Where he wants it to be is at a regional contender level. To do that, Carman is continuing to improve his conditioning.
"I think I've got to get my endurance up. I can outrun quite a few guys on the stretches, but I have to get to where I'm ahead of them before the stretches," he said.
He credits the training of coach Dave Garrett for his improvement.
"It's been tough, but you can really see the results at each meet, and how your times are going down," Carman said.
Talent and dedication
Garrett said Carman has been working hard and is pleased with how he has come on this year.
"Ben is that rare athlete that has talent and ability and yet works very hard every day to max out his performances. Often the gifted athletes fall into the mind-set of attempting to perform down to the competition and never strive to be their very best," Garrett said. "Ben never takes a rep off during practice and is always setting the tone for our team effort and focus."
Carman prefers the 100 "because it's shorter," but said he feels he has a chance to be the best in the 200.
He's also been excited about the competition he ran against at last week's . Heart of the Bluegrass. On Friday, he gets a look at some more solid competition when at the Double A Derby.
This time, he'll see a lot of competition he'll be going against at the regional. He's eager to see where he stands, and where he still needs to improve, in order to have a shot at qualifying for the Class AA state track meet.
"You use any meet you're at with region (competition) to see how they're doing and see how you're doing against their times," he said.
While he's striving to get his times down in his individual events, Carman is also working to get the Rebels' 1,600 relay into state contention.
"We're going to have to work on our hand-offs, but I really think we'll have those down," he said. "We just have to keep practicing."
Garrett has now doubt Carman can continue to get better.
"This is his second track season and he is only a sophomore. He learned our techniques very quickly last year and is even more advanced in his understanding of his training and how it relates to his performances," Garrett said. "He allows us as coaches to push him beyond his comfort zone during training and he is seeing the positive results in his times.
"He is tough physically and mentally. He is at his best and I trust him most when the battle is on."
