Fresh off a Helias best, McCurren leads Crusaders into state

Helias' Griffin McCurren poses on the track at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. McCurren will compete in three events today at the MSHSAA Class 3 State Track and Field championships.
Helias' Griffin McCurren poses on the track at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. McCurren will compete in three events today at the MSHSAA Class 3 State Track and Field championships.

The record wasn't chiseled in stone. But it might as well have been.

Back in 1961, Leon DeLassus of Helias won the Class B 440-yard dash state title with a time of 49.9 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. That broke his previous school record of 50.4.

The record stood. And stood. The 440 became the 400-meter dash. The record stood. And stood.

Fifty-one years later, Griffin McCurren made it his goal to break it.

"I worked hard in the off-season and worked really hard in practice all year to try and get it," McCurren said. "I really wanted to get to state and break the record."

Done and done. McCurren ran a 49.33 at the district championships to establish the new mark and will run at the Class 3 state championships starting today at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.