Mekhi Gammons, a rising junior at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in South Florida, won the 15-16-year-old age group national title in the boys 400-meter dash on the final day of competition at the AAU Junior Olympics on Sunday in Humble, Texas.
His time was a new personal best by a near full second at 46.76, which moves him up to owning the second-fastest time in the state of Florida for the 2021 track season behind only recently graduated Weston Baptiste of Montverde Academy at 46.63.
The winning time by Gammons also moves him inside the US top 20 and the fastest performance by any sophomore in the country for the entire 2021 season. Prior to the AAU JO's, Gammons had the 10th fastest time for the 2021 outdoor season in Florida with a 47.74 season-best.
Gammons has been an AAU age-group national champion before and dominant for years growing up in the summer track circuit, but his performance on Sunday is going to propel him to be Florida's and one of the nation's top returning high school quarter milers with two more years of high school to continue to develop and run faster times.
Boys 400 Meter Dash 15-16 years old
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National: N 45.23 8/6/2016 Tyrese Cooper, Miami Gardens, FL
Name Year Team Finals
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1 #10342 Mekhi Gammons 05 Opa Locka, FL 46.76
2 # 6532 Marquez Stevenson 05 Natchitoches, LA 46.85
3 # 9419 Damarien Jacobs 05 Spring, TX 48.04
4 # 6451 Charis Jackson 05 Wylie, TX 48.25
5 # 5707 Wesley Noble Jr 05 Laurelton, NY 48.70
6 # 4697 Methias Carter 05 Dacula, GA 48.97
7 # 8432 Tylen Ashihi 05 El Dorado, KS 49.36
8 # 4714 Jaiden Patterson 06 Dacula, GA 49.82
