Mekhi Gammons, a junior at Hialeah-Miami Lakes, competed against a two-time Olympian in Cehjae Greene of Antigua in the 300-meter dash at the Broward Elite AC Preseason Showcase on Saturday and gave him all he could handle till the finish.
The end result was a runner-up finish and a new personal best time of 33.94 for Gammons on the rarely contested distance most commonly contested in indoor track states. If combining both indoor and outdoor performances, the time would rank 6th fastest in the country this year for Gammons. One of the state's fastest returnees in both the 400 (46.76) and 200 (21.22), Gammons bested his indoor best in the event at 34.40 from the VA Showcase earlier this season getting a chance to compete at 300 meters on an outdoor oval.
Greene represented his home country of Antigua this past summer in the Tokyo Olympics after qualifying prior for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. It was a 300 meter personal best for Greene on Saturday in his 33.61 win. He also has lifetime bests of 10.00 in the 100-meter dash at 9.94 from 2019 and 200-meter dash at 20.59 from 2018 to put in perspective the quality of sprinter that Gammons was facing.
Gammons was certainly holding his own with Greene and pushing him up until the final 50 meters when the two-time Olympian and 10 years senior in age athlete simply was too strong and pulled away for the victory.