Watts Finishes 3rd in TAC Junior Nationals

Quincy Watts of Taft High clocked his best time of the season, but that was only good for third in the 100-meter dash at The Athletics Congress junior track championships Friday.

Watts, the top-ranked high school sprinter in the nation in 1987 according to Track and Field News, ran 10.48 seconds on the all-weather track at Florida State, but was no match for the Texas A&M; freshman Andre Cason, who ran 10.08.

Cason, a member of the Aggies’ NCAA champion 400-meter relay, got off to a great start and was never challenged. Tony Lee of the Northwest track club placed second in 10.39.

Watts will run in the 200 meters today.

Cason’s time was a meet record and narrowly missed the world junior record of 10.07 set by Auburn’s Stanley Floyd in 1980.

Although Watts failed to qualify for the World Junior track championships in Sudbury, Canada, later this summer--only the top two qualify in each event--he made the U. S. team in the 400 relay.

Former Poly High standout Jeff La Monica of Cal State Los Angeles scored a personal-best 6,564 points to place fifth in the decathlon.