Last month I was covering the Youth Day Out event at the University of Minnesota when former Apple Valley track star KYLIE PETERSON let me in on an amazing accomplishment by the women’s 4×100 meter relay team.
“We set a school record,” the senior-to-be calmly said. “We also qualified for the NCAA Championships.”
Indeed they did.
Peterson, who as a senior in 2008 won three track and field titles (100, 200, and as a 4×100 second-leg sprinter), teamed with TODEA-KAY WILLIS, NYOKA GILES and CHIMEREM OKOROJI to make history by setting a school record in the 4×100 relay (44.32) while becoming the second Gopher squad to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Photos courtesy of University of Minnesota
Former Minneapolis South cross country and track and field standout HASSAN MEAD, a nine-time All-American in his Minnesota career (four in cross country 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011) and five in track (2008 outdoor, 2009 indoor and outdoor, 2011 indoor and outdoor), had a bid for a spot on the 2012 USA Track & Field Olympic team but came up short, finishing eighth.Mead, who graduated from South in 2008, was a four-time all-state performer in track, state runner-up in the 3,200 meters in 2007, and third in 2006. His time of 8:51.23, good for fifth place in the two-mile run at the 2007 Nike Outdoor Nationals, was the third-best time in Minnesota high school history.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
