16273: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel- Turenne claims 100 title (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Sun-Sentinel

Turenne claims 100 title


By Sharon Robb
Staff Writer

August 4, 2003

MIAMI · By the halfway point, Woodny Turenne knew he had the race won.

The 16-year-old from the Lauderhill Track Club overcame a slow start to win
his first national 100-meter title Sunday on the sixth and final day of the
USA Track and Field National Junior Olympics.

On a rain-slick track, Turenne ran a career-best 10.65, the fastest time in
the nation in the 15-16 age group, in front of 6,500 at Tropical Park
Stadium in the largest youth meet held in South Florida.

His time will earn him a No. 1 national ranking in the 15-16 intermediate
division when the final rankings are released later this month by USA Track
and Field.

"For a 16-year-old to run a 10.65 is phenomenal," Lauderhill Track Club
coach Ted Beverly said.

The Plantation High School junior is the first to win a national title since
the track club's inception in 1989. He was the only athlete from Broward and
Palm Beach counties to walk away with a gold medal hanging around his neck.
He also ran the anchor leg on his club's 4x100 relay team that finished
third.

"I didn't panic when I didn't get the burst out of the blocks I wanted,"
Turenne said. "I stayed calm and relaxed. I was talking to Jesus the whole
way and stayed focused on my form. I knew I had the race won when I put my
head up at the 50-meter mark.

"I waited my whole life for a day like today. This is pretty much the
biggest day of my life. I have never won anything big like this. The closest
I came was third place [in the 200 meters] at the state high school meet
this past season."

While Turenne remained calm after the race, drinking cups of cool water and
catching his breath, Beverly, his longtime track club coach, was laughing
and waving his stopwatch in the stands. It was Beverly who got Turenne, one
of thousands of athletes he has coached over more than 30 years, started in
the sport. He is Beverly's first Junior Olympic national champion.

Turenne, born in Fort Lauderdale, is one of three children of Haitian
parents who moved to South Florida for a better education for their
children.

Turenne was an awkward, skinny 8-year-old when Beverly started coaching him.
He ran the mile, 800 and 400 to build strength. At 13, Beverly said his
speed started to show after a growth spurt. He ran the 200 and 4x400 in high
school this past season as a sophomore. He started running the 100 in club
track.

"You could see it start to happen for him when he turned 13," Beverly said.
"The speed started to come, and he started showing some signs that he might
be the one."

Before he experienced success in track, Turenne, a wide receiver and
cornerback on the Colonels' football team, was convinced he was going to
excel only in football.

"This is the big time for him in track," Beverly said. "He said when he took
off the football pads he had a sense of freedom he never realized he had
before. This is the beginning of something great for him."

Said Turenne: "I grew up thinking football was more important to me. I was
thinking football all the way until I saw I had speed in track. I love
football, but right now it is 50-50 between track and football. I want to
see where my speed takes me. I know I am going to have a big target on my
back now."

Fort Lauderdale High senior Neksy Metelus of the Boynton Beach Track Club
finished fourth in the young men's division (17-18) of the 100. Metelus also
had a poor start and couldn't recover. "I tried to make up for the lost
time, and I was coming up a little but I ran out of room," said Metelus, who
last week won the AAU junior national title in the 200 in Detroit.

Sharon Robb can be reached at srobb@sun-sentinel.com.


Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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