On Saturday, an 18-year-old student from Houston, Texas clocked the fastest ever 100-meter sprint time in any conditions for a high schooler, blowing away the competition and managing to edge out the previous all-time record for any conditions by .01.
At the Region 3-6A high school championship, held in Webster, Texas on Saturday, Matthew Boling, a senior at Strake Jesuit High School in Houston, ran the 100-meter sprint in just 9.98. That’s the new record for any conditions, edging out the previous record set in 2013 under similar wind conditions.
Boling posted video of the race on Twitter. “New PR and 100m high school record all conditions, 9.98,” he wrote.
USA Track and Field also celebrated the accomplishment online. “On Saturday, 2018 #TeamUSATF U20 team member @matthew_boling1 clocked a 9.98 100m dash (wind-aided +4.2) to win the Region 3-6A high school title in Webster, Texas,” the organization wrote. “That’s the fastest 100m in any conditions by a high schooler!”
The previous record for any conditions, 9.99 seconds, was set back in 2013 by Trayvon Bromell. LBS notes that Boling and Bromell were both similarly aided by the wind, Boling’s measuring at 4.2 mph.
While Boling’s new record is the all-time record for any conditions, since he was wind-aided, it is not official. The official record for no wind for a high school event remains 10.00, which was set by Trentavis Friday in 2014, USA Today Sports reports.
“It definitely felt good,” Boling, a member of the ALL-USA Preseason Track and Field Team, told the Houston Chronicle. “My block start was pretty good and right out of the gate I knew it was going to be fast, so I decided to turn it up a little bit and ran my best. I was really happy with the time.”
The Chronicle notes that before his unofficial record-breaking sprint, Boling had won the long jump with a distance of 25 feet, 2 inches. He also helped the Strake Jesuit Crusaders relay team — which included teammates Job Trahan, Malik Campbell, and Denzel Blackwell — secure first place in the 400-meter relay with a time of 40.72. Additionally, Boling anchored the 1,600-meter relay, which the Crusaders likewise won, clocking a time of 3:13.7.
“Boling has been a revelation this season,” the Chronicle reports. “He had never run the open 100 until this year. At the area meet, he raced to a 10.11 in the open 100 and 20.55 in the 200. His wind-legal times of 10.22 in the 100 and 20.58 in the 200 were still tops in the nation heading into regionals, and it’s the same for a 26-3.5 long jump.”
So how does Boling match up with Olympic sprinters? Here are the final times for the 2016 Olympics men’s 100-meter dash: 1) Usain Bolt (9.81), 2) Justin Gatlin (9.89), 3) Andre De Grasse (9.91), 4) Yohan Blake (9.93), 5) Akani Simbine (9.94), 6) Ben Yousseff Meite (9.96), 7) Jimmy Vicaut (10.04), and 8) Trayvon Bromell (10.06).
