Zavon Watkins

Zavon Watkins recently did something that literally no other high school sophomore in the nation has ever done before: he ran a thousand meters in 2:29.32.

On Saturday January 16th, Watkins raced in the open 1000m race at the Molloy Stanner Games, which were held at the legendary Armory Track in New York City. Watkins led the race from start to finish and completely destroyed the field. His winning time of 2:29.30 is a new National Sophomore Class Record for the 1000m race. His time is also currently the best time in the nation so far this season.

Winning the race itself was no problem for Watkins. He led race from start to finish and beat out the rest of the field by five seconds. Fellow teammate Chris Clemons, a senior, took second in the race with a 2:34.31, a personal best by four seconds.

Watkins had run the 1k only once before, on January 2nd at the Southern Tier Invite, which was held at Cornell University. He took first in that race with a paltry 2:37.64.

But at the Armory, Watkins wouldn’t settle for less than a national record. He went out hard and held a fierce pace. He had to push himself throughout the entire race because the competition was nowhere near his caliber.

“I usually just sit and kick, but this time I just went for it. I knew I had to go fast from start to finish if I wanted to get a good time,” said Watkins.

Watkins wasn’t done after his 1000m race. He still had to anchor the 4×800 later on that day. Once again, there was no serious competition and the Liverpool team took first quite easily.

Their time of 7:56.42 set a meet record and is currently the fourth best time in the nation and second best time in the state. Watkins’ anchor leg of 1:53.9 was the fastest of the four and played a large role in clocking the impressive overall time.

Dyestat.com, a website that covers high school running all over the nation, named Watkins’ spectacular double the third best performance of the week.

The indoor season is far from over for Watkins and his 4×800 teammates. On February 5th and 6th the quartet will be going back down to the Armory for the Collegiate Games, a prestigious meet that is invite-only. Watkins will be racing in the open 1000m and the 4x800m relay.