High School Girls' 4x800 Heats
Event
101Thursday 9:00 AM
Twelve fastest teams from Events #101-#104 qualify for Championship Final, Event #365 (Friday, 6:25 PM).
Sydney Pagon STEM (JAM) and Edwin Allen (JAM) broke away from the field from the gun and continued to distance themselves from the rest of the field through the first two legs, on track to running sub-9 minute times. J. P. McCaskey (PA) made up ground on the two Jamaican teams, thanks to the help of a 2:11 leg by Vivian Salerno, and the three teams made it to the second exchange together. Once Sydney Pagon STEM's Denae Hodges got the baton as third leg, she broke away from Edwin Allen and J.P. McCaskey, quickly forming a 15 meter gap. Hodges kept pushing the pace, expanding her team's lead over Edwin Allen to over 60 meters by the time they made it to the final exchange with Alexia Palmer. At the bell lap, Sydney Pagon STEM had a 80m lead over Edwin Allen, while Spence School (NY) and Upper Dublin (PA) battled it out for third place. Edwin Allen's KevonGaye Fowler closed hard over the final 400m, shrinking the gap behind Sydney Pagon STEM to about 15 meters at the top of the final straightaway. However, Sydney Pagon STEM's Alexia Palmer held on to claim the heat win by approximately 10 meters over Edwin Allen. Third place was determined by a lean at the line, with W. T. Woodsen (VA) edging out Upper Dublin (PA).