What a great individual effort. It's fun to hear about stories like this from time to time and it sounds like she is modest in her achievements, which is good to hear. Something that I felt was overlooked in the article was that this took place in Texas, the second largest state. She did this with great competitors against her, which makes her achievement all the more remarkable. So, congrats to Bonnie Richardson and we'll be watching for that name in the future.
Just as aside, there is a set of twins here in Utah who could probably do just about the same thing if there wan't a rule limiting them to 4 events!
Natalie and Nachelle Stewart are nationally ranked in the 200m, 400m, and one has run 2:08 in the 800m. They are seniors and I for one will be looking forward to watching them at the state meet this upcoming weekend!
Congrats to Ms. Ricahrdson, that is a memory she will always cherish! Congrats on your remarkable achievement! And good luck in college, your name will be heard again!!
Great story!!! We see all the crap about Spy Gate, Steroids, Dog Fighting and it just gets tiresome. Then I get to read about an accomplishment like this. Way to go. It's a good day to be a sportsfan.
Damn great accomplishment. She'll definitely be doing big things in the future, whether it's sports or something else amazing in life. Her team really let her down though, it could've been a blowout, just kidding. Anywho, this makes sure beats all that negative press about this and that guy drunk boating. Go Ms. Richardson indeed!
You must still be in high school yourself. 12.19 100M, 25.03 200M, and 121' discus. The average high school boy can't match any of that, some above average ones can match one of them, and a few football players could probably do all three. I'll bet she could run you down and then beat you down while you are huffing and puffing. Only losers make comments like yours.
wow what a preformance and an athlete. and to do it in texas where some of the best are is unbeliable. she'll remember this moment for a long time to come
It's almost too bad that they don't have a heptathlon available for a gifted athlete like this. Better, still, would be to have the heptathlon events' marks or times qualify one for open finals. The winner of the individual events is decided by who does the best in that event that day/days regardless of what form of race it comes in. For example, if the hept 100m winner had the fastest time for that event for that meet, that time would be the 100m winner. Okay,maybe that a little too controversial.
However, it seems that this would be a means by which one could get around the archaic restrictions re: the number of events one could participate in. Heptathlon is a multi-discipline event, but it is also a single medal event.
They need to close off the streets of San Antonio and give her a massive ticker-tape parade. This is an incredible achievement, and she has got to be a heroine now to anyone who loves or plays sports.
The closest thing I ever saw to this happened many years ago at an academic tournament at N.C. State. Where teams of four people play against each other, one team was composed of just two players. They went undefeated in a two-day round-robin tournament, and won each game by a comfortable margin. In fact, one of those players, Scott Gillespie, went on to win the Jeopardy! College Tournament.
You should probably do a little research before making those kind of comments. I ran track in high school, almost 30 years ago, in Class 1A. Distance was still measured in feet then, not meters. It changed during my junior year. That being said, in comparable distances, I ran the 220 yd. dash in just over 23 seconds. I ran the 100 yd. dash in just over 11 sec. I high jumped 6'1". None of those feats qualified me for state, and that was 30 years ago. The the only thing that got me to state was running a 440 yd. dash in 46 seconds. Once I got to state, that time was only good enough for third place.
This is no way trying to belittle her accomplishment! What she did, she can be very proud of. My statement is only directed to these other comments!
This is a great story about an impressive athlete. What makes it even better is the fact that this young woman competes for the sake of sport; not money or fame. This is a very impressive feat, and my hat goes off to her.
Times must have been tough 30 years ago. A little research shows me the 2008 high school track records. Your 46 second time in the 440 translates to about 45.7, about 1.6 seconds faster than the 2008 time. You might have even won the 100 and 200 in Iowa with those times. In addition, this site says that the world boys high school record for the 400M is 44.69 set in 1982, which would mean that your 46 second time in the 440 which qualified you for state 30 years ago would have been close to the world high school record at that time. Pardon me if I find that a little hard to believe. Would you happen to be exaggerating a little?
I stand by comments that her times are better than the average high school boy today referring to who I replied to, who I believe to be a below average middle or high school boy.
I don't care too much if you don't believe me. I didn't exaggerate as I still have the medal from state, with the time etched on the back. Maybe your research resources are incorrect. It does happen. Like I said, makes no difference to me, I know what I know because I did it. Believe me or not, I won't lose any sleep over it.
