In her first 100-meter dash in a Tennessee uniform, Dennisha Page ran the 2nd-fastest time ever by a South Jersey woman.
Page, a Woodrow Wilson graduate, won the 100 Saturday at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville in 11.27, lowering her PR from 11.30, which she ran at the Big 10 Conference Championships in May in Bloomington, Ind., as a junior at Rutgers.
Page moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 on the all-time South Jersey list, passing Amandi Rhett of Moorestown, who ran 11.29 in 2005 in Walnut, Calif. The only faster woman is Olympic gold medalist English Gardner of Eastern, who ran 10.74 in 2016 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
On the all-time New Jersey list, she moved up to No. 5, behind Gardner, the Barber twins from Montclair and Trenton’s Wenda Vereen. Me’Lisa Barber ran 10.95 in Carson, Calif., in 2007, and Mikele Barber ran 11.02 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, also in 2007. Vereen ran 11.18 in Colorado Springs in 1983.
According to the World Athletics database, Page’s time is No. 7 in the U.S. this year, but World Athletics has been slow to update the site this year. They also show Page at No. 20 in the world.
Incredibly, that 11.27 is only No. 10 on the all-time Tennessee list. The Vols have an incredible history of sprinters, led by current Tennessee senior Jacious Sears, who ran 10.96 last year.
Page won the race easily by three meters over teammate Dajour Miles, who was 2nd in 11.56.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 