COLUMBIA -- Malik Epps has dominated the first half of the 2015 outdoor state high school track season in the 800 and 1,600, a streak he hopes to build on this weekend at the Taco Bell Classic.
The Byrnes High junior has placed first in eight of the nine track events he has entered this year, competing in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
Two weeks ago at the Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic, Epps took both the 800 and 1,600, edging Wando High junior Zach Davis in the 800 by two one-hundredths of a second, while finishing a half-second in front of longtime friend and Upstate rival Ryan Smith of Mauldin in the 1,600.
This will be Epps' second Taco Bell. Similar to this season, last spring he was positioned to run well heading into the 2014 Taco Bell, with top showings in the 1,600 at a trio of meets in late March and early April. But he was diagnosed with mononucleosis in the days leading up to the meet, and though he felt well enough to compete in the 1,600, Epps stumbled during the 800 held later tha...
