The final night of the IAAF World Junior Championships was one for the record books. Team USA entered the final day of competition with 16 medals, just one shy of the best all-time U.S. Junior Team performance of 17 medals at the 1994 World Junior Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. By the end of the evening, the team added another World Junior record (4x100m relay – men), another American Junior record (4x400m relay – women) and five more medals,including four gold. The final tally for this team at the 2002 World Junior Championships, 21 medals - a new U.S. best for a junior team, two World Junior records and two American Junior records. The 21 total medals topped the medal count for Team USA at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, where the seniors complied 19 medals.

Antwon Hicks (Mississippi) started off the excitement for Team USA, with a convincing win in the men’s 110H. Hicks got off a great start and finished ahead of the pack in 13.42. Teammate Kenneth Ferguson (Mumford (MI) HS) knocked his knee on a hurdle and finished the race in fifth place (13.91).

Up next on the track, with over 34,000 Jamaicans cheering, was the women and men’s 4x100m relays. Fans were literally scaling the perimeter wall to get in as the relays were about to begin. For the women, Team USA was comprised of Lauryn Williams (Miami), Ashlee Williams (Bishop Dunne (TX) HS), Shalonda Solomon (Long Beach Poly (CA) HS) and Marshevet Hooker (Southwest (TX) HS). The team faced a strong opponent in the team from Jamaica and got the stick around the track, but the Jamaican third leg (Anneisha McLaughlin) handed off to the anchor (Simone Facey) a lead the U.S. could not make up. Team USA claimed the silver in 43.66, with Jamaica winning gold in 43.40.

The men’s 4x100m relay had different ideas when they took the track next. The foursome of Ashton Collins (Clark (LA) HS), Wes Felix (Southern California), Ivory Williams (Central (TX) HS) and Willie Hordge (Forest Brook (TX) HS) got the stick around the track easily and won the gold in 38.92, a new World Junior record time. The new record lowered the previous world junior best and U.S. mark of 39.00 from July, 1983.

“The crowd was great and they were cheering their team on,” said Wes Felix, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Sunday. “We just wanted to go out there and run our best. The second leg ran a great leg and I was just trying to bring it in hard to Ivory (Williams), because I knew he was going to get the stick around to Willie (Hordge) and lead us to victory.”

Team USA continued its relay dominance in the 4x400m relays, winning gold in both the men and the women’s races, including an American Junior record for the women. The women’s team was comprised of Christina Hardeman (Wilcox (CA) HS), World Junior 400m gold medalist Monique Henderson (UCLA), Tiffany Ross (South Carolina) and World Junior 400H gold medalist and reigning world junior record holder Lashinda Demus (South Carolina). Running tight with Great Britain and Russia, Team USA handed off the stick to Demus with a slight lead. She ran strong with the anchor from Great Britain (Lisa Miller) and began to pull away on with 150 meters to go. Team USA claimed the gold in 3:29.95. “I got boxed in a little and I’m not used to running from the back,” said Demus. “When she saw me coming up, she kind of went to the inside and I got boxed in. It messed up my steps but I still came back strongly at the end.”

The men stepped onto the track next with a team of World Junior 400H silver medalist Kenneth Ferguson, World Junior 400m champion Darold Williamson (Baylor), newly crowned World Junior 4x100m relay gold medalist Ashton Collins and World Juniors 400m silver medalist Jon Fortenberry. The team easily advanced the stick and held off a surge from the Jamaican team to win 3:03.71.

“He (Jermaine Gonzales JAM) was gaining, but I knew I was stronger,” said Fortenberry. “I had to run with the lead all day. There was no pressure, I was running against myself, but he was a very hard challenge to battle off.”

In other finals on Sunday, Ashlee Williams just missed the medal stand in the 100H with a time of 13.36 and a fourth place finish. Chris Lukezic (Auburn (WA) HS) finished 11th in the men’s 1500m in a personal best time of 3:46.01, while Lindsey Zinn (Purdue) and Laura Zeigle (South Jordan, UT) finished 18th and 19th respectively in the women’s 5000m. Zinn ran 17:05.99, while Zeigle clocked in at 17:11.37.

Team USA won the overall competition with 21 medals, including nine gold, five silver and seven bronze. Jamaica and China tied for second in the overall medal count with 11 and Russia finished third with 10. In the overall points standing, Team USA won with 188 points. Russia finished third with 115 points and host Jamaica finished third with 105 points.

For all the news from the 2002 IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships, including quotes from the athletes, visit the USATF Web site at www.usatf.org. For complete results from the World Junior Championships, visit www.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/Byevent.html.