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Francis pulls out relay to finally grab first-place finish
By Joseph Staszewski March 7, 2009
ITHACA, N.Y. – Chamique Francis was not going to settle for
silver for a third time.
“On the last lap she started to take off,” Francis said. “I
was like I really don’t want to lose because I came in second in all my events.
I didn’t want my team to lose.”
“I stayed on my toes and the last second I did some
kicking,” Francis said.
She placed second in the 300 in a time of 39.44 behind
Colonie (Section II) freshman Kelly Plante (38.53) and took silver in the high
jump with a leap of 5-06. He said she needed to more aggressive heading into
her jumps.
The Benjamin Cardozo sophomore had placed second in both the
high jump and the 300 meters and was sitting in second again after Chante
Coppedge, the anchor leg for Section IX’s Newburgh, passed by her with a lap to
go in the 4 x 400 relay.
She made sure that didn’t happen.
Francis lengthen her strides going into the back straight
away and kicked in the final to help give Cardozo and teammates Tessa West,
Ahtyanna Johnson and Alexis Mapson the win in a time of 3:56.20 at the New York
State indoor track & field championships at Cornell University Saturday.
“I can’t really run tight turns because of how tall I am,”
said Francis, who was in lane three for the 300. “I would go off to the side
and get flat footed. … By the time I got on the straight away the race was
over.”
Second-place finishes became too much of the norm for
Cardozo.
Judges sophomore Claudia Francis (no relation) took a slight
lead to start the final lap of the 600 even though Charlene Lispey, who placed
second in the event last season, worked her way to the front of the pack after
letting the field pass her midway through the race. The Hempstead junior then
passed Francis going into the final turn. Francis made one last attempt to
catch her in the turn, but Lipsey had too much left.
Lipsey won the event in a time of 1:33.10. Francis was
second in 1:33.49 and defending champion Phyllis Francis of Catherine McAuley,
Claudia’s older sister, was fourth in a time of 1:34.56.
Cardozo’s Lateisha Philson also had a lead late as she
headed of the final hurdle before Madalayne Smith of Saratoga Springs (Section
II) swung her arms into her. It slowed Philson, who was second in a time of
8:02 in the 55 hurdles, and helped give Smith (7.96) the win.
“I wanted to kick in the last straight away,” Francis said.
“She kicked too and she had a faster kick.”
“I’m pretty happy,” Claudia Francis said. “I can come to it
next year. I’m only a sophomore.”
“She wasn’t ahead of me through any of the hurdles,” Philson
said. “The last one she hit me when we stepped down.”
Convent of Sacred Heart's
Dana Walsh was holding on to
second place late in the 1000.
The junior was in second incoming down the final straightway
of the, but had used too much energy to get herself there. She ended up placing fourth
in 2:57.43. Garden City’s Emily Menges won in 2:54.12.
“It was a really weird race,” Walsh said. “No one knew who
was going to lead. It was fun, but I ran out of gas a little.”