All-USA selections lay claim to world junior record in 4x100 relay By Fred Baer, Special for USA TODAY The fastest group of girls high school sprinters to compete in one season put an exclamation on that claim Tuesday at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field. They set a world junior (under age 20) record of 43.29 seconds in the 4 x 100 meter relay, running in a tune-up race while en route to the Tuesday-Aug. 20 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing. All-USA selections Bianca Knight of Ridgeland (Miss.), Jeneba Tarmoh of Mt. Pleasant (San Jose), Elizabeth Olear of Louisville (Woodland Hills, Calif.), and Gabby Mayo of Harding (Charlotte) ran 43.29 at the Road to Eugene meet to break the world teenage record of 43.38 set by a USA team in 1999. "I didn't even know what the world record was," said a surprised Mayo, who ranks No. 5 on the all-time high school 100 meter list at 11.16, after the race. Olear is the only recent graduate of the quartet. The other three just completed their junior class seasons. However USA Blue team leadoff runner Bianca Knight, the reigning World Youth 100 meter champion (2005), pulled up with a muscle injury after her leg and was taken off the squad for Wednesday's flight from San Francisco to Beijing, host city for the 2008 Olympic Games. With eight of the 10 All-USA sprinters on the team, however, the USA has adequate replacements. There's also Alexandria Anderson, 19, of University of Texas. She anchored the losing USA Red team in Eugene, which ran 43.78. (The national teams of only four other countries have ever run faster.) [Bianca Knight was named as one of the finalist for Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.] Anderson, an All-USA selection last year as a senior at Morgan Park (Chicago), won the USA Junior 100 meter title in 11.12 (at Indianapolis in June), just ahead of the above quartet of high schoolers. She is the 2006 world junior leader and ranks No. 8 on the all-time teenage 100-meter list. Mayo won their tune-up rematch in Eugene in 11.42, with Anderson finishing third in 11.46. The record by a relay team from the same high school is 44.50 by Poly of Long Beach, Calif., in 2004.

All USA Sprinters
*Jessica Beard- 23.93 sec in 200m, 51.89sec in 400m (Ohio)

Brandi Cross- 51.96sec in 400m (Texas) (i've seen her run..she is fast as hell!)

*Bianca Knight- 11.26sec in 100m, 22.94sec in 200m (Mississippi)

Porscha Lucas- 11.49sec in 100m, 23.70sec in 200m (Arizona)

*Gabby Mayo- 11.16sec in100m, 22.88sec in 200m (Charlotte)

Francena McCorory Bethel- 23.66sec in 200m, 51.96sec in 400m (Virginia)

Elizabeth Olear Louisville- 11.33sec in 100m, 23.40sec in 200m (California)

*Jeneba Tarmoh- 11.24sec in 100m, 23.14sec in 200m (California)

*Sa'de Williams- 23.39sec in 200m, 52.54sec in 400m (California)

*Kenyanna Wilson- 11.37sec in 100m, 23.70sec in 200m (Arizona)
*= still in high school

All-USA Girls Track Team