Tate Taylor After Winning the PRE Classic 200m and Breaking the HS National Record, 19.75
Tate Taylor shares the emotions he felt after winning the Prefontaine Classic 200m in his first Diamond League race as a sophomore. He also set a new 200m high school record at 19.75.
Video Transcript
Here with Tay Taylor after bringing that high school national record, man.
I think the first thing I wanna talk about, no glasses.
Like- Yes, sir we talked to coach before.
Uh-huh.
He said you just made a decision, you just didn't feel like glasses today.
What, what went into that?
I know some days there's a time for glasses, and other days I gotta take 'em off, and I kinda got that instinct that whenever I took 'em off, I was like, "I ain't gonna lie, Coach, this don't feel like a glasses day."
And he was like, "I don't think so either."
'Cause last time I didn't have glasses on, I went 9.92, and I broke the high school 100 meter record.
Mm-hmm.
So, I mean, when you talk about, like, the way I felt on the car ride up here, I was just ready.
I was excited.
I didn't know 19.7 was in the talk, but I was excited.
And I mean, you know, Coach told me, he was like, "Every big meet from now on, make sure you have your glasses on."
But sometimes, ah, sometimes we running a little too fast for the frames, man, so we had to take 'em off.
Yeah, I remember indoors when you ran that time, the glasses broke.
Yeah, they did.
They did, they did.
They did break.
Even these are kind of broken too, to be honest.
But we'll be all right.
There you go.
There you go.
What were the, what were the nerves or just the thoughts like in the blocks- This was- before this big race one of the rare meets, 'cause I'm getting chills just thinking about it, but, like, a lot of the times when I'm in the blocks, you know, I set myself up, I'm thinking a lot.
There's a lot going through my mind, but the biggest thing is I'm thanking God, right?
I'm kinda, and I kinda settle it down, and then I'm like, "Man, I'm ready to go."
But this meet it was literally just like, "Okay, I'm here."
I was like, "All right, God, you know, let's just go out there and have fun."
Like, not a lot of nerves, to be honest.
I was just really, really excited to just go out there and have fun.
Like, go out there and I think it was my confidence level.
My, my confidence level with this meet was, like, through the roof, and I was just really excited to kind of go out there and just showcase what we've been working on for a long time and showcase, like, the glory of God.
And I think ultimately, that's what kind of fueled me to that 19.7.
Allowing my nerves to kind of die down a lot less.
'Cause I'm usually very nervous before a lot of meets, right?
'Cause, I, you know, I mean, that's how, that's how it is.
I'm human.
Yeah.
I get, I get nervous.
But I, I turn that nerves into excitement and, you know, I go out there and spark.
But this time it was kind of like not a lot of nerves, and it was cool.
It was calm.
I was looking around at the crowd and I was like, "Man, this is, this is lit."
And I think that is what really kind of fueled that, you know, fueled that fire for the race.
That last 100 meters, when did you know that you had the win?
I knew I, I Okay, the win, I knew I had the win probably at the, like, last 50 mark.
Mm-hmm.
Like, once I hit the last 50, I didn't know, but I was like, "Okay, I'm in the lead.
I just have to make sure I secure it."
But I kind of knew I was finna have a good race at about, like, 40, whenever I kind of caught up to, you know, some of the people in front of me.
But I was kind of cruising, 'cause that's what we, that's what we wanted to do eventually, right?
We wanted to get out and then just kind of hit that medium, where you running real fast, but you not using a lot of energy.
You kind of, you striding.
So once I hit that mark and I was like, "I feel really good right now," I came off that curve and I'ma be honest, you know, I was like, "Ooh, Lesile might be coming.
Trumbull might be coming."
But eventually, you know, I realized that it was my race, and then by, by the last 20, I was trying to figure out how I was finna cross the line.
What were the first thoughts of after you crossed that line and just realizing what you did?
What were you thinking about?
The first thought was, I really won, like, a Diamond League Prefontaine meet.
Like, my first, like, m- my Diamond League debut, first ever time on the scene, I won it.
And I was like, "That's wild."
'Cause I don't even know what time I ran, I gotta be honest.
I could've went out there and went, like, 20-0, but as long as I won the meet, ain't nobody else got the little plaque I got.
Ain't nobody else got the, you know what I'm saying, Prefontaine championship title that I got.
So just to look up and know that I won and have that excitement of crossing the line, being like, "Man, I really beat, like, a s- a stupid field."
Like, this field was crazy.
And I don't know, it means a lot, man.
God is, God is really good.
You still got another race, though, coming up.
Yeah, man.
U20s.
Got a couple of them left, yeah.
Just, like, you, after this win, going into everything, like, how, how do you go back and train now?
doing the same thing.
Ain't nothing gonna change.
Seems to be working, so I don't know why we'd switch it up.
So just continue to go back home, put some stupid stuff down on the track every day, and we gon be ready for, Worlds.
There you go.
Well, congratulations, man, and I'll let you get with all your other stuff, bro.
Yes, sir.
Congrats.
Appreciate you, family.
Absolutely, man.
Absolutely.
