It appears two life-sized erasers have relocated from the classrooms of New York’s Medgar Evers College Prep School. And, it seems they are turning up at indoor track meets in the personas of student-athletes Kadeica Baird and Ashley Tasher.
Now, records books are increasingly uneasy whenever the Guyana-born duo steps on the tracks.
In individual and relay races, Baird and Tasher are ‘clocking’ their school’s rising legacy as ‘time setters’ in high school arenas, and on bigger stages. Even the 105th running of the Millrose Games wasn’t spared the recent rub-out runs by the terrific track twosome.
Revving their squad from fifth position at the first hand-over to a win in the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) Girls 4x400m relay, the Guyanese girls grinded the defending champions to a record at the famed meet. Medgar Evers’ 3:51.46 erased the old mark of 3:53.17 set by their archrivals Benjamin Cardozo H.S. in 2010.
It’s the fourth indoor relay records by the Lady Cougars this season, but this one was special for their coach Shaun Dietz. “This is great for us to defend our title with a new record at Millrose. The girls are having unbelievable season.” It’s also a special evolution for Baird who, in her penultimate year at Medgar Evers, continues to define her potential after coming off a flourishing 2011. “It has been a pretty good year at Medgar Evers,” assured the Varsity junior sprinter who represented Guyana at the IAAF 2011 World Youth Championships. “I’ve a pretty good coach who always been there for me, helping me have confidence in myself, and he knows I have ability and talent to run fast, so he’s just been working on me on time.”
Prepping for this season, the Guyanese sprinters had personal best (PB) runs at unfamiliar 4K and 5K races when they entered for ‘shake outs’ at the grueling distances during the Fall. As colder climes dawned, Baird warmed the indoor tracks with a slew of top spots and PBs at 55m – 7.23s, 400m – 55.60s and 600m – 1:39.45, and then delivered the astounding.
“Right now, she is nationally (US) ranked #1 in the 300m,’ Dietz said, referring to Baird’s dazzling 37.95s run to win the high school girls’ triple at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. The just-turned 17-year old ace was a stride outside the PSAL record of 37.77s set by multiple world and Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings in 2002. “Kadecia ran the 6th fastest time ever in American track and field history,” Dietz said of the February 4th feat when Baird was 1.5 seconds clear of the 2nd finisher – Guyana-born Shenika King of Canarsie Campus H.S.
At that meet, Baird and Tasher steered their squad to a 4x200m win in 1:40.27; for the top mark in the state and 4th fastest time in the nation. “Their strongest event is still the 4x200m,” stressed the Jamaica-born Dietz who is married to colleague coach, Guyanese Nicola Martial, a three-time NCAA triple-jump champion who competed at the Atlanta Olympics.
The school is a ‘mass moulder’ for teenaged student-athletes of Guyanese heritage, having had junior phenoms Analisa Austin, Jewel Moore, Sheniece Daphness and Simonie Moore among its intakes in recent times. That observation led Dietz to state that “it’s just so coincidental that we got some Guyanese who’ve done so well for us in the past”, and added: “Ashley is improving a lot, too.” Tasher was relentlessly reeling out records as a prodigious junior athlete, before migrating to the US, last March. There, she was quickly snapped up by Medgar Evers as ‘a talent with exceptional range’.
In less than a year, the 15-year old Varsity sophomore adapted, especially, to the indoor scene and raced to her own bests at several events, many of which she never contested locally.
Last Saturday at the PSAL New York City Championships, Tasher added a long jump PB of 16’7” (5.05m) to her track array. She narrowly missed gold with the leap, but made up by improving her indoor 55m time to 7.39s. Earlier in the season, the former Running Brave T.C. athlete recorded bests of 1:48.32 at 600m and 41.68s at 300m, which bodes for later forays into her usual distances, including 400m. “Yeah! I’ve been improving,” Tasher declared. “In Guyana, I used to run like in the 60’s, and here my average time is, like, below 59. And, actually, there is improvement in my 200 too, so actually my timing has, like, decreased all around.”
Instantly, Baird and Tasher have credentials to demand statewide and national respect just by stepping on the track. Today, they compete at the state championships in Ithaca, upstate NY, before returning for the national meet at their familiar Armory track in Manhattan, NY, next weekend. And, coach Dietz expects his school to do more than defend their titles and records in the sprint relays. “This team is not as matured as the team from last year. They are a very young team, but I still expect that they will go there and do very well.” The two Guyanese are cheery over their chances, and buoyed by the interest in their exploits, especially in Guyana. “I wanna’ tell them: ‘thank you’ for supporting me all the way,” Baird said succinctly. Then, Tasher effusively offered “I think that if I just work hard my time would improve and I would be a superior athlete, and they should look out for greater things from me.”
For now, though, the young track will be eyeballing the clocks, with the erasers lurking nearby.
