Windsor Relays Eye Multiple Championships

The easiest way to assess the strength of a high school track and field team is to look at its relay teams. Teams with potent quartets are often deep enough to score the points needed to guarantee victory, or at least to challenge for a win. The Windsor girls track relay squads are no exception. Not only have they helped to put their team in contention for marks in the win column, they have positioned the Warriors as one of the teams to beat.

If one were to create the ideal relay team, the relays of the Windsor High School girls track team would fit the bill – they are awful for opponents to contend with and, to be blunt, awesome in talent. Last June, the Warriors’ three relays (4x100 meters, 4x400 and 4x800) finished in the top 15 at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., the national championship meet.

Windsor coach Ron Wilson doesn’t want to set the bar too high, but he’s expecting each foursome to approach, if not surpass, their success in 2010. A year ago, the Warriors came within one official’s decision from becoming the first team in State Open history to win all three relays. A questionable zone-lane infraction led to a disqualification of the 4x400 relay that had finished in first place.

“It was a legit call,” Wilson said. It cost the Warriors the team championship, though. Yet without the relays’ accomplishments, Windsor would be a good team at best, not one of the top two or three teams in the state at worst.

This year’s relays are just as strong, if not boasting the promise of reaching faster times than 2010’s foursomes. Three girls run in two relays (Brianna Allen, Sydnee Over, Nastasya Rodriques); six run in one each (Chalsea Clark, Janae Wilson, Courtney Kearse, Ashley Graves, Keniece Walker, Medinah Nabadduka). Nine of the Warriors’ 50-plus athletes are involved in one or more of the relays.

Wilson likes where his team is, but he also acknowledges that they have more improvements to make before hitting their peak. They were powerful on May 7 at the 40^th annual Lindy Remigino Invitational in New Britain. The 4x100 won by 0.1 of a second over Bloomfield, though the 4x400 was runner-up to Bloomfield. The Warriors did not enter the 4x800, but sent out a team in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay (legs of 400 meters, 200, 200, 800) that finished second to Hillhouse-New Haven.

If they each meet his goals for times, they’d be close to establishing state records. Last year’s 4x400 is the state record-holder. That was done while finishing fourth at the New Balance Nationals in 3:47.16, and three of the girls who ran in it are back this year – seniors Allen (the lead-off runner) and Graves (third leg) and sophomore Over (anchor). Shayna Presley, the 2010 anchor, graduated and senior Nastasya Rodriques (second) has replaced her. Wilson is hoping for a 3:50 effort by season’s end.

“Brianna starts really strong for us,” Wilson said. “We’re usually in good position when she hands off the baton. Our first three – Brianna, Nastasya and Ashley – all run about the same time.

“We’re still getting in shape. As the season goes on, we’re going to get stronger. I like the job the coach [Celeste Over] is doing. They’re being coached to peak at the end of the season,” Wilson said.

The 4x400 was the highest placing relay at the Nationals for Windsor. The 4x800 was 12^th in 9:12.82 and featured Rodriques, Presley, Nabadduka and Over. This spring the unit has been junior Walker (leadoff), Rodriques (second), junior Nabadduka (third) and Over (anchor). Wilson is looking for a time near 9:15 at the end of the season. The Connecticut record is 9:06.83.

The 4x100 placed 12^th at the Nationals in 48.32 with Allen, senior Clark, junior Wilson and Tyshay Carmichael, who graduated. This year’s quartet has Clark (leadoff), Wilson (second), sophomore Kearse (third) and Allen (anchor). Wilson’s target for them is 48.0. The state mark is 46.62.

“I’m expecting them all to be competitive when it’s time for the championship meets,” Wilson said. “I’m confident about all their chances. If you’re asking me which one do I think is the best, or has the best chances to be at its best at the end of the season, I’d say the 4x400.”

Wilson’s philosophy is to put the fastest runner in the anchor leg and the second fastest as the lead-off. The relays don’t get an opportunity to practice regularly, which essentially is working on handing off the baton, on a daily basis. A day or two before a meet, though, they work on fine-tuning. All relay runners are entered in individual events as well and daily training is centered on those disciplines.

Each relay has the potential to threaten for first place at the CIAC Class L state championship and State Open. And if each qualifies, they could all place high at the New England Championships. But the ultimate goal is to regain qualification standards for the Nationals.

Handing off is about all the relays share. There are differences. “The 4x800 is about going out and setting the pace,” Rodriques said. “In the 4x400, it’s about getting the lead and holding on to it. It’s also about cutting into the lane at the right time. You have to run in your same lane for the first 100 meters of the second leg, then you can cut in. In the 4x800, if I don’t have the lead, my job is to catch the team in front of me.”

Clark says the baton exchanges can become second nature but each partner has to work with the other as to when to start running in preparation for receiving the baton from a teammate in full speed. “You have to count your steps and know when to start running for the handoff,” Clark said. “I have to be at my absolute best when I hand it off to Janae. We all have the same goal – to work hard. We can do everything if we put our minds to it.”

The relay runners share Wilson’s aspirations. They want to qualify for the Nationals and improve upon how they placed in 2010. They recognize, however, all they can do is focus on time and not worry about place. In track, athletes have no control over how the opposition will perform. If another relay goes faster than Windsor, congratulations will be offered.

But that’s unlikely, only a handful of schools — Bloomfield, Hillhouse and Glastonbury, to pinpoint a few — have the caliber of athletes to run collectively fast relay times. Many schools might have two or three, and those runners will lift those schools to impressive times. But they don’t have the array of four girls that Windsor has in all three relays.