"Track: Reaching out and taking it King girls put on a record-setting show" -DAN MANOYAN On the long crosstown bus ride from the north side of Milwaukee to Pulaski Stadium on the south side, Milwaukee King girls track and field coach Ken Hunt noticed the clouds disappearing and the sun peeking out from behind them. That brought a smile to his face. A big smile. "When that happened, I knew it was going to be our day," Hunt said. "Our girls saw that and I knew they were ready. "I figured all we needed was some nice weather to break loose." Indeed, they were ready. The Generals dominated the City Conference Relays meet Tuesday afternoon at Pulaski Stadium, piling up 107 points to second-place Bradley Tech's 68. But the most impressive thing about their performance was four meet records. The Generals set city relay records in the long jump, shot put, 1,600-meter relay and 900 hurdle relay. On the more balanced boys' side, Milwaukee Vincent dominated the speed and hurdle events to score 92 points. King finished second with 80.5 points. But the story of the meet was the performance of King's record-breaking girls. The most dramatic of the four meet records came in the discus, where Kala Dandridge-Browne uncorked a 120-foot effort on her fourth and final toss to break the record. Led by Dandridge-Browne's big toss, King had a 313-08 effort. That broke a record set by Marshall in 1978 of 303-6. Dandridge-Browne, a qualifier for state in the discus last year, threw 109 in her first effort, then scratched on her second and third attempts. She knew the pressure was on when she stepped up for her final throw. "I was feeling some pressure, but I tend to do better when it's all on the line like that," she said. "I guess I feed off the pressure." King's weight coach, Craig Machut, said the only surprise was that it took his girls so long to break loose. "I was surprised that it came down to that," he said. "I expected more of them, but Kala came through when we needed her." King, which has 79 girls out for track according to Hunt, set its first record in the 1,600 relay. The team of Serina Jamison, Jessica Person, Tanaiya Fisher and Brandi Dupree had a time of 4 minutes 3.80 seconds to break the existing record of 4:06.3, set by Riverside in 1988. Fisher, Zerenity Washington and Melissa Preston teamed up to win the 900 hurdles relay in 2:34. That broke another Riverside record, 2.34.3, set in 2003. The final meet record came in the long jump, where Laquica Brazil, Shalesa Smith and Marshare Caldwell teamed up for a 50-04.75 effort, led by Brazil's 17-6 jump. That broke the record of 49.75, set by Custer in 1976. King also won the 3,200-meter relay, the distance medley, the triple jump and the shot put. "We're still very young - 29 sophomores and 32 freshmen - but we're improving every meet," Hunt said. On the boys side, Vincent won both hurdle relays as well as the 400-, 1,600- and 800-meter relays. "We are really deep in the hurdles and the sprints, obviously," Vincent coach Glen Gardiner said. "We're not caught up in winning big invitationals, we're just feeling the team out at this point and waiting for our opportunities." Stars and Teams of the Week April 24,2006 MILWAUKEE KING Girls track and field The Milwaukee King girls track and field team won the nine-school Oshkosh North Invitational on Saturday, finishing with 140 points. Second-place Port Washington had 125.5 points. King won three of the four relays, and also got first-place finishes from Brandi Dupree in the 400 meters (1:00.8) and Kala Browne in the discus (122-9). Tanai Fisher was runner-up in the 800 meters (2:25.4) and Alida Whaley was second in the 3,200 meters (12:35.5).