The faster-than-a-speeding-bullet 9-year-old, a champion 100- and 200-meter sprinter, is with her team at the 2005 Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games, which start this weekend, to compete against some of the best runners in the country.

No one on the team of 11 runners — called the 100 Elite Club — is older than 11. And no team member has been running for more than six months. Yet the boys and girls of the 100 Elite Club are fast — really fast — and they hope to run their way to a couple of gold medals.

"I feel excited and really proud of myself," 11-year-old shot-putter Sarai James said at practice Wednesday on the Piedmont High School track."We made it all the way, and this is our first time competing."

The 100 Elite Club is the best of 200 children from Oakland and Richmond schools who participated this year in after-school track programs. The programs are organized by the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, an alliance of African-American men of business, industry, public affairs and government. They are supported by Kaiser Permanente, the Alameda County Public Health Department, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and the YMCA.

"The main focus of organizing this and getting this team together is health, fitness and nutrition," coach Bernard White said.

Most of the children go to schools where physical education programs have been cut. Several suffer from asthma. Many were known for their behavioral problems.

When the 200 children started running in February, White said, many could not finish a lap around the track. Three days of practice per week have changed that.

"Since they've been running, they've been feeling better, and many of the children with asthma don't need as much medicine," White said. "They've really increased their endurance."

African-American children are more likely than other kids to suffer from asthma, said Mark Alexander, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente and a member of the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area.

"Unfortunately," he said, "people think an asthmatic child should not exercise, and that could not be more false."

Alexander, co-chairman of the program, said the children's health has been measured throughout the season, and the extra exercise has measurably helped.

The children are also learning important lessons about nutrition from a chef who volunteers his time to chat with them about eating well. On Friday afternoons, the children are also required to play chess, which helps build their strategic thinking skills.

"This is the first time I've been running, and I am going to New Orleans," beamed 9-year-old Andre Alexander, a fourth-grade student at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oakland. "It's the best thing I have ever done."

The organizers of the team said they hope to add 200 more students to the roster next year.

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