In this week's MileSplit LA Tasty Race, we take a deep dive into the most watched race video from the LSU High School Classic. It was the finals of the boys 60m.
Jelani Watkins, a four-star wide receiver, who signed with the LSU football team in December, strong-armed the competition with a US#2 time of 6.75.
"I was trying to execute my race the best way I could," Watkins said. "My block starts have not been good so I've tried to my reaction time good. I wanted to get in my drive phase and then come up and pick my knees up for the rest of the race."
The time lowered both the meet record, which was set by Kemondrick Walter (6.86) in 2016, and the fieldhouse composite record, owned by Corey Wren (6.76) since 2020.
Want a shocking stat about the race? What about this? The top FIVE sprinters of the eight athletes competing burned up the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse track running faster than Walter's meet record time.
Watkins was out in front of his nearest competition which was the defending LHSAA D1 State Indoor champion Germain Smith-Mata, who ran a 6.78--a US#3.
Joining Watkins and Smith-Mata on the podium was Frisco Heritage's Cordial Vann, who finished with a 6.79.
It wasn't the first trip to the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse. He competed in the building when he was 11-years old. Watkins, who was born in Louisiana before his family moved to Texas, said the facility was like he remembers it.
"It feels the same," Watkins said of competing indoors at LSU. "The curves are still tight. Yeah, it feels the same."
The two-time UIL 6A 200m champion should be getting used to the tight turns as he plans to be a two-sport athlete at LSU.