Merritt dusts world champ in Arkansas meet
From wire and staff
reports
For the second time in a
week, East Carolina's La Shawn Merritt ran the fastest 400 meters in the
world this year, this time beating the reigning world champion at that
distance in the process.
Merritt, a freshman from
Portsmouth, VA, won the 400 in 44.93 seconds at the Tyson Invitational
in Fayetteville, AR, on Friday night. His time was more than a second
quicker than the 45.94 he ran a week earlier that had been 2005's best.
Bershawn Jackson, the 2003
U.S. indoor champion, was second. Reigning world indoor champion Alleyne
Francique was fourth.
"It was a pretty tough
field, a lot of Olympians," said the 18-year-old Merritt. "I was the
only guy from college, but I wasn't going to back down from them.
"I had never run on this
track before, so I didn't know what to expect. I knew coming in that I
could run 45 (seconds), and I knew this was the fastest track in the
country. When I came in (the final turn), I knew no one was around, and
I just wanted to finish strong."
East Carolina coach Bill
Carson said he and Merritt worked out on the University of Arkansas
track to figure out where the freshman would run best, and then Merritt
followed the plan perfectly.
Carson, known for
producing and mentoring world-class sprinters, has been the Pirates'
track coach for 37 years.
Merritt, regarded as one
of the world's top young sprinters, won three gold medals at World
Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, last fall. In that meet, he won
the men's 400m and was on the winning 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams,
which broke junior records in both of those relays.
When Merritt signed with
East Carolina last spring, Carson stated: "He is possibly the greatest
track athlete to ever enter this university."
02/23/07 01:11 PM
©2005 Bonesville.net, The
Associated Press and other publishers. Reference information from
ECU Athletics was used in compiling
this report. All
rights rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|