This one was no joke.
Fresh off his dive for silver at the New York State Indoor Championships over the 1,000m, Xavier's D'Angelo Brown once again put the silver medal around this neck.
But this one carried more weight, as he tackled his first international field at the annual CARIFTA Games, a meeting of Caribbean nations to face off in athletics.
And with that medal brought a time very few have seen this early in the season.
Brown kicked off his weekend on March 31, where he ran the 1,500m in a new personal best of 4:05.79. Next came the 800m -- more in the wheelhouse of Brown -- who ranks NY No. 5 for the 1,000m.
For the trials, Brown came through in a relaxed seventh-place with a 1:55.47, taking third in his heat. It was enough to put him in the final, though he needed more to take home his first international medal.
More was what he delivered.
Running past the favorite on the final 100m, Brown crossed the line second, behind a breakout performance from Jamaica's Kemarrio Bygrave, and he took home silver once again.
But the time was more impressive, as Brown lowered his personal best by two full seconds. He crossed the line in 1:52.81.
The 800m mark stands as the fourth-fastest ever run by a New Yorker in the month April and it was achieved on the first of the month. Of the three marks ahead of them, two were set at Arcadia in California, with the other happening the last week of April at the New York Relays.
Favorable weather was clearly a factor.
The high school junior from New York City was representing his home country of Grenada at the Kirani James National Stadium in St. George's, Grenada.
New York has a long tradition of our local athletes to CARIFTA -- featuring a rotating venue for the Caribbean Championships --sending athletes like Rai Benjamin and Kadecia Baird, former state record-holders.
Brown now returns home ready to take on the state series and his outdoor season with one heck of a seed time under his belt already.
