It may just be a month into the season but John Thomas of Sheepshead Bay has already proved what many should have believed at the start of the season: that he is the preeminent sprinter in New York State.
Thomas has started 2010 leading the state in the 55, 200 and 300 meters. He opened at the Bishop Loughlin Games Dec. 19, winning the 55 meters in 6.40 and later claiming the 300 in a personal best and nation-leading 33.95. Last year, three runners in the state ran 6.40 or faster in the 55 and only three in the country broke 34 seconds in the 300, including Thomas and Jermaine Brown of Medgar Evers, who has exhausted his scholastic eligibility and won't compete for his high school this season.
Thomas’s blistering time in his debut 300 proved that his goal to break the 300-meter national record (33.19 by William Reed of Philadelphia, Pa. in 1986) is very realistic one. He’ll also take aim at the state 200 record of 21.26 set by Brown last year at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.
“I’ve had a good start,” Thomas said. “I want to get better the rest of the this season. I want to go after the 300 national record. I want to go after the 200 national record too. This is going to be a record-breaking season.”
The meteoric rise of Brown was the only thing that shadowed Thomas in an outstanding debut season that saw him finish second at the state meet in the 300. He also recorded a 33.98 at the PSAL championships, the third-fastest time in the country last season. At the Hispanic Games Saturday, Thomas will attempt to erase Brown’s 200 state record at the Armory’s New Balance Track and Field Center. Thomas already ran 21.85 at the MSTAC Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
“The Boston track is a little bit slower than the Armory,” Thomas said. “I think I could have run 21.5. I’ll be running the 200 at Hispanic Games. I think I’m going to surprise everyone.”
Sheepshead Bay coach John Padula said that Thomas is physically stronger than last year added to his tremendous raw speed.
“He’s just like one walking fast-twitch muscle fiber,” Padula said. “Everything he does is just so explosive. I’ve never seen anyone as explosive as him. I think he could win any event in any meet. I could put him in the long jump and he’d win the long jump; put him in the triple and he’ll win the triple jump.”
Padula has charged the normally introverted Thomas with stepping up as a leader, especially since Darryl Bradshaw and Ayo Isijola both graduated. But it’s not just that Padula wants Thomas to set and example, he wants Thomas to set the standard. No better way to do that than owning national record. His best chance could be at the New Balance Games since there willbe a junior boys 300, in which case, Brown, who still attends Medgar Evers, could race as an unattached athlete.
“This year he’s been hard on me,” Thomas said of Padula. “He wants me to break the national record in practice.”
