Isaiah Oliver and Paul Lucas battle on the final turn in the 400m at the AMDG Invite last Friday. Arizona Milesplit Photo.
When Ron Smith says something track related is going to be big you better listen up. Last Friday before the fast heat of the boys 400m, Ron Smith told the crowd he had picked this as the event of the meet; it certainly lived up to that billing.
Despite having just anchored a 4x100m squad that qualified for state and notching another 110H qualifying mark Brophy senior Isaiah Oliver was set to take on Paul Lucas in the 400m. Paul is an accomplished 400m runner, and coming into the season was the best prep quarter miler in the Grand Canyon state. In fact, he spent much of last year ranked nationally. Robert Grant, who is on spring break from Miami and was in attendance, has his name on the gym wall at Brophy High School for the 400m. Neither of those things phased Isaiah. In fact he used them in tandem, “I was going for my school record of 47.50 and I knew I would need someone like Paul in the race if I wanted to break it," explained Isaiah. Being a 300H specialist, he knew he would not have very many chances like this one.
After the gun went off Isaiah and Paul raced to the front of the field, quickly making up the stagger on their opponents. Coming off the second turn Paul and Isaiah were very close to being tied. “I just knew I needed to get the 300 meter mark at least tied with Paul to give myself a chance to win," recounted Isaiah, “I was able to do just that and on that day I had a little more left in the tank." Crossing the finish line 47.13, he had dispatched a formidable opponent in Paul.
Always classy, like we have come to expect from Isaiah, he is confident in Paul's abilities going forward, “I do believe that by the end of the year Paul Lucas will have a great shot at breaking the state record and I wish him all the luck in the world."
AZ Milesplit wishes both Paul and Isaiah the best of luck this season. The way they are running now they both might end up with a state record in their respective events.
I have sent this performance in to the national editors to be considered to national recognition, in case they do not select it since indoor nationals was this weekend I wanted to do a short profile on this site as well. If you missed it, what Isaiah Thomas did last Friday at the AMDG Invite was VERY impressive.