Sprint phenom is an understatement for Abraham Lincoln Middle School 8th grader Tamari Davis. Davis has won numerous AAU national titles as a youngster, middle school state championships, and last year she was 3rd at the prestigious Adidas Dream 100 in Boston against the best sprinters in the nation. This weekend at the Bring The Heat Invitational in Charlotte, North Carolina she lived up to the meet's namesake winning the 200m dash in 14 year old WORLD RECORD time of 23.38 breaking Angel Perkins 23.43 set in 1999. Her time ranks 4th in the nation trailing two Florida seniors Symone Mason, an University of Miami signee, and Twanisha Terry who is headed to Southern Cal.
That wasn't the only highlight of Davis' day as she opened up the meet with a win in the 13-14 100m dash in a PR of 11.55. That time ranks first for middle school girls and 5th when stacked up against her high school counterparts.
Davis prepared for the weekend by allowing her to rest and recover from the 400m she ran the weekend prior. Tuesday the group resumed workouts with two 250's on Tuesday with 12 minutes rest to simulate what two 200's would feel like in one day. Thursday they did a 1 x 10m, 1 x 20m, and 1 x 30m block starts from the 200m start and did two 20 on and 20 off the turn. Coach Gary Evans says what impressed him the most was the fact that she went 23.64 in the prelims and came back about thirty minutes later to run 23.38. All this while already having run the 100m earlier.
"I was very pleased with her performance. We will take a whole week off now because her body has went somewhere it had never been."
Next up for Davis will be the FLYRA Middle School State Championship, then Flo Golden South, followed by the Adidas Dream 100 where she will look to improve on her third place finish. The FLYRA Middle School State Championships and Flo Golden South can be watched LIVE on MileSplit.
"I will pull Tamari out of the 100 for a while and focus on some 400's she is way ahead of where I wanted to be when we sat at her table and talked about the game plan for the year," Evans added. I don't won't her to burn out so we don't race to much. Our big focus was the Golden South and the Adidas Boston street race this year. This year we will go USA instead of AAU Junior Olympics.
Davis has goals beyond middle school and even high school. She wants to run at the professional level and one day at the Olympics like many of the pro athletes Evan's have done. He says the key for that to happen is have her healthy and improving each year.
"Sometimes coaches get beside themselves and forget about the kid and want to showcase them everywhere. We have turned down lots of races even international races. It's about Tamari, not me. I just hope to help her get into college on a scholarship."
More Coverage
- Tamari's Athlete Profile
- Bring The Heat Invitational Meet Page (Complete Results/Coverage)
