Montverde Academy Duo Re-Write High School Record Book On Final Day At NBNI
By David Woods for DyeStat
BOSTON – March Madness descended Sunday on the TRACK at New Balance, and we are not talking hoops. In fact, we are not talking.
We are gasping. Marveling. Processing . . . and will be for a while.
In 200-meter races minutes apart, Montverde FL sprinters Issam Asinga and Adaejah Hodge broke national high school records Sunday at the New Balance indoor nationals. The thing is, these could not be accurately described as high school times.
Moreover, Asinga tied the 24-year-old national record of 6.57 in Saturday’s first round of the 60 meters. He won Sunday’s final in 6.59 – after the 200m.
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“I don’t think I can say anything that can accurately describe what I just witnessed here. Wow,” Montverde coach Gerald Phiri said.
Times in the 200 were 20.48 for Asinga, 22.33 for Hodge.
On 2023 world lists, Asinga ranks 12th and Hodge third. That is all sprinters, all countries, all ages.
Third.
Give that girl a bronze medal. Hodge is on track to represent the British Virgin Islands at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the real medals are.
“This is just the beginning,” she said.
Hodge broke the under-20 world record of 22.40 set in 2008 by Bianca Knight, who was then a Texas freshman in the NCAA Championships.
Sanya Richards-Ross, Sydney McLaughlin and Allyson Felix were not as fast as U20s. You might have heard of them.
And Hodge, a Georgia state champion last year, won’t turn 17 for a few days. Her 22.33 is faster than the outdoor under-18 world record.
“I never saw this in a million years. Oh my God,” Phiri said. “Are you serious?”
It was the second prep record in as many days for Hodge. Her 22.76 in prelims Saturday broke the record of 22.89 set by Mia Brahe-Pederson of Lake Oswego OR on Feb. 11.
Phiri had speculated 22.4 might be plausible for Hodges . . . but on an outdoor oval without tight turns and high banks.
Hodges reacted much as her coach did: “I don’t know what happened. Oh my gosh.”
Hodge, in lane 5, had a target in lane 6: Shawnti Jackson of South Granville NC. Jackson, with a 22.91 PB, is national record holder at 60 meters and 300. After Hodge stormed past, Jackson appeared to be slowed by a tight hamstring to finish in 23.69, third in the section and fifth overall.
Hodge said she told herself to keep knees up and run the curve.
“It’s all a mental…
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