The ladies of St. Thomas Aquinas one upped themselves this year at the 2014 Texas Relays. The 4x200m relay team of Kendall Ellis, Krystal Sparling, Khalifa St. Fort, and Diamond Spaulding posted a blazing US#1, meet record, and national record time of 1:33.47 breaking the mark of 1:33.87 set by Long Beach Ply in 2005. Brandon Miles caught up with Diamond Spaulding afterwards.
No rest for the wary, the Raiders were back at it in the girls 4x400m relay with Sparling, Spaulding, Ellis and Narinah Jean-Baptiste posting a new US#1 time of 3:38.26. See what three of the four members had to say after the race.
STA tried to pull off the sprint relay sweep, but came up just inches short. Battling it out with Long Beach Poly (CA) all weekend long, the two teams came down to the wire in the 4x100m relay with the west coast girls winning by two one-hundredths of a second, 45.73 and 45.75, the two fastest times in the country for 2014.
The only individual from the Sunshine State to compete was First Academy junior Teahna Daniels. Coming in with the second fastest time from the prelim's, Daniels turned it on in the finals in head to head match up with Washington's Hannah Cunliffe, a University of Oklahoma signee. Cunliffe started off strong, but it was Daniels who kicked it into another gear the second half of the race. She crossed the line in a US#2 all-conditions time of 11.37 with Cunliffe behind in 11.40. Her time broke a Texas Relays meet record of 11.50 set by Chryste Gaines of Dallas South Oak Cliff in 1988. That's a meet record that stood for 25 years before today! See what the excited winner had to say after the race.
In other action, St. Thomas Aquinas athlete Alexa Cruz was 10th in the 32.00m with a time of 10:43.70 which is the new fastest time in Florida by more than seven seconds and a new personal best by 17 seconds! The Raider girls were 9th in the 4x800m (9:38.83) with Jean-Baptiste, Kalis, Cruz, and Lewis. The boys quartet of Statham, Darosa, Barrow, and Butler was 12th (8:09.40)
Former Gibbs standout and current Baylor freshman Trayvon Bromell improved on his 10.02 in the prelims running a 10.01. Clemson junior Reggie Lewis was second in 10.15. Bromell's time was the fastest of any 100 meter race on the day including the high school, college, university and invitational runs. The University of Florida has a record setting day on both the men's and women's 4x100m relay teams as well as the men's 4x400m relay.
More Coverage
- 2014 Texas Relays Meet Page
- Complete Meet Recap (Via Milesplit.com)
- Day One Recap: Florida Edition
- St. Thomas Aquinas Team Page
- Teahna Daniels Athlete Profile