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Eleven-year-old Xavier Jones set national records for the 200 and 400 meter dash even before the national championships last weekend.

The Jamestown Middle School student set records for the 200 and 400 at an invitational meet in Durham the week before. He then broke his own 200 meter record at the national championships.

"I knew if I broke it once, I could break it again," a confident Xavier said about breaking his own 200- meter record a week later.

Xavier has raised the bar for the 11-12-year-old category in the USA Track and Field to 23.74 seconds in the 200 meter and 52.9 seconds in the 400 meter.

Xavier, who runs with the Greensboro Blazers track club, won first place in all three of his races at nationals.

"We're proud of him and all his hard work," said Arthur Hunt, Xavier's dad. He said Xavier has stayed focused, worked hard and followed through to accomplish his goals. "He's doing really well and moving forward. We're looking forward to the next season."

Although he worked hard all season, Xavier wasn't able to beat the 100-meter record of 11.7 seconds, although he was close with 11.95 seconds in the nationals. Xavier's best time in the 100 is 11.83 seconds.

"I slipped when I came out on the 100," Xavier explains about his latest run. But he's confident he can beat 11.7 seconds.

Next year, Xavier, who turns 12 this month, will compete in the 13-14 year-old category.

He said his goals are to meet or come close to the national records in the 200 and 400 meters for that age group: a little over 21 seconds and 49, respectively. Xavier thinks he can easily beat the 100-meter record, which he believes is 10.9 seconds. He's shooting for 10.3.

Overall, Xavier says of the season: "I think I did pretty good. I think I could have done better, but I think I did pretty good."

What does this runner with Hermes-like speed possibly think he could have done better at? "More stretching," he says.

Contact E.A. Seagraves at 883-4422, ext. 241; or eseagraves@news-record.com