Men's Track Signs Harris

July 1, 2004

Coral Gables, FL (hurricanesports.com) – Tim Harris, Jr. (Miami, FL), the USA Track and Field Junior National Champion at 800-meters, has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Miami this fall to highlight a 10-man recruiting class, head men’s track and field coach Mike Ward announced Thursday.

Harris had a dominating senior season at Miami Booker T. Washington capturing the Florida Class 3A State title in the 800-meters as well as the 800-meter title at the Adidas National Scholastic Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

His winning time of 1:49.30 at the Adidas Championships ranks as the 10th fastest in the world this season by a runner under 20 years of age. The time is also the top by a high school runner in Florida and second by a prep runner in the United States.

This summer Harris will represent the United States at the IAAF World Junior Championships, July 13-18, in Grosseto, Italy.

Miami’s 10-man class includes four state champions. In addition to Harris, the Hurricanes will welcome Casey McGinn (Orlando Lake Highland Prep) the Florida Class 2A State Champion in the pole vault, Joey Harper (Tallahassee Chiles HS) a member of the Florida Class 3A State Champion 4×800-meter relay, and Richard Bernard (Charlotte Catholic HS) the North Carolina Class 2A State Champion in the 1,600-meters.

Rounding out the class are distance runners Alex Paley (Albany, NY), Matt Clemente (Naples, FL), and Patrick Ryan (Howell, NJ), along with pole vaulter Joshua Upshaw (Cardiff, CA), middle distance runner Ron Setal (Plainfield, NJ) and thrower Austin Barnett (Winter Park, FL), a transfer from the University of Florida.