By Tom Waddill
Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE —
Track season is not over yet for Dimitri Collier. A 2010 graduate of Huntsville High School, Collier is still busy running and competing.
Last weekend he and three of his summer track teammates from Houston won the regional meet in the 400-meter relay and qualified for the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Championships, which will be held this week in Sacramento, Calif.
Running for the Carl Lewis Stars out of Houston, Collier teamed with Blake Allen, Eli Thompson and Clyde Lee to post a sizzling 40.86-second time in the finals of the regional meet in Abilene.
“That was the second-best time in the nation,” said Collier, who also ran on the Hornets’ sprint-relay team that earned a bronze medal at the state track meet in Austin this spring.
Collier and his Carl Lewis teammates fly to California early Wednesday morning for the opening ceremonies of the USA Track national meet. Preliminary races are scheduled Friday and finals will be held Saturday.
“I feel like we’ve got a pretty good chance if we get our heads together,” Collier said.
Collier, who earned a scholarship from Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, has been busy this summer getting ready for his first season of college track. In addition to his team’s victory in the 400 relay, Collier earned a silver medal in the 100 meters (10.54 seconds) at the regional meet last week.
A track enthusiast who started running at a young age for coach Earl Woods in Huntsville, Collier has been traveling back and forth to Fort Bend County three days a week to attend track practice with the Carl Lewis Stars.
“I’ve got a motto: Man gave me a chance and God gave me a gift,” Collier said.
