls, that if they keep it close, there is gonna’ be no one stopping them.”
“Hmm! you got that right, coach,” the champion quartet’s facial expressions responded.
His ruse resulted in Baird’s anchor leg of 55.1s to bring home the new mark. Arch-rivals Benjamin Cardozo also broke the old record, but they rued a second miss of the throne after winning 5 of the previous 7 crowns.
“I just had to get out and use my speed to come home. She is not faster than me,” the nationally-ranked Baird said of her last leg rival. “She just has more endurance so I used my speed on her.”
And, naturally, she did. But, Baird didn’t quite promote out her own added advantage; Panisse had a grueling mile run earlier in the meet that probably cramped her drive. However, the Guyanese girls were among high school, pee-wee, college and pro stars getting standing ovations for setting 14 new marks at the Games, a marquee event of the New York winter. The springy Armory banked track is one of the world’s fastest indoor facilities with its appropriately sized 200m venue that is the Mecca of the sport for collegians and high schoolers. It makes the Garden boards – a leg-jarring 11-laps to the mile – seem like midtown molasses
The annual sellout, a buzz that once commanded back pages, has not been so in recent times losing fans and sponsors that reflected on its revenue books. The move to the Armory had its positive, such as smaller arena to fill and faster times. One of those was by world and Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross in the Women’s 400m – a race in which Guyana’s Aliann Pompey initially had a lane. ‘You may so,” Pompey responded to suggestions that she was ‘foregoing the undercovers for the bigger tracks in this Olympic year’. Nevertheless, the Armory’s new Director of Educational Development still hit the spotlight when she was introduced at midfield in a roll call of Millrose and armory directorships. Pompey was the only woman among the 20-plus officials applauded by the full-house.
Additionally, the auspicious Guyanese representation at the Games was crowned by a big-hearted run from Jeremy Bascom in the elite Men’s 60m dash. The sprinter upped his credits with a 6.71s zoom for 4th against seven seasoned sprinters, beating out stars like Tyrone Edgar (Britain) and Travis Padgett (USA). Bascom joins a small band of Guyanese to compete in elite sectors of the long-standing, prestigious meet. June Marcia Griffith, Aubrey ‘Skinny’ Wilson, Marian Burnett and Pompey have been among top performers, there.
