Catch him if you can

Coaching a track and field star like Raymond Eurie can be difficult.

Just ask James Island coach David Lee.

"The struggle I have, and we joke about it occasionally, is to limit him to four events, because he can run the 100, 200, 400," Lee said. "He hates it, but I put him in the 800 occasionally. Now, he has the 110 hurdles under his belt. I want him in the 4x100 (relay), the 4x400 (relay). The level he's gotten himself to now, the hard part is to narrow it down to what events to run."

The 6-1, 134-pound junior is one of the headliners of Saturday's Outback Azalea Classic. He's going to compete in the three dashes and run on the 400-meter relay team. He got off to an impressive start two weeks ago at the Sandlapper Classic, and wants to keep the momentum going.

"My goal is to be state champ in the 200 and 400 and set state records," Eurie said. "I've got to keep working."

Eurie set Sandlapper and West Ashley Stadium records two weeks ago. He captured the 200 with a time of 21.86 seconds and captured gold in the 400 with a time of 48.59. That's almost a second faster than the third-place time he recorded at last May's state meet.

He has big goals for Saturday's meet, which will be held at Summerville High School.

"I'm trying for a (time of) 47 (seconds) in the 400 and want to drop a (time of) 20 seconds in the 200," Eurie said. "It's going to be a tough chore."

Lee wasn't surprised by Eurie's early season times because Eurie has taken it on himself to step his game up.

"He's doing a summer track program," Lee said. "He's doing some indoor meets in the winter on his own and with a group up in Berkeley. That's what he's done to get ready."

Lee is in his third year as coach of the Trojans, and he remembers Eurie the freshman as an athlete who had a lot of raw talent, but lacked experience.

"You could tell he really didn't know how to run a race like the 400," Lee said. "Last year, he was more composed and you could tell he knew what he was doing on the track. He finished third in the state. He continues to step it up, and he's beginning to step it up in the classroom. He's kind of taken on a leadership role for the younger runners."

Eurie has just about concluded his indoor season. He competed in the Nike in Nashville, Tenn., and will compete in an indoor meet in Atlanta in two weeks.

"I feel indoors is better than outdoors," Eurie said of the meets. "It feels like you're moving faster on an indoor track."

But Eurie is fast enough outdoors. His time of 48.59 two weeks ago was just off the state championship time of 48.40 ran by York's Marty Markett last May.

He's working extra hard for the gold and that includes running the 800 meters, a grueling event for sprinters.

"He tells me how he feels about running it," Lee said. "But, it increases his endurance. In a race like the 400, not only do you need the speed, you need the endurance. If you carry a pace he's going to carry for the entire lap, you're going to need endurance and have to be able to run hard for more than 400 meters."