We are now into the abridged version of the Snapshots as we get to more recent records. We look here at a record from back in 2015. Enjoy!
On the second and middle day of the New Balance Outdoor Nationals action on Saturday, June 21, 2015, the rain was pouring down and all field event action was halted. In the girls 1600m sprint medley relay, the Speed City (Oak Park) team from Detroit MI had taken the stick for the final 800m leg with a nice 1.7 second lead, which meant they had already lost the race. Rush-Henrietta freshman Lanae-Tava Thomas and junior Tori Thompson had put the Royal Comets into the lead after the initial 200m legs, and though a middling exchange for the 400m leg had allowed Speed City's Anna Jefferson to get onto the lead against RH senior Ceara Watson, the gap was nowhere near large enough against the nation's #1 in the 800m, sophomore Sammy Watson. Four weeks later at the IAAF World Juniors championship, Sammy would record a 2:03.54 time, and here in the driving rain she would do a split of 2:03.08 with the relay running start on the leg. The Comets' 3:47.65 crushed the national record by more than three seconds. Suffern took 3rd in the race as NY 800m champ Kamryn McIntosh (Watson won the 1500m) ran a 2:04 to almost make up a 10.4 second deficit to Speed City, and she also anchored the Mounties to 3rd in the 4x800m. On Sunday, Sammy Watson won the 800m crown in the Championship race at 2:07.02, and Ceara Watson won the Emerging Elite 800m race at 2:08.61.
When Rush-Henrietta broke the national record of 3:50.82 in 2015, the NY state mark was held by the 2004 A.Phillip Randolph team that placed 2nd at the Adidas Outdoor Nationals Championship at 3:53.64. That team included Efuru Ballantyne and Natasha Emmanuel on the 200m legs, Natasha Hastings running the 400m, and Selena Sappleton on the 800m anchor.