Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Record 4-minute mile is within reach for Centennial High runner

Centennial High School's Dajour Braxton

Steve Marcus

Centennial High School senior Dajour Braxton set the state record for the 3.1-mile run in November, crossing the finish line in 15 minutes, 34.2 seconds.

Centennial High School’s Dajour Braxton

Centennial High School senior runner Dajour Braxton smiles during an interview at the school Monday, April 6, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Other runners were keeping pace early in the state cross country meet last November, striving for a chance to beat Nevada’s best long-distance runner.

But Centennial High senior Dajour Braxton wasn’t concerned with the competition. He doesn’t notice others.

“I’m running for time, not just the win,” Braxton said. “If I stick to the pace, at the end of the race, I will have the kick to win.”

His times speak for themselves. And that kick at the end, when Braxton appears fresh and takes his stride into another gear, is impressive.

During the 3.1-mile state race, Braxton set the state record in 15 minutes, 34.2 seconds. He led by three seconds at the 2-mile mark but broke away for a more than 20-second victory. With his victory that morning at Sunset Park, he broke the course record — which he had set two weeks earlier.

Braxton earned a full scholarship to run cross country and track at Louisiana State University. That’s a rarity among male athletes in Olympic sports, who typically receive only partial scholarships due to Title IX.

Before he leaves Las Vegas, he has another time he’d like to break: running a sub-4-minute mile, believed to have been accomplished just five times by high school runners. In track’s 1,600 meters, which is about 10 yards shorter than a mile, Braxton posted the nation’s best time this year at 4:10.61 last month during the Las Vegas Track Classic, according to runnerspace.com. He also won the 800 meters in 1:53.31 and anchored Centennial’s 3,200-meter relay team that broke a meet record.

“He wants to be one of the top 10 in the nation,” said Roy Sessions, Centennial’s track coach. “We look at the goal of being under 4 minutes. We train against the clock. We can’t train against anyone else.”

Braxton’s training schedule sets him apart, Sessions says. Sure, he has plenty of talent. But without the extra work, Braxton would only be good, not nationally known.

After two-hour daily practices at Centennial, Braxton typically spends another two hours in workouts focused on improving his core strength.

“At the end of his freshman year, he was a bottom-of-the-barrel kid,” Sessions said. “But he knew he wanted to be good. I told him, ‘It isn’t going to happen with just two hours of practice. It is going to take extra work. You are going to need to make a commitment.’ ”

The extra practices have made a difference. In previous state cross country meets, Braxton took third. This year, he was the best runner. In the 1,600, he knocked 10 seconds off his second-place time from 2014.

Centennial, which won team state championships in 2012 and 2013, has more than 50 athletes on its team. The Bulldogs again are favored to capture the title, which they lost amid controversy last year when a runner was disqualified in a decisive race.

Braxton, the team’s leader, speaks in the Southern drawl he brought with him after living in New Orleans and Alabama. His coaches and fellow Bulldogs say he’s a great teammate — funny without drawing attention to himself and confident without being cocky or insulting to opponents. His teammates are among his biggest supporters in his quest to run the mile in less than 4 minutes (Centennial competes in national-caliber meets where the mile is run).

“He’s not afraid of going after it,” said Brandan Harley, a Centennial senior sprinter. “He’s in a different category than the other runners.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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