‘THIS IS INCREDIBLE’
Ford’s Graves shows ‘special talent’ in meet against Fraser
Drew Graves’ smile got wider with each event.
When Ford’s track and field meet at Fraser was over Wednesday, the Falcon junior reflected on a breakout performance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a better day than this,” he said. “Two PRs is hard to argue with.”
Graves set career-best times while winning the 400- and 200-meter races with respective finishes in 49.7 and 22.3 seconds in the Macomb Area Conference White Division meet.
He also won the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 10 inches, and he anchored the first-place 4 by 200 relay team that finished in 1:33.0.
Fraser came out on top in team scoring for the boys and girls meets. Both Rambler teams improved to 3-0 in the division.
Graves ran for the Michigan Mustangs during the indoor season. The 800 meters was his primary event.
“I was just talking to my coach,” he said after winning the 200. “Got some decisions to make. I don’t know what I’m going to run (in future meets).
“This is incredible. It’s been really good.”
Ford coach Nick Chambers called Graves “a special talent.”
“We haven’t had one of those come around in a long time,” Chambers said.
Chambers mentioned that
Ford’s records in the 400 and 800 have stood for more than 40 years and that Graves looks constantly at the benchmarks.
“He knows what he has to attack,” Chambers said. “He made the switch (a couple years ago) from soccer full-time because he realized the potential he has in track. He committed to AAU track, summer running, winter running, indoor running.
“We know he has the talent in him. It’s starting to show out here. He’s a good one.”
Graves, Chambers said, helps his team in multiple ways.
“He’s a good kid, got good grades, is a good teammate,” Chambers said. “He’s pulling up all the other kids around him. Other kids are stepping up because they realize they can do something.”
Keyon Walker, Michael Brown and Diego Harden joined Graves on the relay.
“That’s the one team of all the relays that we’ve kept solid, to where it’s just them,” Chambers said. “The more consistent they are with handoffs, the better chance they can do some decent things this year.
“We had a bad handoff today, and that bad handoff cost us a