Cherokee sets school mark at Penn

The Cherokee girls' 4x400-meter relay runners knew they were capable of running a fast time. They just didn't think Thursday would be the day.

And why would they?

Their second-leg runner, Sarah Robbie, has been competing in mostly intermediate hurdles and 800-meter races this season.

Their third-leg runner, Courtney Foster, hadn't been on the track since bruising her shins in a car accident two weeks ago.

And their anchor, Brittany King, spent most of the afternoon asking her teammates for tissues to plug a leaky nose.

Somehow, the Cherokee girls pulled it together to not just win the South Jersey large-school relay at the Penn Relays for the first time in school history, but also shatter the school record by two seconds.

The Chiefs finished the race in 3 minutes, 54.98 seconds and claimed the title when Winslow Township was disqualified after crossing the finish line a few tenths of a second ahead.

Cherokee's previous best 4x400 time this season was 4:02 at an indoor meet.

"If you told us today we were going to beat our school record by two seconds, we would have all probably just laughed," said Robbie, who ran a personal record in the second leg.

King, who traded the lead back and forth with Winslow Township's Christine Oguledo on the final lap, also ran a personal best.

"We like to think if you are not exhausted and heaving and on the ground by the time you are done your race, you didn't run it as hard as you could," King said.

Kristen Visconti led off. Foster, who because of her shins injury wasn't cleared to participate until Thursday, handled the third leg.

Winslow Township celebrated the victory coming off the track. Cherokee didn't find out about the disqualification, which was for stepping out of the lane during one of the legs, until more than five minutes later.

The news made an already good day even better.

"Considering our anchor leg was neck-and-neck, it's not like we didn't deserve it," Robbie said. "There was almost no difference in first or second, but having first is definitely a better title."

Beaten by a record. Jess Woodard threw a discus farther than any U.S. high school athlete at the meet Thursday. But the Cherokee senior and Oklahoma recruit had to settle for a strong third place in the high school girls' discus championship.

Woodard, motivated by a poor performance here last season, threw 156-5, her third-best throw ever.

"She did well, so we can't be disappointed," Cherokee throwing coach John McMichael said.

Winner Gleneve Grange of Jamaica's Holmwood Tech demolished the meet record, throwing 178-1. That bested the previous mark by nearly 11 feet.

Tara-Sue Barnett of Edwin Allen in Jamaica finished second with a heave of 164-1.

Camden's comeback. When Jamira Haines took the baton on the second leg of the 4x400 South Jersey small-school relay, three runners were ahead of her. By the time she cleared the backstretch, Haines was all alone in front.

Camden never trailed again, posting a season-best time of 4:07.24.

"I just knew I had it in me to succeed, run my race through, and that's what I did," Haines said.

Chan'Nelle Perry, Sholanda Forrest, and Keisha Williams rounded out the team.

Keeping busy. Winslow Township's Cidae'a Woods didn't have much downtime Thursday.

Woods, the third seed in the girls' long jump championship, finished fifth with a leap of 19-6.

Her work for the meet isn't over. Her 4x100 relay team, which also included DeAnn Cross, Torie Robinson, and Oguledo, finished its heat in 47.65 seconds and will enter Friday's consolation race as the top-seeded team.