Kenan Christon had already captured the full attention of track aficionados -- and USC football fans alike -- through his blazing spring, putting up historic times for the CIF San Diego Section and seemingly one-upping himself with each race.
But the state meet would cement his legacy as one of the fastest athletes to ever come out of the area.
He and his family had talked about the records only briefly. First, he just wanted to make sure he went out a winner, but they were well aware of the heightened stakes.
"Oh man, that was terrible to anticipate it, but beautiful to watch it unfold," his father Kenan Christon Sr. would recall a couple months later. "I kind of wish I could have had more fun being there, but I was so stressed. I was confident in him, but it was still stressful."
Christon, the soon-to-be USC freshman running back, had already set the San Diego Section record in the 200 meters with a time of 20.90 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays in late April. According to MileSplit, the previous mark of 20.97 had stood for 21 years. Then, a week later at the Escondido Invitational, he ran it in 20.67. And then a 20.55 at the San Diego Section prelims, which would end up the fourth-best high school time nationally in the 200 this year.
While that time was wind-legal, his incredible 10.26-second 100 meters performance that day -- "the fastest time run under any conditions in San Diego Section history," according to MileSplit.com -- wouldn't be accepted as an official record due to the stronger gusts during that race.
So as Christon got set for the 100-meter finals at the 101st CIF State Track & Field Championships in Clovis in late May, he had the words from his coach at the forefront of his thoughts ... and surely the state record time at least somewhere in the back of his mind.
"As I'm running the race, usually when guys aren't in first they tend to tighten up and start freaking out, but me and my coach had talked before the race and he was telling me if anything wasn't going my way, not to freak out, just to relax and trust myself," Christon recounted. "So I stayed relaxed and when I crossed the finish line I knew I had won and it just felt great. I was listening and I heard everyone cheer, but I hadn't heard the time. I hadn't heard the announcers say it, so after I got done running, I was looking back and I looked on the board and there the time was."
Christon, who was trailing early behind UCLA football signee Christian Grubb, pulled ahead to win in a wind-legal 10.30, tying the state meet record set 27 years earlier by fellow San Diego standout Riley Washington (Southwest HS).
"It was unbelievable. I was speechless," his father said, reflecting back. "My wife was crying. We just hugged each other. It was unbelievable."
Christon followed up by winning the state title in the 200 meters as well, in a time of 20.69, becoming just the third male runner all-time from the San Diego Section to sweep the state titles in those two sprints (with that feat previously accomplished in 1977 and 1929).
"He still had a little bit of doubt. He still was not absolutely positive that he was a 10.3 guy, that he was a 20.5, 20.6 guy [in the 200]. He still kind of didn't believe it himself," said Haneef Shaheed, Christon's sprint coach at Madison High School. "So to see him on the biggest stage dominate a state track meet … I was just very, very happy for him, that he was able to see, yeah, I work hard, this is the result."
That said, less than two weeks after stamping his name in the record book, Christon's low-key demeanor remained seemingly unchanged while sitting in the lobby at Madison HS trying to put it all in perspective.
"I take a lot of pride in it, but I don't really [boast] it. It is a good accolade, but it's not going to help anyone just bragging about it," he told TrojanSports.com. "When people bring it up to me I take a good honor and pride in it, but I never [boast] about it."
Then again, Christon hasn't had to do any boasting of his own. The postseason awards poured in as he was named the Gatorade California Track Athlete of the Year, the MileSplitCA Boys Track Athlete of the Year and other such honors.
"I don't think it's hit me as much as everyone thinks it should have, but I'm honored, I really am," he said during that conversation in early June. "It feels great to know that I'm going down in San Diego history, and just to know that I split my time with football. It feels great that I'm able to do that with sharing time with both sports."
Oh right. For all that track talk, it was actually Christon's abilities as a running back that had the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame and other national powers competing with USC for his services -- and that now make him one of the most intriguing freshman newcomers for the Trojans as preseason camp opens Friday.
'His speed obviously separated him from pretty much everybody'
Kenan Christon Sr. wouldn't let his son play football until the sixth grade because he didn't want to expose him to early injuries that could affect his long-term development and potential.
The elder Christon had been a promising high school athlete himself way back when in Ohio -- as both a running back and sprinter in the 100 and 200 meters, just like his son -- but he hadn't taken his academics seriously enough and other life events would also help play a role in curtailing any future he had as an athlete.
"I had a son [prior to Kenan] early when I was coming out of high school so I just went to the Navy to hurry up and get working," he recalled. "... Everybody feels [they were a good enough athlete to compete in college], but yeah, I thought so. I had a bunch of letters and talked to a bunch of coaches when I was in high school. I didn't really focus on the books, though, as much as I should have."
He'd instill in his son, 'Don't make that same mistake,' but academic focus was never an issue for the younger Kenan. Meanwhile, both his father and mother Persephonie Christon came from a track background so there were other lessons he benefitted from early in life as well.
Kenan Sr., who now works in maintenance for the San Diego Unified School District, saw when his son was just 3 or 4 years old that he was already faster and stronger than other kids his age. The wheels were turning as father started son in track when he was 6. Along with that came the extra workouts -- just pushups, sit-ups and working on his running form initially -- that most other kids weren't yet doing.
"I would always tell him, 'You'll thank me later. You might be mad right now, but you'll thank me later,'" Kenan Sr. said. "... When he was 12 years old that's when he started on the weights. I started him off on cable weights so he could just get the feel of it, and then when he was 13 he started on the free weights. We just kind of had a routine from then on, three times a week at least. When he started to see his body change, that's when he kind of said, 'OK, this is worth it.'"
Said the younger Kenan: "My dad would always tell me, 'Come, let's go work out.' I would hate it, but he'd always tell me, 'You'll thank me later.' I went with him and had to trust the process, and now I'm thanking him later."
While Christon was already establishing himself as one of the fastest track athletes in his age group, he was also an immediate hit on the football field as well.
"I've always been one of the faster kids of my age groups. And then when I started playing football, my coach was like, 'Well, you're faster than everybody else so we're just going to sweep left and sweep right and see how it goes,'" Christon recalled.
It's gone pretty well, to say the least.
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Christon was a sophomore on Madison HS's 2016 football state championship team. Coach Rick Jackson noted that normally if a sophomore didn't have a starting role he'd spend his time on the JV squad, but even as a backup Christon was simply too valuable to keep off the team.
