When things get tough, you gotta make sure you're not exposing yourself to too much risk and if we were to bet on who is going to be a big star this year, it doesn't get safer than Harry Economon.
Check out Harry Economon's Athlete Profile
One of the best things about covering high school track and field is getting the best of both worlds. You will see athletes that are superstars from day one (like a Grant Holloway) and you will see good athletes become great overtime.
Both end up being great but what is really fun is watching the progress and guessing how high can someone go.
That is the case with James W. Robinson junior Harry Economon who enters his junior year as a two-time state champion and the top returner in both the 500m indoors and 400m outdoors. He owns personal bests of 10.90 in the 100m, 21.62 in the 200m, 35.40 in the 300m, 47.08 in the 400m, 1:04.94 in the 500m, and 2:02 in the 800m.
Those times add up to make a dangerous runner who has range. The biggest time that jumps out to us though is the 400m dash. That time ranks 21st all-time in the state and puts him one spot on the all-time list behind Noah Lyles who ran 47.04 in high school. Economon did that as a sophomore.
The 400m time is also significant because it was run late in the season at adidas Outdoor Nationals. That means he was really peaking and actually dropped 0.61 seconds off of his winning state meet time.
Now this is just theoretical but... let's say he was 0.61 seconds faster last year (he really was come June) and by the state meet indoors this year he gets another 0.61 seconds faster in the 500. That 1.22 seconds (which is totally reasonable) would put him at 1:03.72 for the 500 indoors or in terms of all-time performances, VA #14 all-time.
Were he to drop another 0.08 seconds, he'd be in the top 10 all-time. For time reference, you blink at a speed of 0.1 seconds.
A lot of this is hypothetical and needs to be proven on the track but credit is due where credit is earned and Harry Economon has earned quite a bit. Keep an eye on him this season and be sure not to blink too quickly.