Moments after shattering the California 100-meter track-and-field record Saturday afternoon,
Serra (Gardena) junior
Rodrick Pleasant told reporters he could run faster.
"A lot faster," he said.
Scary, considering he broke one of the most coveted speed records in The Golden State.
Pleasant, one of the nation's top football cornerback prospects, matched the fastest wind legal time of the year in the country, going 10.14 seconds in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Moorpark. Pleasant had run 10.16 last week, but it was aided with a 2.7-meters-per-second wind reading, making the mark not legal.
With gusty winds at Moorpark, Pleasant was worried Saturday's mark would also not pass the wind-legal standard. But the register was just +1.6, just below the 2.0 mark to make it legal.
The previous state record was 10.25, last set by another cornerback football prospect Domani Jackson of Mater Dei (Santa Ana) in 2021. Jackson, who tore his ACL in the fall, was a senior at Mater Dei this season and enrolled early to USC. Jackson tied the then record of 10.25 set in 1985 by Henry Thomas of Hawthorne.
Later on Saturday, Pleasant also won the 200 in 20.49 — just off his personal best of 20.40 — and next week will look to double at the state meet held at Buchanan High School in Clovis. He tied Jordan Anthony, a senior at Tylertown (MS.), for the fastest 2022 wind-legal 100 time in the country.
"I'm just getting healthy," Pleasant told reporters. "I'm so blessed to be in this situation. Everything that happens is for a reason. ... That was the aim to get that record. I'm so happy."
Pleasant was listed as a 5-foot-11, 172-pound wide receiver and defensive back on Serra's football team in the fall. He had only six touches all season — three catches and three rushes — but he had 88 yards and two touchdowns. On defense he had eight pass deflections and he returned a kickoff 82 yards for a score.
He's ranked the No. 71 junior recruit in the country by
247Sports and the No. 9 cornerback. He has 25 college offers, but appears to have narrowed his choices to Boston College, USC and Oregon.
With his blinding speed, Rodrick Pleasant ranks as one of the top 100 football players in his class.
File photo by Louis Lopez
