Danielle Myricks remembers it as if it were yesterday.
Myricks remembers the dreary day, the late-afternoon lightning storm that caused a two-hour delay. She remembers running in another downpour and then hardly noticing the torrential rain.
She had crossed the finish line first, baton in hand. Improbable as it seemed, the Willingboro girls' 4x400-meter relay team had upset Philadelphia power Simon Gratz and challengers from Jamaica to win the championship race last year at the Penn Relays.
"I remember all of it," Myricks said. "I remember every single thing. It was cold, and it was freezing. The only people left [in the stands] were Jamaicans, and everyone was cheering them and then we won. It was raining and cold, and it didn't matter."
She hopes to repeat it - at least the end of it - Friday.
Gone from the championship team are Takia Canty and Latashia Taylor. Senior Shakirah Rutherford and Myricks are back. Freshmen Halimah Bashir and Samone Thomas have been added to the relay.
"We're going in with the same attitude and try to do the best that we can, and that's all we can do," Myricks said. "We just want to make sure we make it back to the Championship of America.
"This year, we are trying to defend our title, and we have a lot more pressure."
Despite having two freshmen on the team, Willingboro is confident.
Myricks and Rutherford bring a boatload of experience, and Bashir and Thomas run well beyond their years. During the indoor season, they helped Willingboro finish third at the national championships even though the Chimeras ran in an unseeded heat and Rutherford was recovering from an illness.
"I don't worry about them," Rutherford said of the freshmen. "They've been through so much."
Winning last year might have seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but that changed this summer.
"When I first saw these girls run for myself, I started thinking we could do it," Rutherford said. "Danielle didn't think so, but I was like, 'Look at the times. Do the math.' "
It added up to a possible repeat.
First, though, the Chimeras have to make it out of tomorrow's South Jersey race to nab one of eight spots in the championship race.
"We're just trying to focus on our race," Myricks said. "We know there are a lot of good teams out there, but we know we just have to compete. The hardest part is going to be making it to the Championship of America. We just have to run against the clock. If we make it, anything can happen."
Team effort. The Haddonfield coaching staff let Erin Donohue make the tough choice. She made the one they hoped she would.
Donohue, the sensational Haddonfield junior runner, chose not to run in the mile race at the Penn Relays so she could help the Bulldogs with a bigger goal. She will run the mile leg on Haddonfield's distance-medley relay team and compete in the javelin.
Because the distance medley and the mile are back to back, it would be impossible for Donohue to do both.
"You never want to take an individual thing away from the kids," said Nick Baker, who works with the Haddonfield girls' distance runners. "We like the individuals to have a chance to shine, but this is something special."
The Bulldogs are one of 15 distance-medley teams in one of the most competitive fields of the track season. Junior Holly Cosnett will run the first 1,200 meters. Senior Adrienne Butler will run the 400-meter leg, but her status is questionable because of a knee injury. If she can't run, junior Mary Mulholland will take her place. Junior Erin O'Donnell will go 800 meters, and Donohue will anchor.
Cosnett, O'Donnell, Butler and Donohue are not foreign to the big stage. At the national championships last spring, they finished sixth in the 4x800 in a South Jersey-record time of 9:16. The next night, Donohue won the mile.
"Winning the DM at Penn will have a bigger feel than nationals if we can do it," Baker said.
The four have run the event only once this season, winning at the Cam-Glo Relays during the opening week of the season in 12:21.
The Bulldogs will likely have to break 12 minutes if they want to win.
If it is close, Baker and the Bulldogs will be glad to have Donohue.
"We're not the favorites, but I think we can run with them," Baker said. "And I like our chances in the last 200 meters, and if Erin's even with somebody or even just behind them, I like our chances with her."
Josh Egerman's e-mail address is jegerman@phillynews.com
