Marcus Harris Jr.’s father started to realize his only child was fast after watching him hit a home run in Little League. The ball never left the infield.
“He ran around the bases so fast they couldn’t catch him,” the elder Harris said, laughing. “I knew then he had some speed.”
No one could catch him on football field either, nor could they stay with him in the schoolyard. Harris Jr. finally started losing when he ran track, but that was against his older cousins. At national meets, the youngster progressed from sixth place to first.
“He never looked back,” his father said. “We knew something was in the making.”
Harris Jr.’s arrival is relative to how engrossed one is in the track world.
The 14-year-old Eaglecrest freshman won a state indoor title in the 60 meters at the Joe Davies Open this past January, when his closest competition was two sophomores — both from Chadron (Neb.) State. He has clocked the fastest times for a high school freshman in the nation in both the 100 and 200 meters, and he has received mail from Stanford, UCLA and Tennessee (he has his heart set on Florida).
“It makes you feel like you’re actually somebody in the world, not just average,” Harris Jr. said.
Harris Jr. makes a lot of people feel special.
“I would not imagine in my lifetime that I would be coaching the fastest freshman it the nation. Seriously,” Raptors sprint coach Keith Billingsley said.
Thoughtful, respectful, articulate and humble, Harris Jr. is still fast enough to stay ahead of the hype. He runs hard, trains hard and hits the books hard. Harris Jr. has a 4.2 grade-point average and says he loves math because of the challenge of solving new problems.
Math and track have another, fitting, commonality — numbers don’t lie.
Eaglecrest head track coach Mike Preskorn had heard about Harris Jr. and seen his times, but it was nothing like watching the young kid come out of the blocks at practice for the first time.
Then there was the time Harris Jr. went running past Raptors senior C.J. Morgan, who signed to play receiver at Wyoming this fall.
“To see him pull away from a kid I thought was pretty fast,” Preskorn said, “I had to do a second take.”
Like a pitcher with a golden arm, everyone from Harris Jr.’s parents to his coaches are careful not to overwork him or impatiently ask him to do too much too quickly. Harris, who “had some wheels” in his prep days at George Washington, wants his son to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime fun of high school.
And while Harris Jr. could take the garbage out faster than any of his friends, he still needs to be reminded. But no one needs to remind him to use his time on the track efficiently.
“On our team, he’s one of the hardest-working kids,” Preskorn said. “That’s another thing he has brought to our program — when he’s got a tough workout to do, he definitely puts his all into it. He’s definitely got bigger goals for himself.”
Harris Jr. ran the 200 in 21.64 seconds at Valor Christian this month, and Billingsley believes 21.3 is a realistic goal this season. Billingsley wouldn’t be shocked if Harris Jr. flirted with 10.5 in the 100. In Colorado, Harris Jr. remains the second-fastest prep runner this season behind Doherty senior Kenneth Chambers, who bested Harris Jr. at the Runners Roost Invitational on April 10.
Winning state next month is a challenge Harris Jr. is looking forward to.
“I want to win it all as a freshman,” he said.
