Friday tunes up w/ US #6 all-time 10.17 100 & US #7 all-time 20.33 200!

Trentavis Friday, the New Balance Nationals indoor champion from March in both the 60 and 200 meter dash, appears to be rounding into top speed and form for his post-season of championship races. Friday, a senior at Cherryville High School in North Carolina headed to Florida State University in the fall, had a 3 week layoff of meets since winning the North Carolina 1A state titles in the 100 and 200 on May 9th. To keep himself sharp, Friday found himself a race in the Champions Tune-up, a meet geared towards top high school athletes in North Carolina looking to continue to stay race sharp for outdoor nationals and other major post-season/summer track meets.

Friday (pictured right by Jeff Sides) has not had too many races with a wind gauge this spring to always legitimize his consistently fast times, but had no problem with looking more than legit at the end of his day at the Bishop Guinness Track in Kernersville on Saturday when he blazed down the straightaway to a pair of US #1's in the sprints with wind legal times of 10.17 in the 100 meter dash and 20.33 in the 200 meter dash. Both times were easily lifetime best races for Friday, while also putting him well ahead of the next fastest in the country in both events this spring.

Most impressive and astonishing on Friday's pair of performances were the historic significance of each. His 100 meter time now ranks him US #6 all-time in the event, while the 200 meter dash time is not far off another equal all-time great clocking at US #7 all-time. Friday is also chasing after the North Carolina state high school record in the 100 meter dash held by J-Mee Samuels (Mt. Tabor HS - 2005) at 10.08, while he was only a hundredth of a second off the 200 meter state record of 20.32 still held by J-Mee Samuels from 2005 outdoor season. 

The big question next for Friday is where will he be racing on the June 14th weekend? Will he stay in-state and looking to be a double national champion again, but this time in the 100 and 200 at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Greensboro? Or will make the trip to New York City to race against the nation's fastest at 100 meters in the Dream 100 race within the adidas Grand Prix? Tough call to make for Friday, but either destination and he figures to be the man to beat after his performances this weekend. A match-up between himself and Kendal Williams of Florida would certainly be a "Dream" race though. Williams has already accepted his invite to run in the Dream 100 at the adidas Grand Prix, so Friday would have to decide to go to New York as well that weekend if he wanted to match-up against Williams, but would then not get a chance to become a double New Balance Nationals champ like indoors and go for wins in the 100 and 200 in Greensboro.

Maybe Friday and Williams can still face off regardless of their June 14th plans in Oregon for the US Junior Nationals on July 5th and 6th to qualify to make the World Junior team together and represent the country at the IAAF World Junior Championships in late July back at Hayward Field in Eugene. Could we see the US high school boys 100 meter dash national record of 10.01 held by Jeff Demps from the 2008 US Olympic Trials be seriously challenged at same venue that remarkable performance and record was set? After his sprint double including two US top 7 all-time fastest times in both the 100 and 200 this past weekend, Friday is certainly building towards even more greatness this summer before he begins to start his next chapter at FSU.

 

Champions Tune-Up Meet

On-Site Coverage

Friday tunes up w/ US #5 all-time 10.17 100 & US #7 all-time 20.33 200!

Trentavis Friday, the New Balance Nationals indoor champion from March in both the 60 and 200 meter dash, appears to be rounding into top speed and form for his post-season of championship races. Friday has not had too many races with a wind gauge this spring to always legitimize his fast times, but had no problem with looking more than legit at the end of his day at the Bishop Guinness Track on Saturday when he blazed to a pair of US #1's in the spring with wind legal times of 10.17 in the 100 meter dash and 20.33 in the 200 meter dash. Both times were easily lifetime best races for Friday, while also putting him well ahead of the next fastest in the country in both events this spring.

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