From left, Irvington seniors Vanessa Jean, Vernande Philemon and Nouseline Georges and sophomores Shaifa Trocard and Rehanna Vergeon gather at the Penn Relays. The Irvington girls 4x400-meter relay team of Philemon, Georges, Trocard and Vergeon took first place in its heat.
IRVINGTON, NJ — During one of the most prestigious track and field meets in the nation, Irvington High School girls spring head track and field coach Barnes Reid wanted to make sure that everyone knew that his team was from Irvnigton, N.J., and not Irvington, N.Y.
“The (public address) announcer kept saying, ‘Irvington, New York.’ I was yelling, ‘No, it’s Irvington, New Jersey,’ Reid said.
The Blue Knights are certainly proud to be from Irvington, N.J. They also were proud of their performance.
The IHS girls 4×400-meter relay track team took first place in its heat at the Penn Relays on Thursday, April 25, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The team consisted of senior Nouseline Georges, who ran the leadoff leg; sophomore Rehanna Vergeon, who ran the second leg; senior Vernande Philemon, who is Rehanna’s sister and ran the third leg; and sophomore Sharifa Trocard, who ran the anchor leg. They clocked a combined 4 minutes, 11.39 seconds in a field of 14 teams. The second-place finisher was a team from Charles E. Mills Secondary School, located in the Caribbean. The rest of the schools were from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
Reid was thrilled for his team.
“I’m ecstatic,” said the longtime head coach. “They were focused and determined.”
Reid put Georges on the leadoff leg, recognizing her experience.
“She knew how to get out and not get caught up in the bunch,” Reid said of Georges. “She gave us a big lead from the beginning.”
This was the first time that Reid coached an IHS girls team to a first-place finish at the Penn Relays. This was Reid’s third time at the Penn Relays as the IHS girls head coach. He coached an IHS boys 4×400 team to a first-place finish in 1980. Reid is in his 45th year coaching track and field at IHS.
The Blue Knights competed in other events at the meet. The girls 4×100 relay took 16th place out of 80 schools on Thursday. Senior Vanessa Jean, Georges, Vergeon and Trocard clocked 52.68 seconds. The other schools were from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Jamaica.
The boys 4×100 relay took 36th place out of 88 schools on Friday, April 26, in 45.77. The other schools were from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland and New Zealand.
The boys 4×400 relay took seventh place out of 12 schools in its heat on Saturday, April 27. They clocked 3 minutes, 44.71 seconds. The other schools were from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New Zealand.
Reid also credited IHS head boys track coach Breonna Singleton and assistant coach Dwayne Cox for helping prepare the IHS girls for the Penn Relays.
The Penn Relays is the oldest and largest track meet in the nation. The first year of the meet was in 1895.
The IHS girls team entered the week with a 2-0 record in dual meets this season, beating East Orange Campus and West Orange.
On Friday, May 3, the Blue Knights will compete at the Essex County Relay Championships at Livingston High School. Reid mentioned that Montclair, West Orange and Livingston are some of the top girls contenders.
Photo Courtesy of Barnes Reid
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