One swift Spartan

David Becker / Special to the Home News

Cimarron-Memorial High School track star Stephen Nixon prepares before competing in at track meet against Palo Verde High School on March 18.

By Brett Okamoto (contact)

Saturday, March 28, 2009 | midnight

When you are as fast as Cimarron-Memorial High's Stephen Nixon is, chances are you will have some memorable performances.

So far for Nixon, those include winning the state championship in the 100-meter dash the past two seasons and leading all Southern Nevada rushers in yards last football season.

But above everything else, the junior has become an attractions — someone who others gather to watch compete.

"It's fun having him on the team, it's really fun," Cimarron sprints coach Michael Howard said. "It's like that old saying, 'You never know what you're going to get.' I can recall several moments where he ran past all my expectations."

Whether it is in football or in track, everyone pays attention when Nixon gets going.

At last year's track championships, he posted the state's second best ever time in the 100 with a 10.61-second finish. This fall, he ran for 1,954 yards and 22 touchdowns in helping the Spartans reach the Sunset Regional semifinals.

Speed like that is not just impressive, it is entertaining.

"There was this one punt return his freshman year," Cimarron football coach Rod Vollan said. "He made a real great catch on it, got hit, spun out of the tackle, found a seam and was just gone. It was one of the most incredible plays I've ever seen — not just out of a freshman, out of anybody."

Raised in a family with a deep track background, Nixon started running with someone timing him by stopwatch when he was 4-years-old.

But he never realized he was moving much faster than anyone else. Then in the seventh grade, his family taped one of his track meets.

"My brother recorded the 800-meter relay for me," Nixon said. "I watched it play and saw myself run for the first time and thought I looked kind of fast. I watched that tape over and over again. I kind of knew at that point."

Although it took Nixon awhile to realize his potential, others haven't needed as much time. At his first state championship meet as a freshman in 2007, Nixon was favored to win despite being one of the youngest sprinters. In football, he took over the starting running back position in his first year with the team.

"We had an incoming freshman camp and timed him in the 40 and we all said there's no way a freshman just ran that fast," Vollan said. "At that point we knew about Stephen Nixon. He was our starting tailback that year. I'm not the brightest bulb in the room, but it doesn't take a genius to know when you've got a playmaker you get him the ball as much as possible."

If there's one thing Nixon's speed can't match it's his competitiveness. Two state titles and nearly 2,000 rushing yards just isn't enough for a kid who loves to win as much as Nixon.

With two years of high school track remaining, Nixon is eyeing the state's 100 record of 10.54 seconds, set by Charles Smith of Las Vegas High in 1983. The record can only be broken during the state meet.

Defending his title will be a challenge with other sprinters having success. Valley junior Garic Wharton ran a 10.66 in last year's state meet and Liberty junior Shawn Murray ran a hand-timed 10.60 this season.

But given Nixon's past, the competition may push him to a higher level.

"Everybody's working hard this year and that gives him a lot of motivation," Howard said. "Because he doesn't like to be second place. That's the best of understanding who he is, regardless of whatever is going on, he doesn't want to be second."

Nixon is already considered an elite football prospect and has received interest from UNLV as well as numerous schools from the Pacific-10 Conference and Big 12 Conference. While most offers have been for football, some universities have offered scholarships in both sports.

As he'll admit, Nixon isn't sure where his speed will end up taking him. But he has allowed himself to give it some thought.

"Far, I hope it takes me far," he said. "College football, Olympics – any of them."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com.