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But what Raymonte does in his spare time is anything but ordinary. While most kids his age are swimming at the pool or sitting in front of the television, Raymonte is on the track, running the 400m for the High Point Heat, a track team coached by Wayne Jones.
In just one short year, Raymonte has become one of the area’s bright young talents as he recently qualified for the Nationals in Michigan later this month after battling through a field of some 1,500 competitors in Nashville, Tenn., last week.
“My daddy put me in AAU track,” Raymonte said. “ I love it. The 400 is my main race and that’s the one I love. When we got to the end of the first curve [in Nashville], my teammate slowed down, but he did a good job. When I first started, I only had to do the 400 workout, but now I have to do the 800 workout just to get ready.”
With the Nationals squarely in his sights, Raymonte is steadily preparing for the biggest meet of his young life. There will 12,500 athletes in Michigan, but Raymonte is thinking more big picture.
“I’m trying to reach a goal that once I get to the Olympic trials that I’m trying to be faster than Tyson Gates,” said Raymonte. “That’s my goal. I’ll probably go [to the Olympics] in 2012.”
If not at the next Olympics, perhaps 2016. Before any of that happens, Raymonte has to get past his next challenge. Regardless of what happens at the Nationals, though, the trip will undoubtedly be a fun one because Raymonte will be enjoying one of his favorite things to do.
“We’ll be staying there a whole week in a hotel so I’m going to be real happy,” Raymonte said. “I love hotels.”
Raymonte’s father, Raymond, got his son involved in the sport a little more than a year ago while getting ready for flag football. Raymond never thought his son could compete on AAU until he started children a lot younger than Raymonte participating in races. Once Raymond saw his son was a pretty good runner, he figured he would get him involved.
“I thought to run AAU you had to be 12 or better, not knowing they had 3,4 and 5 year olds competing,” said Raymond Dow. “It shocked me. I was at the track one day with [Raymonte] and I was getting him ready for flag football. Watching him run, I thought ‘Man, he has got some long legs’. He looked like a natural. I put him in AAU track just to see what he would do. One thing led to another and he placed sixth in his first meet against kids that had been running for a couple of years. I thought that was impressive, and as the year went on, he kept getting better and better. Here we are.”
Raymonte consistently runs the 400m in 1:11.00, but Raymond would like to get him down a few seconds heading to Michigan. Unlike most 9-year-olds, Raymonte is a self-starter and is committed to putting the necessary work in. As far as his son wanting to compete in the Olympics, Raymond is all for it.
“Like they always say shoot for the moon and you just may hit a star,” Raymond said. “I am going to be behind him 100 percent if that’s what he wants to do. If you don’t get the grades, you’re not doing any of it. He’s been pretty consistent with his grades and this is his reward. He has really gone above and beyond what I expected.”
Raymonte still gets nervous before every meet, and says he sometimes finds it hard to leave his friends for practice. But when his work is done, Raymonte the track star transforms back into Raymonte the 9-year-old, and if he isn’t running, he’s not that hard to find.
“I would be home playing my game or watching TV,” said Raymonte. “I like High Wheels and Dragon Ball Z.”
When asked about his strategy, Raymonte said he doesn’t exactly do everything his father tells him to.
“When my dad told me how to run it, that’s how I ran it,” said Raymonte. “He told me to sprint on the first curve, when I get on the straight away, stride, and in the middle of the last curve, I’m supposed to sprint all the way to the finish line. But I never do that. I sprint from the 100 line. I’m think about getting first.”
Liberty Drive’s little rocket will attempt to make his first big splash in a few short weeks. What Michigan hasn’t yet realize is that it may be entertaining a future Olympian from Thomasville. At least that is Raymonte Dow’s plans.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.