Antony Taylor is a runner for the Arlington High
School Track
team and quite an accomplished runner. Up until this year Antony played
soccer
in the fall, ran track in the winter and played lacrosse in the spring.
But he
gave up his fall and spring sports to run all three seasons. On
February
20th of this year Antony ran in the Division 2 State track meet and won the 2
mile with a time of 9:19. He was looking forward to the following
Saturday when
he would run against all the 2 milers in every division in the state.
After his
victory at the Reggie Lewis Center he went outside with two other
runners for a
"cool down" run around the block. The trio jogged down MLKing Boulevard
and onto
Shawmut Avenue. As they were jogging along the sidewalk a young man
approached
them and with no warning at all raised a beebee gun and shot Antony in the
forehead, arm and back. The other two runners were shot in the arm and
the
leg. Bleeding from the head Antony ran back inside the Reggie Lewis
Center
where the police were summoned.
Antony laughs about it now and wonders
if he "
is the only person to win a state championship and get shot in the head
in the
same day."
The following week while training for the February 27th All
State
Meet Antony felt pain in his foot. He knew something was wrong but
didn't want
to see a doctor for fear he would be held out of the race. Antony showed
up and
ran the two mile. He led the entire race until the final 20 yards where
he was
nipped by one second.
After the race x-rays revealed that Antony ran
with a
stress fracture
in his foot, not to mention the beebee gun wound in his
head. While many would have caved with so much pain, Antony did what
came
naturally to him - he competed and gave it the best he had.
Antony
forgives the
misguided person that shot him and told me he " would have no problem
jogging
down that street again like I had at least a dozen times before." He
will run at
UMASS in the fall and will take with him a story that can only be topped
by his
will to compete and succeed.
Antony Taylor is a runner for the Arlington High
School Track
team and quite an accomplished runner. Up until this year Antony played
soccer
in the fall, ran track in the winter and played lacrosse in the spring.
But he
gave up his fall and spring sports to run all three seasons. On
February
20th of this year Antony ran in the Division 2 State track meet and won the 2
mile with a time of 9:19. He was looking forward to the following
Saturday when
he would run against all the 2 milers in every division in the state.
