by Cliff Mehrtens



Jordan Brown had plenty of motivation, and legs, to win three championships.

As a sophomore at Davidson Day he won the 100- and 200-meter sprints and was part of the Patriots’ winning 800-meter relay team at the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A/2A meet.

He is the Herald Weekly’s 2012 Boys Track Athlete of the Year.

Brown was pitted against Raleigh Word of God Academy’s Lewis Claytin in the 100 and 200. Claytin won both races at last year’s meet, and Brown finished second.

Claytin also had the top times in each race in the preliminaries this year. Brown, whose preliminary times were second, changed all that in the finals.

“I ran PRs (personal record) in the 100 and 200,” Brown said. “I couldn’t let him take those, couldn’t let him past me.”

Brown blazed to the 100-meter championship in 10.82 seconds. Claytin finished in 11.04 seconds. Brown’s winning time in the 200 meters was 21.79 seconds to Claytin’s 22.07.

“I think it was the competition,” Larry Brown, Jordan’s father and a Davidson Day assistant track coach, said.

Brown capped his championship day by running the first leg in the 800-meter relay with teammates Miles Boone, Aaron Seward and Jordan Young. The Patriots’ winning time of 1 minute, 31.82 seconds was almost three seconds faster than runner-up Victory Christian.

Brown is one of the area’s elite runners. He runs competitively year-round and has a busy schedule planned this summer. The AAU state meet will be at Hough High this weekend. Three weeks later will be the AAU national qualifier. And based on top-five finishes, Brown hopefully will qualify for the AAU July Olympics in Houston, Texas.

In between the AAU competitions will be the New Balance Nationals at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.

Next fall, Brown will play on Davidson Day’s football team, where last season he was a kick returner and running back on an 11-1 state championship team.