The combination of warm weather conditions and the depth of sprinting talent entered in today’s Best of Preps track and field meet at GPS could equal numerous new records, particularly among the girls’ events.
Howard sophomore LaQuisha Jackson is one of the top sprinters in the nation, having already won four gold medals at last year’s state championship meet and later having broken a 30-year-old AAU record in the 400 meters.
Her best time this year in the 200 (24.43) is faster than her state-title time of last year and would break a 30-year-old record at the state meet. She also has the area’s fastest time in the 100 (12.01) and has helped the Lady Hustlin’ Tigers’ 4×100 relay team to the top time in that event as well.
Freshman teammate Nuqeilla Robinson is second fastest in the 200 and has the area’s top 400 time by nearly three full seconds.
GPS’s Tory Kemp is one of the state’s fastest in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles and also has the area’s second-best distances in the long jump and triple jump.
“We haven’t seen a collection of that kind of speed at the same school in a very long time,” GPS assistant Jeff Gaither said Thursday. “As a group the Howard stable of sprinters, relay and individual, will be showcased tomorrow.
“In terms of quality, there won’t be another one besides the state meet in Murfreesboro as exciting as this one. We don’t keep team scores, so coaches can stack relay teams and set up every race to break records. For the kids, it’s their chance for bragging rights against everybody because Class A/AA, AAA and Division II all race together.”
Highlighting the boys’ events, there will be a four sprinters who have run sub-11 second times in the 100 meters: Hixson’s Josh Ferriera, Howard’s Brandon Banks, Cleveland’s Marcus Davis and Ooltewah’s Craig Thompson. Also, Howard has the area’s top relay times in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 and the second-fastest time in the 4×800.
Meanwhile, Baylor senior Brandon Lord is one of the top distance runners in the nation.
Field events begin at 4:30 p.m., and running events are scheduled to start at 5:45.