Montverde Academy junior Zyaire Nuriddin continues to amaze. He made some jaws drop to the ground last month at the Louie Bing Invitational when defeated the best from South Florida in Mekhi Gammons and King Mack to win with a then US #1 outdoor time of 46.73 (now ranks US #2).
This past weekend while competing indoors in Virginia Beach at the adidas Track Nationals, Nuriddin took it up another notch in the finals of the 400-meter dash as he became the third-fastest in U.S. high school history indoors for the event with a 46.04 victory after getting a great push from his other competitors in the race also going sub 47 remarkably indoors in Judson Lincoln IV from Maryland at 46.56 for second place and William Jones from North Carolina at 46.86 for third place.
A native and state champion of Delaware, who moved to Florida this past year to attend and compete for the boarding school at Montverde Academy located in the outskirts of the Orlando metro area in Lake County, Nuriddin has thrived exponentially in his new environment, school, team, and training under the direction of head coach Gerald Phiri, a two-time Olympian himself.
Two immediate thoughts come to mind after his historic performance, sub 46 seconds outdoors is definitely on the table at some point this outdoor season if not very soon as he is only five-hundredths of a second off and the national indoor record next year is in jeopardy of being broken when Nuriddin returns for his senior year as it sits in striking distance at 45.92 by Elzie Coleman from the 2004 Simplot Games.
Ironically, Nuriddin actually did not set a Florida high school indoor state indoor record considering how sparingly and rare athletes from the state compete indoors with Tyrese Cooper sitting between him and Coleman on the all-time list with a 46.01 indoor best.
With the valuable experience that he gained indoors traveling with his Montverde Academy squad to indoor tracks this past winter, Nuriddin is already on the right path to further greatness.
More Florida highlights to come from adidas Indoor Nationals. Check out results, race video replays, interviews, and photos from the meet below.
