Hillsborough product Lamar is No. 2 seed at Big East Indoor meet

Posted Feb 16, 2010 by Bill Ward

Updated Feb 17, 2010 at 03:10 PM

Former Hillsborough High track star Lindsey Lamar has continued his swift ways at the University of South Florida.

The speedy Bulls freshman enters this weekend’s Big East Indoor Track and Field Championships as the No. 2 seed in the men’s 60-meter dash, just three one hundredths of a second behind Georgetown University senior Kenny Mitchell.

Lamar clocked his time of 6.77 seconds for the 60 at the Akron (Ohio) Quad meet on Jan. 15. It was an impressive performance considering Lamar’s limited time on the track since concluding his first football season at USF last fall.

Lamar finished his senior year at Hillsborough by winning three events at his regional championship—the 100 (10.69), 400 (48.85) and 200 (21.85)—to help the Terriers win their third straight crown at the meet. At the state finals, however, he pulled aggravated a nagging hamstring injury during the prelims of the 100 and was forced to withdraw from the meet.

Lamar says his limited indoor campaign will hopefully lead to a full outdoor schedule, where teammates such as former Miami Pace standouts Derrick Hopkins, Kayvon Webster and Sterling Griffin could make the Bulls one of the Big East’s top squads in the 4x100 relay. Hopkins enters the Big East Indoor Championships as the No. 7 seed in the 60 at 6.87.

According to Mike Bello with the USF sports information office, Webster and Griffin have been training with the team this winter but decided against running indoors. With Hopkins, this trio of former Pace sprinters made up three-quarters of the 4x100 sqiad that last spring posted the nation’s fastest prep time for the event at the state finals (40.54).

Next year, Lamar should be joined by cousin and former Hillsborough teammate Terrence Mitchell, who recently signed a football scholarship with the Bulls. Mitchell is one of the state’s best long and triple jumpers, as well as a state medal winner inthe 300 hurdles.

Lamar begins action at the Big East meet Saturday with the opening round of the 60 at the New Balance Track & Field Center in The New York City Armory. Several other USF athletes are entered, including Stephanie Duffy, who is the top seed in the women’s pole vault, and freshman Neaman, the conference’s top scorer in the heptathlon this season.

Photo: USF football and track standout Lindsey Lamar, left, and his cousin and former Hillsborough teammate, Terrence Mitchell, got together earlier this month when Mitchell signed a Letter of Intent with the Bulls. Photo by Bill Ward.