Records are being broken left and right by the East Cobb Bantam girls relay team as they prepare for the AAU National Junior Olympics in Norfolk, Va.

The 9-10-year-old relay squad, made up of Shanel Burr, 9, of Kennesaw, Amber Lewis, 10, of Roswell, and Crystin Robinson, 10, and Remel Williams, 10, both of Douglasville, enters the AAU meet (July 29-Aug. 5) having already set four records in the 400-meter relay and one in the 800 relay.

The team - better known as the "Power Puff Girls" by their teammates due to their style and unassailable speed - kicked off its record-breaking run at the Cobb County Youth Track League/Georgia Recreation and Parks Association qualifier meet in April.

Finishing the 400 relay with a time of 59.87 seconds, the team broke the 21-year old Cobb County record that was previously set at 1:01.56 by the Northside Red Runners.

"It came as a shock for them," team representative Jean Williams said. "They knew they had an opportunity to break it, but they didn't know it was a 21-year old record."

The record seemed to pave the way to success for the quartet, which traveled to Charlotte, N.C., later that month for the Bring the Heat Invitational and captured the 800-relay title in meet-record time (2:04.59).

In June, they broke a pair of six-year-old 400-relay records, the first at the USATF State Championships with a 56.27 performance - .73 of a second under the record set by the Sapphire Track Club in 2000 - and second at the GRPA District 6 championships held at Campbell High School, running a 59.45 to best the 2000 record of 59.53 set by a Marietta relay team.

Completing their assault on the south, the Heat girls used the Region III championships earlier this month as a final tune-up for the national events, charting a 55.52 400-relay showing - their fastest time of the season - to break yet another record, this time by .92 seconds.

For Burr, figuring out what she enjoys most about the team is simple.

"Winning is my favorite part," said the 4-foot-9 standout, who participated in the AAU nationals in both 2004 (Iowa) and 2005 (New Orleans).

Burr, who was has been a member of the East Cobb Track Club since it was established in 2002 by Maury Embry and Toby Dwyer, also said she plans to continue running for the East Cobb throughout her youth track days.

East Cobb team members that qualified for multiple events in the AAU National Junior Olympics include Kendell Williams (girls' pentathlon; 200; 400; 80 hurdles), defending AAU National pentathlon champion Devon Williams (boys' 80 hurdles; high jump; pentathlon), Kenneth Brinson Jr. (boys' shot put; triathlon; high jump), Gabrielle Piper (girls' 100; 100 hurdles; long jump), Josephine Akinwumiju (girls' discus; shot put), Albert Hansbrough Jr. (boys' 800; 1500), Alexandria McKee (girls' triple jump; high jump), Uyriah Lucas (girls' 200; 400), Gerald Pace (boys' long jump; 400 relay), Marsha Fross (girls' 100; 200; 400), Raji Christian (boys' shot put; 400 relay) and Alexa Mosley (girls' shot put; 80 hurdles).

In addition to the upcoming AAU Nationals, several East Cobb Track Club members qualified for the USATF National Junior Olympics, currently taking place at Morgan State University, in Baltimore, Md.

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