Photo Credit: Jimmy Young
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January 15, 2010
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October 16, 2009
Christine Harms
A lockdown at Newark Memorial High School forced the cross country meet against Washington to be postponed.
Police were called to the area due to a disturbance caused by a group of teenagers on Sept. 30, at about 11:15 a.m. One teen was arrested for the possession of a loaded handgun while several of the teens fled onto the Newark Memorial campus. After the lockdown was called, SWAT teams searched the campus room by room for the suspects and other weapons. After the rooms were searched, students were taken to the gymnasium and were released individually to parents shortly before 3 p.m.
Newark Memorial’s lockdown led to the cancellation of the scheduled cross country meet that was to take place at the Niles Community Park that afternoon. Head coach Robert Raymond spoke to Newark’s head coach that evening about the situation.
“The Newark coach and I talked at length about how we could make the situation work out for the best,” Raymond said.
Ultimately, this situation has worked to Washington’s benefit. The team was able to run a meet against themselves on the Niles course and will have a chance to race Newark at Coyote Hills, giving the team extra practice on the league meet course.
Through a mutual agreement between the head coaches of the Washington, Newark Memorial, Irvington and Kennedy teams, the Washington-Newark meet will be combined with Irvington and Kennedy at Coyote Hills on Nov. 4. Washington will score against both Kennedy and Newark.
