Sports

Mayor’s Cup track & field notebook: Healthier Francis returns to 400 meters

Chamique Francis’ return to form will be a process.

The Cardozo star suffered a hamstring injury early in the indoor season and hadn’t run the 400 meters, her signature race, since the New Balance Collegiate Invitational the first weekend in February. Francis was back on the track for the first time in that event at the Mayor’s Cup at Icahn Stadium Saturday afternoon and won the race in a time of 57.29.

“I’m starting to heel up again,” said Francis, who is headed to the University of Texas next fall. “I just have to take it slow.”

She didn’t push herself but felt confident during the race and prevailed comfortably ahead of Villa’s Mariah Claudio (58.88) and Alison Doway of Port Richmond (59.23).

Francis is trying to get her legs ready for the Penn Relay’s the last week in April. Cardozo coach Gail Emmanuel is unsure if she will put a team in the prestigious 4 x 400 meter relay and run the distance medley instead with Lateisha Philson Philson still healing up after she suffered an injury late in the indoor season.

Francis believes she can manage her hamstring injuries the rest of the season after sprinting and high-jumping late during the indoor season. A bag of ice on her left leg after the race as she was stretching it out, Francis joked that now that they have improved she can actually run.

“During the race it feels like something is grabbing on to my leg,” Francis said. “When I’m done, it’s just an aching pain.”

Healthy Barber sets PR in javelin win: A year ago, Charlotte Barber’s throw wouldn’t have been close to possible. The Dalton senior was suffering from severe tendonitis in her right shoulder and hadn’t thrown more than 88 feet.

“I wasn’t throwing my best,” Barber said.

She certainly did on Saturday, winning the javelin with a personal best toss of 105 feet on her first throw of the day. It was good enough to beat St. John’s Villa’s Sarah Perez (97-09) and Brittany Spoto of St. Joseph Hill (97-09). The big early number had her pressing to surpass it, but she couldn’t have been happier with her day.

“It’s kind of nice after working my way up for four years and starting off my season really well,” Barber said.

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averian football star wins 200: In the fall Laray Smith uses his speed to make defenders miss as a running back on the Clippers football team’s high-powered offense. Saturday he was flying around the turn to pull away from an impressive field at the Mayor’s Cup.

“A lot of people doubt me because I play football,” said Smith, a junior. “They think I get hurt a lot so I’m injured. It just feels good to get on the track and show them what I can do.”

He took home the 200 meter title with a time of 22.03, enough to best Andy Nicholas of Midwood and Davion Wint of Columbus, who were second and third in times of 22.58 and 22.63, respectively. Smith, who ran for 828 yards and 11 touchdowns on the gridiron, hopes to run 20.9 in the 200 at some point this spring.

“It’s good to go against the public schools because they always doubt the Catholic schools don’t have any speedy people, but we do,” he said.