Palm Bay star national leader in 200 meters BY BARBARA CAYWOOD FLORIDA TODAY Palm Bay High sprint star Xavier Carter became the first-ever high school athlete to run a sub-21 seconds indoors in the 200-meter dash Sunday. And then he fell down. "I couldn't slow down that fast," Carter said after speeding to a national record-shattering 20.69 seconds at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships at the New York Armory. "I felt faster today than I had ever felt in a race." It's no wonder. Starting out of lane five, the LSU football recruit blew away his closest competitor from the get-go and glided home all alone with the record time. The previous indoors record was 21.02 seconds, set by Brendan Christian of Austin, Texas in 2001. Carter came close to that mark when he ran 21.04 at the Florida Fastest Times meet last week. He headed to New York with the stated intention of making the record his own. Despite the feat, the highlight of the trip for Carter was the purchase of two pairs of hard-to-get Nike Air Force One shoes -- one red and white, the other black and white. "He earned them," said his father, Ken. With the indoor record on his resume, Carter now has set his sights on the outdoor 200-meter mark of 20.13, set by Roy Martin of Dallas in 1985. "I want to try to run 20-low outdoors," he said. That quest will start this weekend at the Bob Hayes Invitational in Jacksonville and next weekend at the LSU Tiger Relays in Baton Rouge. Contact Caywood at 242-3684 or [email protected] He said in an article last week he thought he could run under 20 by the end of the track season. His time in the 200 is better than any high schooler or college student in the country so far this year. At least thats what it said in the same article last week.
This may seem like a small thing to get excited over, considering this kid's talent...but isn't it a breath of fresh air to get a kid who gets all fired up over his Dad getting him a couple of new pairs of track shoes? I mean as opposed to the Willie Williams and Lester Earl's of the world, who really have their hands out? I can't really put my finger on it, but it gives me a good feeling about the kid's character.
Yes everyone has seen track stars that can't take it to the football field and have similar success. This kid is said to have much more football skills than your normal track star. Hopefully he is everthing the so called experts say he is because with that kind of speed if you can indeed catch the ball consistantly you are a major threat on every play. :geaux: :lsug: :champs:
The dates are march 26-27. There are no set times that I found for exact events. Just says TBA. http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/schedules/lsu/2004/track_sked.shtml
Everytime I see those numbers it makes me think how amazing Michael Johnson is...and he annihilated the record at the Olympic games. What a stud.