Thigpen returns to defend state title
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By Robert Daski
Published: March 30, 2008
Adams Abdulrazaaq was.
Abdulrazaaq entered as the higher seed — 37.79 to Thigpen’s 38.12. He was a senior, Thigpen a sophomore.
But who says an underdog can’t win?
“It worked out in the end,” Thigpen said.
By the end of the race, Thigpen was celebrating his first individual state title. Abdulrazaaq settled for sec-ond. Thigpen was on top of the world.
“I was feeling very proud of myself,” Thigpen said. “When I was running that last hundred, I was thinking, ‘I can be a state champion, I can be a state champion’. I was really excited. I was really proud of myself that all my hard work paid off in the end.”
Thigpen is working just as hard to repeat his feat. His practice regimen is more advanced. He is running several 400-meter dashes with 30 seconds rest and several 200-meter dashes with the same rest time. The goal is to run 2,000 total meters.
“We’re not really focusing on speed and skills,” Stonewall coach Deon Taylor said. “It’s purely stamina.”
Taylor says Thigpen is probably a week behind his training. No matter. Thigpen should catch up. If so, it will put Thigpen in line for another strong season.
Now in his third outdoor campaign, Thigpen seeks his third straight Cedar Run District championship in the 300-hurdles. He also has won a district title in the 200-meter dash.
He likely will do both events this spring after focusing solely on the 300-hurdles last year.
But he is not content with just doing both. He wants to win them.
“My goals are to go out, work hard and try and win all my races, try and stay undefeated,” Thigpen said. “I want to go out and do better than I did last year, run faster times and improve.”
He heads into the outdoor season following a solid indoor season. Thigpen won the 55-meter dash at the dis-trict meet, the Northwest Region meet and finished fifth in the event at the Group AAA state meet. He also helped the Raiders win a district title in the 800-relay.
Thigpen wants to work hard to continue having that winning feeling.
“Like my dad said, ‘You’re never as good as you think you are, but you’re never as bad as you think you are’. So I’m not going to hang myself up,” Thigpen said. “I’m just going to keep working hard, harder than I’ve been working, so I can do better. If I’m at the top because I won states last year, I have to work harder to stay on top and keep winning.”
Thigpen certainly has experience on his side. He has run since fourth grade and went undefeated in the 60-meter hurdles for three years at Marsteller Middle School. He also won a district title in the open 400 in eighth grade.
But a flourishing track career is not the only thing Thigpen has going for him. A running back for Stonewall Jackson, he has offers from Connecticut, Stanford, Tennessee, Boston College, West Virginia and Minnesota to play college football.
His father Doug is a former running back and defensive back at Southern Mississippi.
Thigpen’s uncle is Gene Lang, a former running back for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos.
Lang encourages Thigpen to play football at the next level and with the way his track career is going, Thigpen may want to try two sports in college.
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