Anthony wins top spot in Adidas Dream 100 race at Boston

By Travis Connelly
Enterprise-Journal
After recently making a name for himself at the MHSAA Class 3A state meet, setting a new state record in the 100-meter dash, Tylertown High School rising senior Jordan Anthony earned more recognition last weekend, taking the top spot in the Adidas High School Boys’ Dream 100 race at the Adidas Boost Boston Games.
The annual event consists of not only some of the top talent in the country, but also attracts some international athletes as well.
“I was just excited,” Anthony said. “There were a lot of fast people that I ran against. I was just excited that I pulled out the win to showcase myself for Mississippi.”
Anthony ran a 10.45 in the race, narrowly edging Gavin Schurr from Colorado. Anthony’s performance in Boston came a little over two weeks after he turned heads at the Class 3A State Meet setting a new state record in the same race with a time of 10.30.
That showing at state helped Anthony get the invite to the Adidas event in Boston.
“After state, my coach (Tylertown track Head Coach Myreon Sartin) said that I should be getting an email from Adidas,” he said. “I got invited to the Boston Boost games. I was excited and he was excited. Only five people in the world got that email and I was one of the five.”
In order to prepare for the race in Boston, Anthony was getting ready to go through his normal regimen as far as training. However both he and Coach Sartin agreed to ease up a bit.
“We actually slowed it down to focus on what I needed to focus on to win the race,” he said.
Anthony admits that a large portion of his training goes beyond just the physical nature. A lot of it involves making sure he is in the right frame of mind prior to running.
“Ninety percent is mental,” he said. “If you can beat your opponent mentally, then you will beat them physically.”
In addition to being presented a championship belt to signify his win, Anthony received more, getting an invite to run at The Outdoor Nationals presented by Nike. The event will take place from June 30 through July 3 in Eugene, Oreg.
“I’m excited to be able to showcase my talent (there) and show that Mississippi has talent. We are getting overlooked,” Anthony said. “If God gave me the talent to put Mississippi on the map, then I am going to do it. I want to see everybody at the top with me, I don’t want to be alone.”
Anthony adds that he is very thankful for the support that he has received, including from his teammates at Tylertown.
For Coach Sartin, watching Anthony succeed with his recent accomplishments, isn’t a big surprise to him, more of an expectation.
“To me, I wouldn’t say that he exceeded expectations,” he said. “I always knew that he had it in him. He just had to manifest himself and put a little extra work in and get stronger. I kind of knew that he could do it but nobody knew that it was going to happen this fast as a junior and he has a year to go to try and improve on that.”