In some circles it’s Fashion Week in New York, but in other ovals it’s different striding along the lanes – it’s Millrose Games in New York, where young track star Kadecia Baird returns later today to fashion another ‘trend’ on the stage that launched her international recognition in the track world. This time she’s taking along a history-making bunch of Guyanese athletes.
The junior world 400m silver medalist leads a quintet of Guyana-born runners who will line up for the meet at the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory. She is joined by Iana Amsterdam, Jeremy Bascom, Ashley Tasher and Brenessa Thompson to compete in high school and elite individual sprint and relay races.
And, Baird is stilling the thrill of the happenstance. “We’ll just go out there and have fun and run to our best potential. We are trying to win and run a fast time, so everybody knows what they have to do,” the docile-voice track phenom offered
It’s historic for the five-some as they represent the largest batch of Guyanese to gain lanes in the world’s most famous indoor meet which is in its 106th edition. Equally, Baird and company intend to turn in momentous performances at the meet which is being hosted by the fast Armory track for a second year running following almost a century of stagings at the world-renowned Madison Square Garden.
Bascom, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sprinter, runs for his New Balance Central Park Track Club of New York and is gunning for a better showing from two weeks ago at the New Balance indoor Grand Prix in Boston where he suffered after a uncommonly slow start. “I know. I will ready for tomorrow,” he said, knowing he will also carries the Golden Arrowhead in his second successive run in the Millrose elite men’s 60m dash. Apart from Amsterdam, the other high school runners represent Medgar Evers of New York. Amsterdam, a hurdler and horizontal jumps specialist, will run for her Newark Tech school in New Jersey.
Amsterdam and Thompson compete in an eight-runner field of the High School Girls’ 55m that draws some of the best junior short sprinters in the tri-state area. The race makes it is the second clash of Guyanese since Olympians Marian Burnett and Aliann Pompey went head-to-head in an elite women’s 600y race at the Garden back in 2009. Incidentally, Pompey will deliver a brief overview at the Games reception as the Amory Foundation program director. Thompson, the daughter of veteran sprinter Brenon Thompson, is agog over her Millrose call-up, saying that she expects “to do really well and I expect to PR (personal record), and have fun in the race, too.”
Then, like they did in a record breaking run at last year’s event, Tasher will hand the baton to Baird who anchors the Medgar Evers relay squad in the PSAL Girls’ 4x400m race which is, again, expected to be a scorcher. Baird returns for another relay; the Eastern High School Girls’ 4x200m – a new Millrose event. She will get the cudgel from Thompson who leads the Medgar Evers’ quartet, looking to be the events’ first champs.
Meanwhile, the Medgar Evers relay squads are not coming into the meet with bullseyes on their backs, since their qualifying marks were bettered by most of the others teams. The sprint powerhouse school served a two-meet ban following a fracas at a previous meet, and couldn’t field their strongest teams for qualifiers. But, coach Shaun Dietz puts the experience behind them, and he can now go with his top guns. “Well, I expect them to run well. I mean, it’s not going to be easy, but I expect them to give a good showing of themselves,” he added.
The Millrose Games will be streamed live from 7pm on ESPN3, and a taped broadcast is scheduled for the following day, Sunday, Feb. 17th from 8pm on ESPN.
