PORT SULPHUR, La. — Bradley Sylve climbed into a familiar sprinter’s crouch at South Plaquemines High School, feet in the starting blocks, knees bent, head down, chin tucked into his chest. There was one odd thing: the blocks were anchored to the goal line instead of to the starting line.

It is impressive enough that Sylve won Louisiana state championships at 100 meters and 200 meters last year as a freshman. And that he appears to be one of the nation’s two fastest all-around sophomore sprinters. He won a 2009 indoor state title at 55 meters, finished eighth in a national indoor meet at 60 meters and has posted electronically timed outdoor marks of 10.62 seconds in the 100 and 21.66 in the 200, along with hand-timed bests of 10.35 and 21.53.

But what is most remarkable about Sylve’s speed is that South Plaquemines has no track. The nearest oval is 40 miles north, in suburban New Orleans. During the school year, he never uses an all-weather running surface except when competing at meets.