Dennisha Page recorded an absolutely mind-blowing sprint double at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson late Saturday night (and early Sunday morning EST in the 200), two of the fastest sprint times this year by a U.S. woman. She added a third history performance on a relay team.
Page, a Woodrow Wilson graduate and senior at Tennessee, got her day started at the University of Arizona’s Drachman Stadium with an explosive 11.11 to win the 100 with a legal 0.5 meters-per-second tailwind.
Page outraced eight-time All-America sprinter Jadyn Mays of Oregon, who placed 2nd last month in the NCAA Division 1 Championships in Boston in the 200 and 4th in the 60. Mays ran 11.17, just 1-100th of a second off her PR from this meet in 2022. Her time is No. 8 among U.S. women this year, according to the World Athletics database.
It’s also 4th-fastest ever run by a New Jersey native, behind Olympic gold medalist English Gardner of Eastern [10.74 in Eugene in 2016], Montclair’s Me’Lisa Barber [10.95 in Carson, Calif., in 2007] and Montclair’s Mikele Barber [11.02 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007].
And it’s No. 5 in Tennessee history.
Page’s previous PR was an 11.27 earlier this month in a meet in Knoxville. She ran 11.30 to set a Rutgers school record at the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind., in May.
She followed that with another monster PR, winning the 200 in 22.61, again with a legal wind of 0.9 meters-per-second. That’s No. 5 in school history and No. 11 among U.S. women this year.
For the first time, Page finished ahead of seven-time All-America teammate Jacious Sears, who is world No. 12 in the 200 at 22.57 and won the 60 at the NCAA Championships in Boston last month. Page and Sears are the only U.S. women who have run as fast as 11.11 and 22.61 this year.
Page’s previous 200 PR was a 22.70 two weeks ago in Gainesville.
Her 22.61 is 4th-fastest ever by a New Jersey woman and fastest by a South Jersey alum. The only faster women over half a lap are Me’Lisa Barber with a 22.37 in Carson, Calif., in 2005, and intermediate hurdles world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic in Gainesville in 2018.
The previous South Jersey alumni record holder at 200 meters was Olympic gold medalist English Gardner, who ran 22.62 in Los Angeles in May 2013.
Page and Sears – along with Tennessee teammates Seaman and White – won the 400-meter relay in 42.52, which is No. 3 in the world this year and fastest by a college team since Kentucky ran 42.46 in Baton Rouge, La., in April 2022.
That quartet broke the school record of 43.18 set by Tianna Madison, Courtney Champion, Toyin Olupona and Cleo Tyson when they placed 3rd at the 2005 NCAA Championships in Sacramento.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 