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Before the meet even started, the Milwaukee Tech girls 4x200 relay team anchored by top sprinter Dezerea Bryant was eyeing the WTFA State Indoor Championship meet record. The record was their own, a time of 1:43.68 set in 2008.

 

Prior to WTFA they ran a 1:44.98 at the MPS City Conference Championships. After two weeks of practice and preparation the record would surely be theirs to take. After three great handoffs and finshing in an unofficial time of 1:42.00 the girls were greeted by an official informing them that they were disqualified. One of the runners cut in prior to the cut line on the back stretch, nullifying the new meet record and eliminating a great opportunity for these girls... or so we thought.

 

Just before ending the final race of the final indoor meet for the 2010 season there were some familiar faces from the Tech 4x200 team approaching the start line for the 4x400. In this group were WTFA 55M hurdle champion Elexis Fuller-Stewart, 55M dash runner-up Tahje Whittley, 800M bronze medalist Tiffany Mathews and yes, even Dezerea Bryant who earlier had won the 55M dash gold medal and anchored the 4x200 relay.

 

After the first runner passed the baton I looked at my watch and said, "WOW, they're going to go for the record." The former 4x400M relay record was set in 1980 by the team from Madison Memorial finishing in 4:05.8.  This record a very impressive one considering the event and how early this meet is in the season.

 

Milwaukee Bradley Tech girls unofficial splits for the final race were :63, :57, :57 and :59 with a final time of 3:57.03 crushing the meet record and securing their place in history for what looks to be a long time.

 

Aside from the impressive time and performance in the 4x400 was the ladies' demeanor after they found out about their disqualification in the 4x200. As you can imagine some would cry, some would complain, but these ladies shrugged their shoulders, shook it off and came back a few hours later and secured their spot in the record books.

 

Phenomenal job ladies on displaying such great athletic talent but also the attitude of a champion.

 

More results for the girls WTFA championships here.