Boys Sprinters Of The Year: Anthony Schwartz & Tyrese Cooper


Injury At State Prevents Schwartz From Near Perfect Season


American Heritage speedster Anthony Schwartz had one of the best seasons in state history. In his second meet of 2017, Schwartz clocked a US#1 time of 10.39s, but that was just the tip of the iceberg as his times continued to fall and the fastest time in the nation lowered. At the Kowboy Invitational he ran 10.37 then 10.32 in the prelims at Florida Relays. Fans knew the finals would be fast, but when Schwartz crossed the line in astonishing 10.15s everyone knew they had witnessed something magical.

"The high point of his season was when he ran that 10.15," said Coach Greg Barnes. "That time made him one of the best ever.

His time ranked him as the sixth fastest performer in high school history and with the fastest 100m dash ever in the month of March. Afterwards, Schwartz even surprised himself a little and said before he was done in high school sub 10 wouldn't be out of the question. His consistency continued through districts and regionals where he went under 10.3 at both the district and regional level.

"What's make Anthony such a strong runner is that he has a 400 background," Barnes explained. "He's a top end sprinter not so much of a first faze guy."

In an ideal world, you'd want a story book ending with state championships, but just the opposite happened for him. The favorite to defend his 100 and 200m state title and lead one of the best 4x100 teams in the country, Schwartz felt a tug on his hamstring in the prelims and did what he needed to do to make the finals. The pain lingered and was evident when his state meet came to a halt half way through the race.  No 200m, no valuable points to pick up. To top it off his American Heritage team lost by one point. Devastation for the young man was an understatement.

The good athletes from the great athletes can often be separated by times like this. How do they overcome adversity? How do they fight on when times are tough?

"The type of athlete Anthony is that he is very driven," Barnes added. He wants to be great so right after state we got right on his treatment and rehabilitation .

The two sport star showed us just that drive. Less than a month later he finished runner-u for the second consecutive year at the Adidas Dream 100 and two weeks later won his first title at New Balance Nationals Outdoor. In the 200m he went head to head with Cooper and finished second, but there was more work to be done.

Schwartz, a four star recruit in football headed to the prestigious The Opening at Nike HQ where he ran a blazing 4.27s 40 yard dash. To put that in perspective, only four people ran faster than that at the NFL Combine over the last ten years.  He traded his cleats in for track spikes just a short time later at USA Juniors where he ran against the best U20 athletes in the country and finished 4th. That place earned him a spot on the relay pool for Team USA at Pan Am Juniors.

"His goals  are to just have fun and learn how it is to make a USA team which is one of the hardest things to do," Barnes said. "He will also learn how to complete on an international stage."