Humphrey takes golden spike at Brooks PR Invitational, Nixon 9th
Brittley Humphrey’s final 100-meter hurdles race on the prep level ended the same way as her first--in victory.
On Saturday afternoon in Renton, Washington, the Hoover High Class of 2016 graduate outran an invite-only field at the Brooks PR Invitational. Her golden-spike-winning time of 13.43 seconds bested Colorado’s Emily Sloan by .05 seconds.
“It feels good. It’s an exciting meet, so to come out here and get the gold is nice,” Humphrey said in a postrace interview.
Humphrey was one of seven female hurdlers invited to participate at the prestigious competition. Entering the meet with the sixth-fastest high school mark in the United States, she headlined a field that had produced four of the nation’s top-10 100 hurdle times this outdoor track season.
At Brooks PR, Humphrey started in lane four and accelerated out of the blocks to claim an early lead. Sailing over the hurdles, she steadily created a small gap down the stretch before holding off Sloan in the closing meters.
“I felt her, and I was like, ‘Brittley, come on, do not lose it.’ I’ve lost so many races from where girls would come from behind me at the end, so I was like, ‘don’t lose it, keep it, keep it,'" Humphrey said.
With the triumph, Humphrey added one last accolade to her distinguished high school resume.
Throughout her four years at Hoover, the LSU signee clinched 13 individual state championships, nine state team titles, a trio of All-America honors and a spot on the U.S. team at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships.
On the boys side, Spain Park Class of 2016 graduate Daniel Nixon narrowly avoided a race-altering pile-up in the 800 meters to claim a ninth-place finish.
Nixon trailed race leaders by only a stride with less than 200 meters to go when a sudden collision sent the top two runners sprawling to the track.
“They fell and I was trying to debate whether to go to the inside or outside, and I had to come to almost a complete stop to go around them,” Nixon said following the race. “That just kind of threw me off a bit, but I just had to finish strong. I’m just glad I could finish the race healthy. “
Nixon crossed the line in 1:55.63. The eventual winner, Memphis (Tennessee) University School’s Terrell Jackson, posted a winning time of 1:52.01.
Nevertheless, Nixon said he enjoyed the final meet of his stellar prep career.
“Just being able to be out here with all these great athletes, especially a lot of them that I’ll see at the next level this upcoming fall, was a really good experience,” he said.
Bound for the Southeastern Conference, Nixon—a three-time Class 7A state 800 champion—will continue his track and field career at Mississippi State.