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Trayvon Bromell becomes first prep runner to eclipse 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash

Ben Rohrbach
Senior NBA writer

Albeit with a heavy tailwind at his back, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Gibbs High senior Trayvon Bromell became the first prep runner to eclipse 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

Trayvon Brommell became the first American prep runner to break 10 seconds in the 100 — Bay 9 News screengrab
Trayvon Brommell became the first American prep runner to break 10 seconds in the 100 — Bay 9 News screengrab

The Baylor-bound sprinter won the event at the Great Southwest Classic with a time of 9.99 seconds on the University of New Mexico track. While remarkably impressive, his effort does not qualify as the national record due to a tailwind of 4.0 meters per second.

You can see video of the remarkable dash below, courtesy of ProView Networks.

That honor still belongs to former Groveland (Fla.) South Lake High star Jeff Demps, whose time of 10.01 seconds at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials still ranks as the U.S. No. 1 prep time in history. Demps, who ran the first leg of the silver medal-winning 4x100-meter relay squad at the 2012 London Olympics this past summer, was traded from the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2013 NFL Draft.

Still, Bromell's 100-meter dash time at Great Southwest is the fastest time among high school track and field athletes ever recorded using the fully automatic timing system.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bromell told the Tampa Bay Times. “I got off to a good start, but I thought I ran maybe a 10.1 or a 10.2. The crowd was quiet through the whole race. But once the time showed on the scoreboard, it got so loud, like I was at a concert. ...

“After the 100 race, I had so many people coming up to me asking for my autograph and taking pictures with me. Even Sunday, I still had people congratulating me and wanting to take my picture in the hotel room. I don’t think that was something I was prepared for, to have that much publicity over recording a time like that.”

And it's not like Bromell is your run-of-the-mill runner when he doesn't have a heavy tailwind. He owns the nation's top qualifying performance this season (wind less than 2.0 meters per second), covering 100 meters in 10.27 seconds in mid-May.

Bromell also anchored the winning 4x100-meter relay squad that finished in 40.11 seconds at the Great Southwest Classic. He combined with Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips High senior Reggie Glover as well as Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage High teammates Jerimy Strainge and Walter Tucker to clock the nation's fastest time in 2013.

Runnerspace.com captured video of Bromell's ridiculous 100-meter dash time, and he beats seven of the country's top sprinters by at least three strides -- a la Usain Bolt.

By means of comparison, as an 18-year-old in 2001, Great Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis covered 100 meters in 9.97 seconds at the World Athletics Championships, but a failed wind instrument reading meant the time could not be confirmed. In late April, Japanese sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu, 17, clocked a qualifying time of 10.01 seconds.

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