Dear Listers, Can someone on the list tell me how you can be a HS female, run a National Scholastic meet-record/NJ state-record 57.48 in the 400IM, and not be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team All-State? IWelcome to New Jersey HS Track & Field, where you can secure an all-state team spot by pure political distribution. In NJ's Star Ledger, Tawana Watkins, a junior from JFK HS in Paterson, NJ, has a 3 second bulge over her next closest competitor in NJ (57.48, 1:00.1, 1:00.73, 1:01.7) and did not make the team in the hurdles. She did make the first team in the 400m, where she also dominated. My argument is if you're the dominant athlete in more than one event then you should be acknowledged for your accomplishments in those events. Athletes are "penalized" for dominated more than one event. Erin Donohue, the NS champion and meet-record holder in the girl's mile (4:42.96), did not make the all-state team in the 1600m! Erin Donohue should be 1st team all-state from 800-3200 and second in the javelin. When I was in high school (1988), if an athlete dominated in the 100, 200, and LJ, he/she was 1st team all-whatever (county, conference, state) in the events they clearly dominated. Nowadays, in NJ anyway, an all-state team is "set up" to make everyone happy. I'm sure the athletes listed ahead of Donohue aren't too thrilled to be "given" a first team spot. You'd also think that the person reporting the sport would know the statistics. In the Star Ledger, the writer consistantly reports that the athlete who won the boys 400m (47.31) ran the fastest time at the All-Group meet since 1985. In 1991, Lamont Smith (Willingboro), who finished 4th at the 1996 Olympic Trials and Kevin Lyles (Franklin), an All-American at Seton Hall, dueled to a 46.4-46.6 finish. Ed Grant can definitely verify this if it's true. By the way, the athlete who was voted the AOY in state didn't even make AOY in his own county! Go figure. Larry A. Morgan Elizabeth Heat TC
