March 23, 2002 at Dallas TX

Jesuit Sheaner Relays

Blanton 10.26, Wade 10.29
Wade 20.83, Blanton 21.10

Sprint showdown thrills crowd at Jesuit Sheaner Relays in Dallas as Evangel LA sr Jonathan Wade and Forney TX sr Dabryan Blanton trade photo finishes.

Juan Plaza's report

LA's Jonathan Wade was seeking the "hat trick", beating all three Texas
high school State Meet sprint champions, Edorian McCullough, class 5A
North Garland, Brandan Christian, Class 4A Austin Reagan, and DaBryan
Blanton, class 3A Forney, having already beaten McCullough and Christian
in the sprints earlier this year. Last summer he had also defeated TX 4A
standout Nicholas Johnson of FW Wyatt. But, he was now looking forward
to meeting up with Forney star DaBryan Blanton, who had the best
performances nationally in both the 100m and 200m in 2001.

100m Recap!
At the gun they got out evenly, easily separating from the field. Between
30 and 65 meters Wade seemed to pressed too much and tightened allowing
the smooth flowing Blanton to create a full one yard lead. At 65m Wade
then responded with a final burst of energy as he quickly closed the gap.
Everyone there was on their feet at this time hollering and cheering
because Wade was just about dead even with Blanton at the tape. The fact
of the matter is Wade fell about 3 inches shy of victory as Blanton was
declared the winner. Yes, it was that close. No one knew who won the 100m
until they announced it over the loud speaker.

The 100 times were:

Blanton 10.26
Wade 10.29

The "unofficial" hand times were 9.95 to 9.96. The official FAT marks
were announced over the loud speaker-- 10.26 for Blanton and 10.29 for
Wade---What a RACE!!!! Everyone got their 5 bucks worth on that one!
But, next up was the 200 final. (100m prelims times were Wade 10.40,
Blanton 10.59).

200m Recap!
Wade had a better lane because he was a tad more aggresive in the prelims
(21.30 to 21.96) despite shutting it down way early as did Blanton. Wade
was in 4 and Blanton in 7. At the gun Wade went for revenge and ate up
the stagger, ala Debrecen-Hungary, on eveyone including Blanton. Off the
turn Wade was in full control and never challenged. Blanton tried to make
up some ground but the lead was there for keeps and Wade was too strong.
Hand times were 20.5 to 20.8. The FAT marks were 20.83 to 21.10. Blanton
appeared stunned afterwards, since it is his first loss in 2 years. They
shook hands after race and talk of a rematch spread like wild fire in the
stands. It was a great meet for sprint fans!!! These two are two of the
best, period!

Both Wade and Blanton broke both 100 and 200 meet records in their
divisions. They both went under the old records in both races. It was
also their first taste of defeat this year.

Blanton is ahead of last year's pace and Wade is recovering from a recent
injury so these two guys have a made quite a statement to the rest of the
H. S. Sprintland USA.

 

 

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