(Photo by Jason Byrne)
Shock. Surprise. Those were the words that were running through Levonte "Kermit" Whitfield's mind when he turned around during practice at Jones High School only to find American record holder Tyson Gay standing right behind him. Gay was on hand to present Whitfield an invitation to the prestigious Adidas Dream 100 in New York City. Whitfield and his teammates were engaged in a huddle by assistant coach "Z" Walden before the second fastest man in 100 meter history made his way up to the group. Head coach Fred Ray insisted the group listen to another speaker and that is when excitement broke out. Gay then stuck around for over an hour taking pictures and signing autographs for the athletes/
Whitfield received the invitation after posting a time of 10.21 at the UF Pepsi Relays. It will be Whitfield's second time running at the legendary Icahn Stadium on Randalls' Island. Last year he finished fourth with cousin Marvin Bracy winning the event. Bracy has been invited as well and Whitfield looks forward to spending time with him in the Big Apple and competing against him for family bragging rights.
This week Whitfield and his Jones' teammates will travel to Jacksonville for the state 2A meet. Although, he was super excited about running in the Dream 100, he said after the hype died down that it was back to business working on starts, and handoffs in anticipation of his second state title. Whitfield won the state championship in the 100 last year and finishied second in the 200.
