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Sports

Laurel High Grad Ready for National Track Meet

Victorian qualified for the 400 hurdles and will compete Wednesday as a sophomore for Coppin State at the NCAA Division I event in Iowa.

To call Jibri Victorian a quick learner would be an understatement. The label of late bloomer would also work as well.

Victorian did not run track until the outdoor season of his junior year at Laurel High. But hours of practice have helped him rise to the top level as a college standout.

Now, as a sophomore at Coppin State in Baltimore, he is hours away from taking part in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships track and field meet at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in the 400 hurdles. Victorian is slated to compete on Wednesday evening at Drake.

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That is an impressive feat, especially with his lack of experience in the event.

"I did not start the 400 hurdles until the year after I graduated," said Victorian, who graduated from Laurel High in 2009.

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One person who saw his potential was Carl Hicks, the head track coach at Coppin State.

"He was not running that fast for Division I coming out of high school, but I could recognize the potential he had," Hicks told Patch before going to Iowa with Victorian.

But Hicks, who grew up in Baltimore and competed at Maryland-Eastern Shore, saw Victorian's body type and "mental calmness" and realized he had a strong future.

As a freshman at Coppin, Victorian was second in the hurdles at the MEAC Outdoor Championships with a time of 52.39 and he advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA East Preliminary Round.

Victorian entered Laurel High as a junior after attending his first two years of high school in Virginia. His father still lives in Laurel.

He ran track at Laurel for head coach Kennon Broadhurst and also played two years of basketball for the Spartans. Among the events he competed in were the 4 x 400 relay.

Coming out of high school, Victorian considered Florida A&M and Maryland-Eastern Shore. But he decided to attend school at Coppin State, where he is a sports marketing major.

He has blossomed under Hicks, who was a standout in the 800 at Maryland-Eastern Shore.

"Coach Hicks recruited me, and my freshman year he worked with me and I dropped several seconds off my time, from 54 to 51," Victorian said.

Victorian, listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, qualified for the national meet by taking 12th at the East Regional. He was third in his heat in the first round with a time of 51.82 and he was 12th in the quarterfinals in 51.17.

His personal best of 51.12 is third in the Coppin State record books for outdoors and his time of 14.79 in the outdoor 110 hurdles ranks second. His time of 7.90 in the indoor 55 hurdles is the second-best mark in school history, and his time of 8.41 in the indoor 60 hurdles ranks third.

Now he is aiming for a strong finish in his first national meet at the Division I level. He realizes Coppin State is not a national track powerhouse.

"I want to try to get to the finals, though we may go as underdogs," said Victorian, who lives off campus. "One of my goals is to PR [personal best] and make it to the finals" at Drake.

As a quick learner or late bloomer, Victorian may be able to do just that this week in Iowa. And if not? The Laurel product has two more seasons to make his mark at the national level.

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