His nickname is "Takeoff." And while Scotlandville's Broderick Davis was the only Louisiana athlete to come away with two wins on Saturday at the LSU High School Classic, you can tell in his words from the interview below that Davis is ready for his senior year as a Hornet to--well--really takeoff.
Davis' nickname in the 60m hurdles might as well have been The Eraser, because that is exactly what he did. For the second straight year--the 60m hurdle composite fieldhouse record was broken. Last year, it was John Curtis' Justin Horne who set the mark with a winning time of 7.90.
It didn't take for Scotlandville's Broderick Davis long to re-write the record books as he ran a 7.89 in the prelims and set a new fieldhouse record.
MileSplit LA posted Davis' record--breaking prelim performance on social media. Horne, who is in Lubbock participating in off season workouts with the Texas Tech football team, replied in the comments.
"Faster than that."
Horne was right.
In the finals, Davis ran away from the competition and lowered his own record to 7.80.
"It felt good to be in this building again," Davis said. "Last year, I left with a 7.84. I ran a 7.89 in the prelims which gave me a good feeling for the finals. I ended up running 7.80. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I am content and satisfied, but I wish I could have run a little bit better. I know it's still early in the season. I still have a month and a half to drop, so everything is good right now."
After the hurdles, Davis headed over to long jump where he won the event with a leap of 23-7.
"I struggled a little bit, but I'm happy I got the chance to come out with a victory," Davis said. "I'm just grateful for the opportunity to compete. I have some stuff I need to work on to get to where I want to be. To me, I underperformed. I feel like I have a whole lot more in me. So next time I come out and I want a better showing and shock the world."
It will be hard for Davis to "shock the world" more than he did a year ago. With a best of 7.84 from 2023 he is the No. 4 returner in the nation. In the long jump? He is the No. 3 returner in the nation.
RANKINGS:
Top Returning Long Jumpers in the Nation!
Top Returning 60m Hurdlers in the Nation!
Rankings are one thing. Finishing on the podium at a national championship is a completely different animal. Davis finished second in the long jump in both the New Balance Indoor Championships (23-8) and the New Balance Outdoor Championships (w24-5.25).
The results at the New Balance Indoor Championships were a particularly tough pill for Davis to swallow as he finished a quarter of an inch behind Robert Handelsman.
You can bet Davis will use the runner-up performances in the 2023 New Balance National meets as motivation as he comes out of the blocks in his senior year at Scotlandville Magnet High School.