It’s not everyday a high school football player outruns an Olympic track champion–so when it happened at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday, it sent shockwaves through the track world. In the final leg of the high school boys 4x400m relay, Tywan Cox of Miami Northwestern–a defensive back and University of Illinois football commit–threw down a blistering 45.14 anchor split to chase down and defeat American Olympic 4x400m gold medallist Quincy Wilson of Bullis School.
Florida’s Miami Northwestern Senior High 4x400m squad, composed of Makhii Fleming, Marckenzy Joseph, J’Vari Flowers and Cox, clocked a stunning 3:08.74–surpassing Bullis’s world U20 lead of 3:09.44 set in March. Cox’s 45.14 split was the fastest in the competition by far, and more than three seconds quicker than his first-round effort of 48.49.
The Bullis team, anchored by Wilson in 46.24, ran 3:09.97. In Friday’s preliminary round, Bullis (3:09.98) easily outran Miami Northwestern (3:11.94), advancing to the final with the fastest time by nearly 1.5 seconds.
Cox and Wilson had already faced off earlier in the weekend. In the high school boys 400m on Friday, Wilson claimed the win in 45.27–the fifth-fastest U20 time in the world this year–while Cox ran a personal best of 46.29 for second. Both also ran in 4x100m heats that same day, but only Bullis advanced to the final–adding another race to Wilson’s schedule ahead of the 4x400m.
On social media, some track fans have speculated that Cox may have incorporated tactics into his final lap, allowing Wilson to take the lead. In race footage, Cox receives the baton ahead of Wilson, but appears to take a very wide turn, allowing Wilson to slip through on the inside. Cox then tucks in behind Wilson for most of the lap, conserving his energy while Wilson led, before kicking in the final 100m–a common strategy in distance races, but rare in a sprint like the 400m.
While the two are clear rivals on the track, they appear to share a friendly rapport on social media. When Cox announced his commitment to University of Illinois on Instagram in November, Wilson was quick to show support in the comments.
