In the Class 3A, Region 3 meet at Punta Gorda Charlotte, Gibbs’ Trayvon Bromell continued setting records in the 100 meters.
Running alone — startlingly alone — for the last half of the race, Bromell showed no interest in slowing down with the gold medal already a foregone conclusion. Instead, he sprinted through the finish, and the result was a stunning time of 10.14 seconds, the fastest non-wind-aided time in the nation this year.
“I was just concentrating on running my race,” Bromell said. “It felt good the whole way through. Then I started hearing all the oohs and aahs from the crowd and I knew my time was really good. Once I found out it was a 10.1 I wanted to start crying right there.”
Bromell said he concentrated on the 100 in hopes of recording an impressive enough time to be invited to the Adidas Grand Prix Dream 100 in New York in May.
“I wanted to win it and move on to states,” Bromell said. “But I was really focused on a time. I also ran 10.2 in the prelims. I think that should get me into that Dream 100.”
Bromell also did well in his other events, winning the 200 in 21.57 and anchoring the winning 4x100 relay team (42.25). That was enough to help the Gladiators win the team title by a point (70 to 69) over Fort Myers.
Dunedin’s Ahmad Middleton was the only other county athlete to win titles in multiple events, taking first in the 100 (14.35) and 300 hurdles (38.84).