Sometimes there is such a thing as being too good for your own sake. This seems to have been the case at Nansemond River this season and actually follows pretty closely what happened at Parkland (NC) a year ago.
You have a very deep team that not only can dominate the state but also win some national titles in the relays. So deep this year that Nansemond River's "B" 4x100 ran the 30th fastest time ever in VA history!
With this depth came the team necessity to put it all together on relays and do something historic, special, and irreplaceable. This year at New Balance Outdoor Nationals, Team War swept the sprint relays with just five athletes. Syaira Richardson, Dajae' Goulet, and Brandee' Johnson ran on all three.
All weekend long she preformed at a very high level splitting some fast splits including a 54-55 split on the 4x400 to cap off the 4x1,4x2, and 4x4 sweep.
Considering she was running on so many relays she never had the time to really shine.
Once again this was just like Parkland where they had one junior on a team of seniors (McKinley McNeil).
Richardson was definitely being a superb teammate by sacrificing the open events, for relays, even though she won the State 5A 400m dash this season. She was doing everything right on and off the track.
Now the way this story usually goes is that all the seniors graduate and then it is the rising senior's time to shine... but this story had a little twist.
First, let's take a few steps back to 2014.
Anyone who watched Richardson in 2014 knew she was a special talent. After competing in many different events it seemed that the 500 was her cup of tea. She actually went on to run 1:16.41 to win the 4A South title and finish the year ranked 10th.
It seemed like we were all witnessing the meteoric rise of another star as only a freshman. 1:16 as a freshman is definitely fast and likely the state record for freshman in VA as well.
But it just wasn't time yet.
The seasons start flying by and she was definitely improving and her times were dropping but not as quickly as she would have liked or as quickly as her counterparts were dropping time.
With so much competition in this state it truly became impossible to stand out even with some great accolades.
But in 2016, once the calendar flipped to a new year, she flipped a switch.
One by one her times started coming down and after winning the EE 400 indoors in 56.00 you could tell she was ready to rumble. (Interview after that win above)
After trips to New York, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Philly and all over the country it seemed, with nearly 50 different uniforms mind you, it was finally time to hit the post-season hard.
It started with a nice homecoming at Todd Stadium as Team War jumped back into 5A from 4A. Being at home definitely seemed to help as she stepped up big time and took home the 5A 400m title in 54.27. That time dropped 1.51 seconds off of her previous season's best. It was a huge win and improvement.
Honestly, I'd say 80% of people thought that was it.
As we said earlier, her focus then turned to relays.
Even though she had huge performance at Nationals, that was not the end of her season story quite yet. Just a few short days later she battled layover after layover and then hit the track in very warm Southern California. In the prelims of the USATF Juniors 400m dash she ran a blistering 53.88 but in the finals she shocked the entire state when she crossed the line in 53.38 seconds.
That time was not only over a two second improvement on the previous season's best but it also is a Virginia state record.
You cannot overstate how much of a surprise the performance was both as a time and how it was achieved. You're talking about someone who barely cracked the top 10 all-time in the 400 this year and sits at 22nd all-time in the 500 indoors. It was a shock.
Those other performances are great but not historic. What she did this past weekend though, was definitely historic and it cemented her as the current queen of the 400 for VA.
She is the fastest ever outdoors.
But all of this begs the question, what's next?
State Champion 400m Interview
She is now the state record holder in the 4x1, 4x4, 4x2 (indoors and outdoors) and also the 400. This new title is going to bring a lot of attention to her and a whole lot of competition.
Only twice ever have two girls broke 54 in the same season and next year will feature three sub 54 girls and a sophomore (Britton Wilson) who went 54.30 as a freshman this year. Needless to say, it is going to be a fast and competitive year.
Ok, so Syaira is a great runner. We all have known that since 2014 but what she has done on relays and individually this year has solidified her as one of the greatest VA runners of all-time.
Going into the indoor season, her story was very different but now she has a 5A State title, four national titles, 3,000+ twitter followers, and 100% has her swagger back and is ready to roll.
She has rewritten the process and definitely has became much more than just a relay leg. She is now a state record holder.
