If you round the track fast enough, you'll end up in Madison Square Garden.
Maybe.
For Moira Cunningham, the dream of qualifying for the Millrose Games pushed her like no competitor could in the 4x800 last Saturday, motivating the Lenape senior to a 10-second win in 9:32.83 at the State Group 4 Relay Championships.
The time's a season-best, even tops in the state, but Cunningham, relay teammates Brianna Beddall, Caitlin Orr, Katie Duffey or for that matter, any girls' 4x800 team, won't be invited to the prestigious Millrose Games.
While a boys' 4x800 race will debut -- and even be a televised event -- on Feb. 1, a girls' race is not scheduled. And Lenape girls' coach Gerald Richardson still can't find a good explanation.
"It's unfair," Richardson said. "It's a disgrace for a meet of this caliber not to recognize and showcase both boys and girls at that level.
"It's unfortunate for the girls to be considered second-class athletes at this point."
The relay team learned of its omission on Monday, two days after helping Lenape win its first state relay championship in school history.
"They're obviously upset," Richardson said.
The two top boys' relays in New Jersey -- currently Hunterdon Central and Hillsboro -- will clash with the four fastest New York relays in the 4x800, one of 11 high-school races featured at the world-class meet.
With respect to Title IX, a federal law that prohibits, among other things, gender discrimination in school sports, Richardson said there should be a 12th race.
"They have a girls' 60, a girls' mile, a girls' 4x400," said Richardson, who doubles as the Willingboro boys' coach in the spring. "How hard is it to get a girls' 4x800? It's not going to add more than 10 minutes to the schedule."
Richardson said he spoke with meet officials this week.
"I don't know what to tell you," he said. "Everything is already in place."
Minute-made record
A national best is worth reviewing.
Fast forward to the last leg of the sprint medley, the 800, and you'll see the leader, Trenton Catholic's Rashawn Bailey, slipping to a couple South Jersey sharks, Washington Township junior Xavier Fraction and Absegami junior Ford Palmer.
Three laps complete with 200 meters to go, Fraction hears Washington Township boys' coach Rich Bostwick yell.
"He told me to make a decision," Fraction said, "so I just went."
Fraction capped dizzying performances by relay teammates Nick Krauss, Steve Morrone and Tim Carey with a personal-best 1:56 split, giving the Minutemen a time of 3:38.6, the win and something unbelievable.
"I didn't think it could be best in the nation," said Fraction, who still checked national database Milesplit.com the next day. "It said Washington Township was No.1."
Absegami finished second in the race in 3:40.23, good for fourth-fastest in the country according to the Web site.
Juniors Fraction and Carey, whom Bostwick considers "the most talented kid on the team" and is referred to by "Wonder Boy," both run cross country during the fall while Krauss plays football and Morrone soccer.
Unlike past years, Bostwick is treating this winter not as a warmup for outdoor track, but as a workout, grinding his runners into a shape able to compete at the indoor state championship.
"We're definitely going a lot harder than we did last year indoor," Fraction said. "I haven't heard anyone complain. Everyone's treating it like spring."
"At the New Balance Games today, Bostwick said the same group might run the sprint medley but will primarily focus on the 4x800, trying to capture one of the two qualifying spots at the Millrose Games.
Don't sleep on East
Eastern coach John Shea is concerned with only his team -- both past and present.
When Shea loaded his 4x800 with talented sophomore Barry Bethea, seniors Steven Greer, Michael Ali and Joseph Steffney last Saturday, he wasn't aiming to qualify for the Millrose Games as much as he was targeting a school record.
The relay finished third in the Group 4 race in a South Jersey-best 8:21.47, but considerably short of the Vikings' 2002 record of 8:18.78.
The record will take another shot today at the New Balance Games and it's likely to fall on the fast track at the New York City Armory.
Shea said his current cast could also break the team's 2001 sprint-medley record of 3:39.9.
Lenape again
Lenape scored in all eight relays it competed in, but only one literally rose to the occasion.
The tandem of senior Lindsay Walsh and junior Danielle Ward high-jumped for a combined height of 10-8, good for a school record and a fraction of an inch shy of tying the state record.
But success like that doesn't arrive without sweat, blood and the occasional eye crust.
Both girls meet up with their boy counterparts, coach Richardson and jumping coach Mike Pascuzzo at 6 a.m. twice a week to get some jumps in.
"They enjoy it immensely," Richardson said. "They're students of the sport.They know how far the bar is. They're so dedicated to the event."
Camden's 4x200 team let viewers know who was tops in the nation after winning the Hispanic Games race.
Broken record
Cue the adage: Records are made to be broken.
A 1:42.21 in the girls' 4x200 elevated the Camden relay to the national throne Jan. 5, and a 1:40.2 by Dallas Skyline, Texas., brought them back down last Saturday.
But Camden still had reason to celebrate last Saturday, edging both Roxbury (27 points) and Seneca (26) to win the State Group 3 Relay Championships with 28 points.
Jamie Jones and Miriam Boyd, both members of the aforementioned 4x200, helped Camden win the 4x200 (1:48.74) and the 4x400 (4:06.98).
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