High School

Issam Asinga breaks national high school 200-meter dash record

Texas A&M signee runs a 19.97, breaks Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles' record set in 2016

Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports

All that was standing in the way of Issam Asinga and a national high school record was the wind. 

Asinga set a national high school record in the 200-meter dash on Saturday with a 19.97 at the Corky Crofoot Shootout in Lubbock, Texas. The Montverde senior's time broke the previous set by Noah Lyles (20.09) in 2016. 

And he did it a week after running the fastest all-conditions 100-meter dash in high school history twice — wind-aided 9.83 and 9.86 marks in the same day.

Asigna, a Texas A&M signee, is running for Montverde Academy in Florida as a senior after winning Missouri Class 2 state championships in the 100, 200 and 400 as a junior.

Unlike his blistering 100 times the week before — which did not officially count as a record — his 200-meter mark was wind-legal with the wind assistance registering at 1.3-meters-per-second wind at his back, below the two-second legal threshold.

And better yet? When Asinga ran the wind-aided 9.83 at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational on April 23, he narrowly beat Lyles, the previous 200 record-holder, who finished second with a 9.92.

Lyles is now a two-time World Champion and Olympic sprinter who won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

He attended T.C. Williams High School, which is now known as Alexandria City High School, in Alexandria, Virginia.

Running as a part of the Celerity Track Club at Texas Tech on Saturday against college sprinters, Asinga also won the 100-meter dash with a wind-aided 9.89 (3.2-meters-per-second wind advantage).

His previous personal best in the 200 came at the Florida State relays on March 25 when he ran a 20.57.

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Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports
ANDY BUHLER, SBLIVE SPORTS

Andy Buhler is a Regional Editor of Texas and the national breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, where he covered the likes of Paolo Banchero and Tari Eason served on state tournament seeding committees. He works on the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, MLS in Atlanta to local velodrome before diving into the world of preps. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.

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