Bracy to skip Golden South unless he can run with pros
Boone’s state champion sprinter has been rehabbing a hamstring injury since winning state 100 title
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Boone’s Marvin Bracy strained his left hamstring at the Class 4A state track and field meet in Jacksonville. (Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando Sentinel)
Buddy Collings
INSIDE HIGH SCHOOLS
5:08 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2012
For undefeated high-school sprint sensation Marvin Bracy, it’s either go with the pros or no go for Saturday’s Golden South Classic at the First Academy.
Bracy and his trainer, Ricky Argro, said Tuesday night they will make a Friday or race-day decision on whether the Boone senior will compete in Orlando’s 36th annual postseason track and field showcase. Bracy has been resting and rehabbing since straining his left hamstring while winning his third consecutive state 100-meter championship on May 5.
If he feels able, Bracy said he will run against professionals in the elite 100 races that are new to the Golden South this year. Prelims in those men’s and women’s races are set for 4:20 p.m. Saturday, with all entrants advancing to finals at 6:15.
Bracy, who is undefeated in high school 100s as a junior and senior, hopes to run in the fastest races available because he has yet to meet the qualifying standard for next month’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. The FSU football signee has been bedeviled by injuries and hard luck.
Bracy has gone faster than the automatic “A” standard of 10.18 seconds four times, with a 10.16 and then a 10.05 in winning the 2011 USA Track Junior (19-and-under) championship, a 10.09 to win last year’s Pan Am Junior title and a 10.06 to dominate this year’s Texas Relays. But all of those performances came with wind over the 2.0 meters-per-second limit by a relatively slight margin, 0.2 to 0.6.
Wind-aided is a tormenting phrase that has haunted Bracy’s brilliant high-school career. His wind-legal best is 10.25.
As of May 17, according to Track and Field News, 22 American runners had qualifying times that met the “A” standard, and 41 had run the “B” standard of 10.24 or better. The 100 field is capped at 32 runners unless more make the automatic cutoff.
American record-holder Tyson Gay clocked a 9.79 list-leader last summer at his training base in Clermont. Qualifiers also include collegiate record-holder Travis Padgett (9.89), one of Saturday’s Golden South pro entrants, and former Groveland South Lake standout and current UF senior Jeff Demps, who clocked in with a 10.04.
If Bracy has to pass on the Golden South, he’ll shift his focus to the adidas Grand Prix on June 9 in New York City, where he is defending champion in the high-school Dream 100.
He may opt to look down another path and defend his Junior Nationals title June 15-17 in Bloomington, Ind. That leads to the 19-and-under world meet July 10-15 in Barcelona, Spain.
“We’ll make a decision after this weekend on what I’m going to do,” Bracy said.
His nationally ranked cousin, Jones junior Levonte “Kermit” Whitfield, is in the Golden South high-school 100 and is scheduled to join Bracy in the Dream 100.