Brown 2-time All-American
VIRGINIA BEACH — Talk about finding a silver lining.
Despite losing this winter's Pennsylvania indoor track and field season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Butler junior sprinter Guinness Brown never lost his running touch.
To the contrary.
He's taken it to new levels.
Brown became a two-time High School All-American this weekend at the Adidas Indoor Indoor Track and Field National Championships at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. He placed third in the 400 meters and fifth in the 200 meters.“He absolutely shattered our school records in both events, destroyed them,” Butler boys track and field coach Mike Seybert said.Brown ran the 200 in 21.73 seconds Saturday. The winning time, posted by Michigan resident Brandon Miller, was 21.18.Brown's 400-meter time was 48.22 seconds. Both times are Butler indoor track records.His 48.22 time in the 400 is faster than any Golden Tornado athlete has ever run that event in an outdoor meet as well.“It's absolutely crazy what he's doing,” Seybert said.The winning time in the 400 was 47.83, recorded by Ashton Schwartzman of IMG Academy in Florida.Brown admitted he never expected to fare as well as he did at nationals. The top six placers in each event earn All-American honors.“I never even dreamed about something like this. I just feel really good about all of this,” he said.“Being pushed by this type of competition ... I mean, these kids are all faster than me. I was the slowest kid in my heat in the 400. It does amp you up. When you're chasing kids, it forces you to run harder.”Since the Pa. indoor season was canceled, Brown has competed in five meets out of state this winter. He's been to the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, Youngstown State University and has made a couple of trips to Virginia Beach.“Everybody's looking for competition,” Brown said. “When I ran at SPIRE, a guy who finished ahead of me came all the way from California.“Yeah, I think being forced to travel to higher-level meets has helped me in the long run. I never thought I'd break 22 seconds in the 200 this year. My goal this outdoor season was to break 49 seconds in the 400.“Now that I've already done that, I want to break 48. Just keep improving. Just keep setting personal records,” he added.Seybert marvels at how Brown, CJ Singleton and a few other Butler athletes never stopped training despite the pandemic.“CJ going back and forth between basketball and these trips to meets, Guinness runs and trains hard every day, it's amazing what these kids are doing right now,” Seybert said.“Guinness is ecstatic about his performance. He's so excited about this weekend and he should be.”
