Gatlin Bair Runs 10.18w In Boys 100m First Round; Nyckoles Harbor Goes 10.33

By David Woods for DyeStat

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Relays should sate anyone’s track and field appetite, with so many days and events and divisions. Yet this is football country, and another race would be welcomed: 100 meters, NFL All-Stars vs. Football Teens.

There is legalized gambling everywhere these days, so why not? Bet on the kids.

Gatlin Bair of Burley, Idaho, and Nyckoles Harbor of Washington, D.C., are two of the nation’s top football prospects from high school. NFL receiver Tyreek Hill thinks he’s pretty fast, and he is – he recently won a USA masters title by clocking 6.70 for 60 meters.

Bair and Harbor are both faster.

“This is what I grew up doing. What I grew up loving,” Bair said.

Two brothers are college decathletes, and his parents were track athletes at BYU.

Bair said this is his last track season. He is a junior but plans to graduate early, enroll at one of the many universities pursuing him and be ready for 2024 spring football.

Before that happens, a lot could happen on the track.

In Division II 100-meter prelims Friday at the Texas Relays, he was the top qualifier in 10.18. The wind of 2.1 mps was barely above the allowable, or he would have been on track to challenge the national junior class record of 10.09.

That’s the kind of time attracting attention of college recruiters, and, for that matter, NFL scouts.

Harbor, of Archbishop Carroll DC, was sixth in prelims in a wind-legal 10.33 (+1.1). He said he “shut it down” early and promised to be faster in Saturday’s final (set for 5:20 p.m. EDT).

These are big teenagers. Harbor is 6-5, 225, Bair 6-2, 195.

Bair said he had always played basketball, too, but abandoned that this winter to concentrate on running.

“I had some goals I wanted to beat and some things I wanted to do during the track season,” he said. “I was really focused on track. And it’s really paying off.”

Bair lowered his PB from a windy 10.46. He is perhaps better at 200 meters, having clocked 20.98 last July in a regional Junior Olympics.

Only high schooler faster than Bair this year is Issam Asinga of Montverde FL at 10.06w. Asinga set national records in the 60 and 200 at New Balance Nationals Indoor.

At the Texas Relays, Bair was surrounded by journalists asking not about track, but about football recruiting. Bair made an official visit to Texas on Wednesday and was at Nebraska last week. Those chasing him are a Who’s Who of college football: Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, Stanford, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Washington, Utah, BYU.

In nine games last fall, the wide receiver caught 73 passes for 1,073 yards and 18 touchdowns. He has already committed to the All-American Bowl, set for January 2024.

Bair said he doesn’t want to “jump back and forth” between track and football in college.

Harbor does want that. He said he still plans to do both at South Carolina.

Prep hurdler clocks 13.16w

Alex Chukwukelu of North Forney TX was delighted to open a couple of weeks ago by running the 110 hurdles in 13.55, two-tenths faster than his PB.

Yet there is no way he would have projected 13.16. No one would have.

“I’m still trying to process how to believe this,” he said.

For someone who did not qualify for state last year, it was a lot to process.

Chukwukelu’s time came with a wind of +4.5 mps but was historic nevertheless – No. 5 in prep history under all conditions. Wayne Davis of Southeast NC set the national record of 13.08 in 2009, and Renaldo Nehemiah of Scotch Plains NJ had hand-timed 12.9 and 13.0 in 1977. Brendan Ames of Cheyenne WY clocked 13.15w in 2007.

Chukwukelu, whose parents are immigrants from Nigeria, said he tried to pump his arms faster and bring his trail leg around quicker.

“I’m trying to explain as much as I can,” he said. “At the same time, I’m trying to keep it a secret because everyone is going to get it now. Everybody is going to know my secret.”

Donovan Bradley of Summer Creek TX was second in prelims with a wind-legal US#1 of 13.42 (+2.0).

Elsewhere in boys events:

>> Sean Gribble of Aledo TX vaulted 17-0.75/5.20m for US#1. He beat New Balance Nationals Indoor champion Maddox Hamm of Scottsboro AL, second at 16-8.75/5.10m.

>> Nate Figgers of Bryan Rudder TX equaled US#1 by winning the high jump at 7-1.

>> Long jumper Ashton Torns of Austin Westlake TX also had a US#1, 25-0/7.62m.

>> Jarvis Anderson of Taylor TX won the 300 hurdles in 36.30, another US#1. Bradley was third in 37.14.

>> Ayden Granados of McAllen TX kicked past Wesley Shipsey of Central Catholic OR to win the 1,600 in 4:09.42. Shipsey was second in 4:09.85.

>> Long Beach Wilson CA ran a US#1 in the sprint medley, 3:26.31.

Moll twins 1-2 in girls pole vault

In their first outdoor competition since last August’s under-20 World Championships, twins Amanda and Hana Moll of Capital WA finished 1-2 in the girls pole vault. Amanda is the national prep record-holder indoors and outdoors, and Hana won the U20 gold medal at Cali, Colombia.

Amanda needed a third attempt to clear 14-1.75/4.30m, then went on to win at 14-7.25/4.45m. Hana was second at 14-1.75/4.30m.

Amanda never really got off her pole in three runs at 14-10, which would have broken her outdoor record of 14-9.5 from last year’s Texas Relays.

“I wouldn’t say it was smooth. I would say it was definitely a learning-curve, roller-coaster kind of a meet,” Amanda said. “But I think I got a lot out of it.”

She recently hurt a hip flexor but said she was not bothered by it during competition.

In other girls events:

>> Another U20 gold medalist, Emma Sralla of Lewisville Marcus TX, won the discus at 174-6. Sralla, who represents Sweden internationally, was nearly 20 feet off her US#1 of 193-8 that ranks No. 2 in prep history.

>> Another thrower, Trinity Spencer of Beauregard LA, improved her US#1 in the javelin to 171-11. It was an all-time Louisiana record.

>> Sidney Green of Allen TX lowered her US#1 to 40.63 in the 300 hurdles.

>> Shadow Creek TX (1:36.11) and Cedar Park TX (3:57.96) ran to US#1s in the 4x200 and sprint medley relays, respectively.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.