Smith breaks school record in 200m

Cordel Smith after a recent invitational

Thursday saw Bulldog senior Cordel Smith run the 200 meter in 22 seconds flat in a dual meet against rival Stoughton High School.  His time of 22.0 seconds breaks the previous CHS 200m record and is only the 2nd time since 1963 that someone has run the race faster than the 220 yard record. Modern High School track is now run in meters where for most of the last century, it was run in yards.  The modern day 200 meter is almost identical to the 220 yard race so records use a conversion chart to compare the times. We continue to keep the older records in yards as they are not an exact comparison- but regardless- Smith's time of 22.0 seconds is faster than both the record in the 200 m and 220 yard. Smith has also been flirting with the CHS long jump record (held by Gerry Govatsos- 21'10.5"- set in 1961.

Previous record holders-

The previous fastest 200 meter time of 22.1 was set by Sam Bastien in 2007- just two years after Jacques Faublas had set the mark at 22.5 in 2005.

Prior to Bastien- the fastest 220 yard time ever recorded by a Bulldog was in 1963 when Albert D'attansio posted a smoking fast 22.6 seconds. Using the conversion to meters, Smith's time yesterday would have been 22.13 seconds- besting both the 55 year-old mark by nearly a half a second and Basiten's in 2007.  D'Attanasio, who went on to become a Canton educator and principal at the Luce School, set his record on the old cinder track that was here at CHS back in the 1960s. Congratulations to D'Attanasio- most records do not last a half-a-century!

Congratulations to Cordel Smith- The new CHS record holder in the 200m!