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Since most of us don't follow high school track as much as football, its pertinent that we at CGB update you on Khalfan Muhammad's stellar senior track and field season.
Just a few weeks ago, at the CIF Masters Meet, Muhammad set records in both the 100 and the 200. Muhammad broke his school record in the 100 by posting an incredible time of 10.22, while he beat his personal best, and previous school record in the 200 by posting a time of 20.73.
Although wind-aided, Muhammad's 100 time beat the Southern Section record of 10.25 set by Hawthorne's Henry Thomas in 1984, and his 200 time was the fastest by a San Fernando Valley athlete since Quincy Watts of Woodland Hills Taft clocked 20.50 in 1987, reported the LA Times.
Having won both the 100 and the 200 last year, Khalfani knew he was going to be the overwhelming favorite in this weekend's state championship meet, but he appears to have handled that pressure extremely well.
"I like being the favorite, because there's more pressure, and that brings out the best in me," he said. "Everything from here on out is abut winning. I'm not concerned about my times. Yeah, I'd love to PR again, but it really doesn't matter as long as I win. That's been my goal this year from Day 1 _ getting back to state and winning. You're not gonna PR every time, but you train as hard as you can and you want to keep getting better." - LA Times
Here's some video.
Low and behold, Muhammad dominated the state championship this weekend, taking home first place in both the 100 and the 200.
Muhammad, a Notre Dame senior, became only the third male runner in state history to win back-to-back championships in the 100 and 200 meters at the state track and field final at Buchanan High's Veterans Memorial Stadium.- LA Daily News
"I came out with the urge to win," said Muhammad. "I wanted to control it and face it and just do my thing. I executed everything I set out to do and I finished with a bang." - LA Daily News
Muhammad became the first local sprinter to repeat in the 100 since Hoover's Forrest Beaty in 1961 and `62, along with the first area male athlete to defend his 200 state crown since Taft's Quincy Watts in 1986 and `87. He followed Cathedral's Randall Carroll (2008-09) and Covina's Remontay McClain (2010-11) by defending his championship in both events.-LA Daily News
Those are some extremely impressive statistics. I could not be happier for Khalfani, but more than anything, I'm excited that he will suiting up for us in the fall. Just from these interviews, you can tell that he is a hard working, mentally-tough competitor.
Furthermore, this story should make any Cal football fan grin from ear to ear for another reason. The last top tier sprinter/running back we had turned out to be pretty good. Just to offer some prospective, Khalfani's most recent PR tops Jahvid Best's performance at the state championship, where Best turned in a stellar 10.31 performance. Furthermore, Best's 200 performance, which clocked in at a resounding 20.65, is only a few 100ths of a second faster than Muhammad's 20.73. Despite the numbers, it is clear that Khalfani is faster than most of us expected him to be.
If you were at the Tennessee game in 2007, you remember this run specifically.
Khalfani may not have the same hype as Jahvid did coming into his freshmen season, but I still hope to see something like this in the home opener this year. Let Khalfani run a quick sweep play, surprise the defense, and the let the crowd awe at his speed. I think the combination of him, Bigs, and Lasco will be absolutely deadly. Although no one is saying it, we could have one of the fastest backfields in Cal history this season.
The only question left is will Khalfani want to run some track while at Cal. I actually think this is a good idea for most speed football players, as it allows them to improve their technique by leaps and bounds in the off-season. As long as he can handle his academic load, I don't see any issue with this. I know that both Kenjon Barner and LaMichael James both ran track at Oregon, and I can imagine that Chip Kelly encouraged them to given how vital their speed was to his offense.