NEW HAVEN - Even though Janelle Tracy has won four consecutive South-West Conference championships in the 55-meter dash, the one thing that has eluded her in a brilliant four-year indoor track career at Newtown High School was a spot on the CIAC Al
NEW HAVEN â Even though Janelle Tracy has won four consecutive South-West Conference championships in the 55-meter dash, the one thing that has eluded her in a brilliant four-year indoor track career at Newtown High School was a spot on the CIAC All-State team.
Not anymore.
Tracy finished fifth in the 55-meter dash at the CIAC State Indoor Track Open at Yale University recently (running a new school record time of 7.40) to earn that coveted spot on the All-State team.
Tracy was seeded sixth out of eight runners and moved up a spot, but the timing was so tight â coach Dave Foss said it was difficult to tell who crossed the finish line first â that just two-tenths of a second separated the first-place finisher (Patrice Gaymon of Bridgeport Central) with the sixth-place finisher (Monique Bynoe of Northwest Catholic).
Gaymon was first at 7.23, followed in second by Nicole Gayselaers of Housatonic Valley Regional at 7.28. Then came Kim Rhodes of East Lyme in third (7.32), Liz Cannone of Greenwich in fourth (7.39), Tracy in fifth (7.40), and Bynoe in sixth (7.43).
And coach Foss said, considering the short distance of the race the 13/100ths of a second that Tracy shaved off the previous school record is really quite an accomplishment.