The gun fired, and he took off in Lane 7, way as well fast. Vin Lananna nodded knowingly; he'd likely as much. So you waited is to unavoidable fade.
But Jordan Kent grabbed the lead Saturday, and then he kept it. And when he cruised home with the win, Lananna turned, and grinned.
"What'd I discuss it you?" Lananna asked. "He could be world-class."
The time wasn't: 47.23 seconds. But keep in thoughts Kent's look at the Oregon Relays was his initial race in 5 years.
And then wonder, similar to Lananna, what might have been if Kent had never stopped running.
Sure, Kent says, he wonders, too. But that's the thing. He chose football, and it worked out flattering well for a while.
Since finishing a three-sport vocation at Oregon, he's outlayed the final couple of years knocking around with the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams, unresolved out on the periphery of the NFL. Four seasons, 14 games, a grasp for 5 yards " and the mental condition lives.
Who knows what happens with the NFL lockout, but Kent still hopes for other shot to grasp on and grasp passes. So because was he running this week end at Hayward Field?
A whim, arrange of. A way to stay in figure for more football. But also, only maybe, a look-see. This follow thing could still be something.
"If football doesn't work out," he said, "I'd admire to give it a shot."
Let's be honest. The thought that after 5 years away, Kent could rise in to a high-level sprinter, seems far out. He's 26, turns 27 in July. And on Friday dusk in the 200 meters, that was decay you saw powdering the homestretch.
He ran 21.26 in finishing second to Oregon beginner Mike Berry. A day later, Kent's winning time in the 400 wasn't notably awe-inspiring.
But what were the probability Kent would go, in two years, from never having played orderly football to the NFL? What type of contestant do you have to be to make tha! t ascent ?
Long before football, Kent was a follow guy. And a basketball player, that only done clarity deliberation his family heritage. And yet, Friday afternoon his father, one-time Oregon trainer Ernie Kent, sat quietly, high in the stands at Hayward Field to watch his son run.
"Just being a dad," Ernie said. And afterward: "He did a great job."
Yeah, he did. For about 180 meters, Kent ran as if he'd never stopped. Unfortunately, the race was 200 meters. Kent struggled down the stretch; Berry held him and simply won.
Afterward, Kent joked that at 215 pounds, he might be "the fattest competitor in the world correct now." (But he's straddling the line between football " 225-230 pounds " and follow " where he'd must be 200, or lighter.)
On Saturday he only looked good. Wearing a fluorescent immature singlet and black tights " no markings solely for a really tiny swoosh, but the one-time Duck's vigilant was coherent " he detonate out of the blocks and surged to the lead. And then, defying expectations inclusive his own, he held it and won.
What did it mean?
"Who knows?" Kent said. "If you can run well enough, then because not give it a shot?"
And then he assessed, correctly, that he'd have to trim off a couple of seconds before any person should take severely the thought of a follow comeback. But as Kent strike the complete line, Lananna referred to that if he hadn't coasted the final 50 meters, he might have run beneath 46 seconds.
"I instruct I could have pushed it a little more at the end," Kent said. "I didn't have ample left in the tank."
But the clarity was that he still has worlds of untapped potential.
How ample football Kent has left is uncertain. Last September, he was cut by the Rams. "A figures game," he says, and he's correct " only the probability only keep getting longer for a man who's never quite held on.
A couple of weeks aft! er he'd returned home final fall, Kent got the unexpected titillate to run. He hadn't even deliberate follow given toe operation during his comparison year. But on that October evening, he grabbed a few aged spikes, gathering to Sheldon High's follow and ran a couple of curves.
Nothing hurt. It felt good. No, that's not right.
"This is great," he thought " and his thoughts starting whirring with possibilities.
He proposed working out with one-time Oregon competitor George Walcott. And this week end you saw the outcome of a couple of months of practice amalgamated with wonderful innate ability.
No one's certain where this might lead. Perhaps nowhere. Beyond football, Kent is exploring report and formulation to run a dozen football camps for high-schoolers in several cities this summer.
Also, if the NFL's labor disagreement is settled and Kent gets a call, he'll tumble all and spin to football again. No a would censure him for embarking the mental condition until the really end.
But if football fades away, wouldn't you similar to to see Kent try follow once more? Wouldn't it be cold to see what could be completed if he focused wholly on track?
Back when Kent was personification basketball is to Ducks, then-assistant trainer Dan Steele told him if he'd only hang to track, he could become a 44-second 400-meter guy. Instead, Kent updated football.
Kent says he'll keep sprinting this spring, even if it's often to stay fit for football. He'll may come in a couple of more meets.
Hey, he figures, may be if he pops a swift time, he could bicker a last-minute, last-slot call in to the Prefontaine Classic.
For now, if it seems similar to Kent is only having fun, that's fine. If that's all it is, we'll suffer the dabbling.
But as Kent flashed down the homestretch Saturday, as the outrageous throng at Hayward Field roared, I wondered:
Why does the discolor have to be inevi! table?
E-mail george.schroeder@registerguard.com.
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