Jamar Marshall ran a state-leading 110m hurdles time in his only race since July. (Credit: Dan Tyree)
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The California state record holder in the 110m hurdles has only run one race so far this outdoor season. In fact, Jamar Marshall has just that one race on the books since the end of July.
Marshall, a senior at Stockton St. Mary's High, has been busy.
It's still basketball season and the second-fastest 110m hurdler in high school track and field history is a baller.
On Thursday night in the second round of the Northern California Division II CIF-State Playoffs, Marshall scored a career-high 34 points leading No. 9-seeded St. Mary's to a 89-67 victory over No. 16 Rocklin Whitney and into Saturday's NorCal Regional semifinal (a state tournament quarterfinal) against No. 4 Stockton Weston Ranch.
In 24 basketball games this winter, Marshall, a point guard listed at 6-2, has averaged 15.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and an unlimited number of highlight plays, including gym-rocking dunks. Thursday's game, where he also made four of six 3-pointers, marked a season-high for points and his second 30-plus point game of the season. He also had seven rebounds, six assists and three dunks.
Despite his memorable performance in what would be his final home basketball game, Marshall was quick to deflect credit.
"I'm so thankful for my team," Marshall was quoted as saying in the game report posted by the Sacramento Bee. "Everyone has been really stepping up for us and it's not just me. A lot of players have been stepping up for us which has been big. That's what you need from a championship team."
St. Mary's lost a week ago in the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals but was granted a spot into the state playoffs.
Last Saturday, it appeared basketball season was over. Marshall took the line at the Stockton Edison Viking Invitational for his first 110m hurdles race since the USATF Junior Nationals late in July -- seven months ago almost to the day.
Despite toggling training for hurdles around basketball, that 14.17 time ranks No. 1 in CA and equal to No. 14 in the U.S. Still, it's rather pedestrian for Marshall. Since the start of his junior season, Marshall had only not run faster than 14 seconds four times, and two of those were qualifiers.
Watch Jamar's 110 hurdles race at the Edison Viking Invitational
Last season, Marshall, who has signed with Arizona State, solidified his position among the state's all-time great hurdlers. His 13.22 at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships last July is the fastest ever by a California high schooler. That mark ranks as the No. 3 performance in prep history for the 39 inch barriers behind only Wayne Davis (Raleigh (NC) Southeast HS), who ran 13.08 and 13.19 in 2009.
John Johnson is the hurdles coach at St. Mary's. Johnson, who reached the 110 hurdles finals at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, has been coaching Jamar throughout his time at St. Mary's. Johnson said Jamar was a "pretty decent hurdler when we first started."
But decent enough to eventually run 13.22?
"I could imagine 13.40," Johnson said, flashing a smile. "Not 13.22. Jamar surprised me last year. The sky is the limit when you've got a kid that understands what we're doing."
Johnson, in an interview this week, said adding 100-meter sprints into Marshall's routine was vital to Jamar's time drops.
"Once we start throwing in the 100 meters, then he was able to actually sprint over the hurdles a lot better," Johnson said.
During the spring of 2019, Marshall rolled to victories every time he took the line, including at top meets like Stanford, Arcadia, Sacramento Meet of Champions, Sac-Joaquin Section Divisionals, SJS Masters, and the CIF-State Championships.
Late last May at Clovis Buchanan HS, Marshall won the CIF-State championship with a blistering 13.31 aided by a 3.3 meters-per-second wind. The hefty breeze at his back kept it from being a State Meet record, but it still ranks as the fastest ever at the State Meet under all conditions and, before his 13.22, ranked No. 2 in state history under all conditions.
On the list of top prep 110 hurdle marks in the U.S. last season, Marshall had four of the top seven and five of the top 10 wind-legal, and No. 1 wind-aided.
We've been talking 110s, but Marshall also runs the 300 hurdles. A nemesis of an event that took a chunk out of his shin in the State Final as a sophomore. Marshall ran a 36.74 PR at the State Prelims last may before placing third in the Final. That time ranks as the second fastest among all returning 300 hurdlers in the U.S.
This winter, Marshall said he has been balancing gym sessions (mentioning abs and push-ups) and weekend hurdle workouts (focusing a lot on technique) with basketball season. Even now, with the CIF spring season in full gear, Marshall is still balancing track and basketball practice. Despite that, Marshall said he's done more in preparation for this spring than he had in past years.
"With me, it's just like riding a bike," Marshall said this week. "When I come (to track practice), I've done this for six-to-seven years. I know how to hurdle. It's just you've got to get the muscles reactivated."
Marshall, 18, said he knows the time for full-time focus on hurdling is close. And he has big plans for the spring and summer of 2020, (which will likely begin next week at New Balance Nationals in New York).
"What you're going to see," he said, "(is) a lot of PRs, a lot of time dropping, a lot of people saying 'Wow!'
"I guarantee you, me and my work ethic, I got big goals: State, U20s, Olympic trials."
Marshall's list also includes something unheard of for a high school hurdler.
"I want to run a 12.9," he said. "I'm going to go harder than anybody to get this 12.9. The only person that's going to get in the way of that is me."
But not until after basketball season.
