Winslow junior Jayden Poteat put himself in some elite company this weekend when he won the 100, 200 and 400 at Group 3 sectionals and ran 10.69, 21.67 and 48.44 in his triple.
Poteat became only the 5th South Jersey sprinter ever to run sub-10.70, sub-21.70 and sub-48.50 in his entire high school career, and he did it in the span of about 22 hours at Delsea.
He also became the first to run those times at a sectional meet in 41 years.
The 100-200-400 is not an easy triple.
The other sprinters to run that fast for all three events at any point are Olympic gold medalist Dennis Mitchell of Edgewood in 1983 [11.47 in 1983, 21.06, 46.02], Deptford’s Bruce Owens in 2004 [10.66, 21.56, 48.41], Winslow’s Antraye Miles in 2003 [10.67, 21.58, 47.83] and Pennsauken’s Martin Booker in 2017 [10.67, 21.39, 48.33].
Mitchell swept the three sprints as a junior in the South Jersey Group 4 meet in 1983 at Willingboro with 10.4, 21.3 and 46.9. Although those are hand times, they convert to sub-10.70, 21.70 and 48.50. He recorded the same sweep in 1982 and 1984 but in each case one race was too slow.
At 2003 Group 4 sectionals at Egg Harbor Township – where some events were FAT and some were hand timed – Miles won the 100 in 10.4, the 200 in 22.01 and the 400 in 48.10, so his “slow” 200 disqualifies him from consideration.
A year later in the South Jersey Group 3 meet at Buena, Owens was 2nd in the 100 in a hand-timed 10.7, 3rd in the 200 in 22.08 and 1st in the 400 in 48.73.
Booker competed in 2017 in the Central Jersey Group 3 meet at Bernards but took 2nd in the 100 in 10.76, won the 200 in 21.39 and didn’t contest the 400.
So Mitchell and Poteat are the only South Jersey sprinters ever to run 10.70, 21.70 and 48.50 in the same sectional meet.
Antraye Miles ran 10.67 and 47.83 at the state Group 4 meet in 2003 at Egg Harbor but his winning time in the 200 was 22.01. Owens picked up a 1st and two 2nds at the 2004 state Group 3 meet at EHT but his times don’t quite measure up. Booker ran 10.67 in the 100 trials at the 2017 state Group 3 meet at Northern Burlington and 21.47 to win the 200 but didn’t run the 400. Not surprisingly, none of them tripled at the Meet of Champions.
I checked all their county and conference meets as well, and althought Miles was close at the 2003 Camden County meet at Haddon Township [hand-timed 10.4, 21.4, 48.9] and Olympic Conference meet at Pennsauken [10.4, 21.2, did not run 400], he didn’t quite hit the triple crown.
So Mitchell and Poteat are also the only South Jersey sprinters in history to run sub-10.70, sub-21.70 and sub-48.50 at the same meet.
Poteat is the No. 2 seed at states in the 100 behind only Robbinsville’s Maxim Rychkov [10.61], the No. 1 seed in the 200 and the No. 1 seed in the 400 as well.
How far has Poteat come?
According to Poteat’s MileSplit bio, this is his first year running track, and he didn’t compete outdoors until the Camden County Championships on May 11. He did run indoors and ran 22.09 and 51.05 at Ocean Breeze. But his first lifetime 100 was May 11, as were his first outdoor 200 and 400. In his first indoor meet in December, he only high jumped, and he didn’t run anything longer than the 55 until Feb. 5.
For the record, the last South Jersey sprinter to sweep the 100, 200 and 400 at states was Carl Watson of St. Joe’s-Hammton, who won Parochial B titles in 2011 in 11.00, 22.45 and 50.41. The last public school sprinter to pull off that triple was Damiere Byrd of Timber Creek in the 2010 Group 3 meet in 10.68, 21.80 and 47.88. Byrd is now with the Washington Commanders heading into his 9th NFL season.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 