Watch Race Video of Friday's 10.00 national record in the 100 meter dash from US Juniors!
Talk about a drastic change and swing of emotions. Trentavis Friday experienced a complete whirlwind of highs and lows for day one of the USATF Junior Nationals in Eugene, Oregon. The recent graduate of Cherryville High School in North Carolina, Friday made the trip to Oregon with the number one and first goal of making the US team for the upcoming IAAF World Junior Championships. Well in his preliminary round race of the 100 meter dash, the recent Gatorade National Track Athlete of the Year, accomplished a goal that he probably had on his radar or believed that he could do coming into this weekend. Not even the current US high school leader in the 100/200 and a three-time national champion Friday could have imagined running such a time.
With the 2014 NCAA 100 meter dash outdoor national champion Trayvon Bromell of Baylor University waiting to race in the next heat to follow him, Friday sent a message that he should be given equal respect as a top contender to win the US Junior Nationals title in a very effective way by shocking all including himself with a sizzling and wind-legal clocking of 10.00 clocking in heat 1 of the junior men's 100 meter dash. With his preliminary performance, the Florida State bound Friday took down the US high school national record in the 100 meter dash previously held by Jeff Demps of Florida. Bromell, who had set a US junior record in the 100 earlier in the season and won the NCAA national title with a 9.97 performance, won the next prelim heat with a time of 10.08 to put Friday suddenly as the top seed and could it be? The favorite to win over the NCAA champ Bromell? Could the high school national champ really beat the college national champ? Oh the finals was shaping up to be something hot!
Trentavis Friday Post-Prelims Race Interview (National Record 10.00)
Well that epic showdown never materialized in the finals. Friday, who in his post-finals interview said he was triggered by the twitching of other finalists setting in their blocks, had a clear false start that no mercy was given by the officials and starters as he was disqualified and unable to start the race. The face off between Bromell and Friday would not happen as the United States also took a huge blow in not sending one of its best to compete in the 100 meter dash at the World Junior Championships. A Bromell and Friday pairing as the two qualifiers in the 100 meter dash could have been potentially unstoppable on the World Junior stage and possibly a guaranteed gold and silver medal for Team USA.
Bromell would go onto win the finals in a time of 10.07, while Friday's future FSU teammate Kendal Williams would earn the second spot on the World Juniors team with a runner-up performance of 10.27. No question based on Friday's prelim performance that even with a bad or delayed start, would have easily made the team with a top 2 finish in the finals. But all Friday could do was walk away from the start line, watch Bromell and Williams punch their tickets to Worlds, and wonder what could have been for him.
Its not all doom and gloom. Friday still has an opportunity to make the US squad on Sunday in the 200 meter dash as well as become part of the relay pool for the 4x100 meter relay at the World Junior Championships, which will be held July 22nd through July 27th back at Eugene and on American soil for the first time in IAAF meet history. One has to believe that he will be fired up to run the prelims and finals of the 200 meter dash after leaving a race out there on Saturday with the false start. And his first race showed how incredibly conditioned and fast that Friday is coming into this weekend's US Junior Nationals.
Another idea out there is would a major European circuit summer meet like the IAAF Diamond League series be interested in bringing in a US high school superstar like Friday, who is already running near World class times in the 100, to their event? That would certainly be a nice consolation prize for Friday not able to compete in the 100 at World Juniors, but might be a pipe dream as well.
Regardless of the outcome of his races on Sunday and the unfortunate false start in the 100 meter dash finals, Friday will leave the 2014 USATF Junior Nationals knowing that he has become the fastest high school sprinter in this country's history in one of our most celebrated track & field events. The 100 meter dash. Alan Webb had his magical moment at Hayward Field back in 2001 when he broke Jim Ryun's high school mile record and Trentavis Friday was able to enjoy that similar thrill of making history on Saturday in Eugene. Over time, the memory of false start in the finals will sting less and fade for Friday, but the historic 10 seconds flat performance from the prelims will be the memory that all will remember and recognize the greatness of the achievement.
Trentavis Friday Post-Finals Race Interview (False Start)
