For the first time ever the Prefontaine Classic, a stop on the IAAF Diamond League schedule, will host a high school invite 200m and mile. The Sunshine State is well represented with six athletes in the girls and boys 200m dash making the trip out to historic Hayward Field this weekend to earn those first high school titles.
The girls 200m dash features 4A state champion Diamond Spaulding of St. Thomas Aquinas, 3A state runner-up La'Kayla Harris of Miami Northwestern, as well as Symone Mason of Miami Southridge and Karimah Davis of Palm Beach Central.
Spaulding, pictured above comes in with the fastest time of 23.00 (2.2 m/s wind) which she set at the Great Southwest Classic in 2014. The TX A&M was the state champion earlier this month running 23.21 and followed that performance up with a win at the Golden South Classic where she clocked a time of 23.31. She will be challenged by Candace Hill, the sophomore out of Georgia. Hill is the New Balance Outdoor National Champion in 2014 and recently went 23.05 into a -0.9 wind to win her second consecutive state championship. Spaulding says the competition Friday should be fierce.
"The competition is very fierce, we are destined to see some pr's this weekend. I know every time I step on the track there will be someone racing to beat me so being one of the top times coming in, it puts a huge target on my back, but my target this weekend is hitting 22."
She added this about being invited to a prestigious event such as the Pre Classic.
"The feeling was amazing because I'm never invited to meets like this. I'm looking forward to watching the pros run and see the pros I met from the Nike Elite camp last year."
Mason and Harris have the third and fourth fastest times behind Spaulding and Hill. Mason, a sophomore was third at the 4A state meet and second at Golden South where she set a personal best of 23.37, the sixth fastest time in the country. Harris, the 3A runner-up ran 23.69 into a -1.9 m/s wind at the GMAC Championships and has a personal best of 23.56 from districts. She had this to say before flying out to Eugene.
"It feels like an accomplishment and I just want to PR , since states wasn't my best race."
THE FIELD
Khai McLin and Malik Wright (pictured above) make up the Florida contingent for the high school 200m dash at the Prefontaine Classic. See what Malik had to say about being invited to the Pre Classic.
It feels great being invited to a race this big and I'm looking forward to the stiff competition and fast times out there
THE FIELD
We will bring you live updates from the girls race/results, which goes off at 7:17PM CST as well as the boys race which starts at 7:24PM CST. Stay tuned to flrunners.com and MileSplit for coverage from the meet as well as blogs from Diamond, LaKayla, and Malik!