Tyrese Bandy / Austintown Fitch
Tyrese Bandy is arguably one of the most talented athletes in the state, regardless of grade class. The second-year man out of Austintown Fitch has raced very sparingly during the indoor season - only opting to jump into last weekend's AAU Midwest Open at SPIRE to "have some fun," according to his coach Seth Steiner.
Despite the lack of focused track training, Bandy went an impressive 7.27 and 22.68 in the 60 and 200 contests. He's a multi-dimensional athlete, who also excels on the football field and the basketball hardwood.
MileSplit reached out to Coach Steiner for more insight on Bandy:
"Tyrese ran in the AAU Midwest Invite at Spire with his club team, Steel Valley Nitro. He pretty much just showed up and competed in the meet without any training this season and ended up running 22.68 in the 200m. So I think it goes without saying that he is a special athlete to be able to throw down a time like that without prior training."
"At this point, Tyrese's focus is preparing for the outdoor season and improving upon what I consider to be a successful freshman year, where he was a regional finalist in the 200m with a season's PB of 22.14 and a two event state qualifier in the 4x100 and 4x200."
"He can be successful in anything from the 100m to the 400m. Personally, I'd categorize him as a 200/400 guy, but we are working hard at developing his top-end speed in order to improve his 100m time and take a short to long approach with his development. With a full outdoor season under his belt and the experience of competing at the D1 regional and state meets, he has the potential to be a state qualifier in the 200m and run in the mid 21's this outdoor season."