Matt Wixon

Archive | E-mail

LANCASTER – Wheezing, coughing and difficulty breathing are how some people learn that they have asthma. Lancaster sprinter Mark'Quis Frazier's lesson was much more dramatic.

He passed out at the end of a race.

"Out cold," said his mom, Sonya Danforth-Davis.

Four years after that asthma attack, Frazier will compete today at the UIL state track meet in Austin. The senior will run in the 4x100 relay and he might run in the 4x400, the event in which the Lancaster boys could clinch their second straight Class 4A state title.

"That'll be a great feeling," Frazier said. "Something great to graduate with."

He's confident that Lancaster will win, and his mother is confident that he'll do well. But she's also worried. Frazier still battles asthma, and although he treats it with medication, he's had several asthma attacks since the first one in 2005.

"I've had a bunch," Frazier said. "It's just like I can't breathe at all. And a lot of times, when I can't breathe, I start to panic and it makes me not able to breathe even more."

That's when it's really scary, but Frazier takes precautions. He carries an inhaler with him and so does Lancaster assistant coach Derrick Mills. An asthma nebulizer, a breathing machine that changes asthma medication from a liquid to a mist, is also at the meets.

Frazier uses the nebulizer before events and sometimes after. He needed it in March, when he suffered an asthma attack after a race at the Texas Southern Relays and had to be helped off the track.

"It took him a long time to come back after they carted him off," Lancaster coach Greg Williams said. "But after treatment, he was fine."

He even ran in the 4x400 later in the meet. But with all these scary moments, why run at all?

Frazier's mom asked that question following the first asthma attack. She was hoping to avoid another heart-stopping scene like the one at Agnew Middle School in Mesquite. She arrived at the track as Frazier, then an eighth-grader, was lying on the track with trainers and paramedics around him.

"It seemed the faster I ran toward him, the further I had to go," she said.

A doctor confirmed that an asthma attack caused Frazier to pass out. He said Frazier could use medication to help control the condition, which is what Jackie Joyner-Kersee did during a track career that included six Olympic gold medals. But the doctor also suggested that Frazier cut back on running or find a sport less likely to cause an attack.

"What about football or basketball?" his mom asked.

Frazier's response:

"Momma, no. Track is the sport for me."

And it has been for the last four years. That's worked out well for Lancaster, where Frazier transferred to after attending Mesquite as a freshman and sophomore. Frazier was part of last year's 4x400 relay team that clinched the state title.

Lancaster has qualified in more events this year than last, so Mike A. Myers Stadium could be the site of another black-and-orange victory celebration tonight. But even if Lancaster doesn't win, Danforth-Davis will have reason to celebrate.

Four years ago, she wanted her son to quit track. But tonight, she gets to see Frazier run at least one more time before he graduates Saturday.

"I'm still scared every time he runs," the proud mom said. "But I always knew he could do it. I'm just overwhelmed with happiness for him"