5 Events To Watch At The Great Southwest Classic

The Elite 100m Races

When

Saturday, June, 8

5:30pm (MT) - 100 Meter Dash Elite Girls
5:35pm (MT) - 100 Meter Dash Elite Boys


Who

Boys: Matthew Boling (TX), Bryson Stubblefield (TX), Lance Broome (TX), Taylor Banks (FL), Ryan Martin (TX), Deron Dudley (KS), Kennedy Lightner (AR)

Girls: Briana Williams (FL), De'Anna Nowling (CA), Alexis Brown (TX), Jazmyne Frost (CA), Sydney Holiday (CO)

Why: The elite 100m races have long been a staple of the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic and this year may be one of the best assembled fields ever. 

Highlighting the boys field will be none other than Houston Strake Jesuit's (TX) Matthew Boling. And Boling has his eyes on a big goal: He's looking to run his second sub-10 on Saturday night. Focusing on the all-conditions meet record time of 9.99 (+4.0), last set by Trayvon Bromell back in 2013, Boling is certainly capable. But the University of Georgia signee will have some of his toughest competition. Almost everyone has run a wind-legal sub-10.44 effort. 

Highlighting Boling's competition will be Miramar's (FL) Taylor Banks. Banks has run a wind-legal 10.38 (+0.7), but holds a wind-legal PR of 10.26 (+0.9) from last year at this meet--that year he finished second behind American Heritage's (FL) Anthony Schwartz

Another challenger could be Stafford's Ryan Martin (TX) was the UIL Texas Class 4A state champion this season running 10.34 (+1.0). The only athlete Martin has only lost to in finals this season is Boling.

With Texas having such a large presence in this field, we also can't forget about Katy Seven Lakes' (TX) Lance Broome and Fort Bend Marshall's (TX) Bryson Stubblefield. Broome was third in the Class 6A 100m at UIL Texas State meet with a 10.40 (+1.3) and is looking to improve one what he ran at state. 

Stubblefield was third at the UIL Texas Class 5A state meet with a 10.65, but holds an all-conditions PR of 10.38 from the Region 3-5A Meet He's also part of the Fort Bend Marshall 4x100m team who ran one of the top 10 all-time 4x100m (39.99) marks earlier this year. 

 The two athletes not from Florida or Texas in this field are Deron Dudley from Wichita South High School (KS) and Kennedy Lightner North Little Rock High School (AR). Dudley has a wind-legal PR in the 100m of 10.38 and he was the Kansas State Track and Field Champion. Lightner was the Arkansas State 6A champion and has a PR of 10.44 (+1.0).

In the girls race we will get to see one of the stars of the high school sprinting world over the past few years, Northeast's (FL) Briana Williams.

Williams is the defending champion in both the 100m and 200m at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic and holds the best wind-legal time in meet history with her 11.25 (+1.5) from 2018.

The all-conditions meet record is 11.11 (+2.6) run by fellow Floridian Octavious Freeman in 2010.  Last weekend, Williams ran 11.10 (+0.2) for and new junior class record and US No. 2 all-time mark at the JAC Opened. She has the potential to chase after the national record of 10.98 set by Candace Hill (GA) in 2015. 

Let's not forget, however, the field around Williams. Two of California's top sprinters, De'Anna Nowling and Jazmyne Frost, are entered alongside Texas athlete Alexis Brown and Colorado sprinter Sydney Holiday. 

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