Hillsborough’s Mitchell blazes to state-leading time

Posted Mar 31, 2010 by Bill Ward

Updated Mar 31, 2010 at 07:27 PM

As Hillsborough track coach Joe Sipp said after the race, “He’s baaaack!”

Hillsborough senior sprinter Terrence Mitchell, who has seen limited duty in the 100-meter dash since the conclusion of his sophomore year, blasted to the state’s No. 1 time for the event this year when he posted a winning time of 10.49 seconds in Wednesday’s National Division meet of the Western Conference Championships at Armwood.

The previous state leader was 10.51, held by Punta Gorda Charlotte’s Michael Bellamy and Ryan Lankford of Jacksonville Paxon. In the qualifying rounds of Wednesday’s meet, Mitchell matched his lifetime best of 10.59 to move to the No. 5 spot on the state leaderboard. Mitchell ran his previous 10.59 as a sophomore, in the 2008 Class 3A-Region 3 finals in Punta Gorda. Last year, however, Mitchell was used primarily in the jumps and 300 hurdles, and failed to qualify for the state meet in the 100 after taking eighth in the regional final.

This season, Mitchell has moved back to full-time duty in the 100, as well as the Terriers’ 4x100 relay, and has been the area’s dominant sprinter in both events.

As anchor man on the relay, Mitchell has led Hillsborough to a time of 41.95, which is the sixth-best time in Florida. Mitchell ran a season-best 10.90 at the USF/SteinbrennerInvitational on March 20 but had not improved his time since then. Because of that, Sipp said he and his staff were considering moving Mitchell to the open 400 unless he showed significant improvement at this meet.

Now, it looks like Mitchell has a permanent home in the 100 this spring.

“He said he was going to run 10.5 in the prelims and 10.4 in the finals and he did it,” Sipp said. “He’s definitely back to stay in that event.”

Photo: Hillsborough senior Terrence Mitchell, right, in the 100-meter dash finals of the Western Conference/National Division, where he ran a state-leading time of 10.49 seconds. Photo by Bill Ward.