Remontay McClain dominates sprints at state meet

A lone sprinter pulled into a commanding lead about halfway through the boys’ 100-meter dash Friday when the public-address announcer put an apt spin on the race:

“Remontay McClain, is there any doubt?”

There was no questioning McClain’s dominance at the CIF state track and field meet in an event in which runners are usually tightly packed. The senior from Covina won his preliminary heat at the state meet in 10.31 seconds in cool, overcast conditions at Clovis Buchanan High, tying his personal best mark and coming within 0.01 of a second of the state meet record.

Making the performance all the more impressive was McClain’s contention that he had room for improvement. The defending state champion said he eased up in the final 20 meters and vowed to go for the all-time state record of 10.25 in Saturday’s championship.

“I have to get out of the blocks and [do well] in my drive phase and I could probably get it,” McClain said.

McClain also hopes to repeat as state champion in the 200 after winning his preliminary heat in 20.92, slightly off his personal best of 20.68. Agoura’s Jonathan Cabral failed to replicate his record-setting performance a week after running the 110 hurdles in a wind-aided 13.27 at the Southern Section Masters Meet, but the hurdler still obliterated the competition in the preliminaries.

Cabral’s 13.58 was nearly a second faster than the next finisher in his heat (Richmond’s Kenneth Walker, 14.35) and more than a half-second faster than the second-place finisher in all heats (San Diego Scripps Ranch’s Jacob Hare, 14.09). Not that Cabral was pleased.

“I had a bad start and I just completely smacked three or four of [the hurdles], and I lost my balance on those,” said Cabral, who also posted the fastest time in the 300 hurdles, finishing in 36.85.

Long Beach Poly’s Melia Cox won her heat in the girls’ 100 hurdles in 13.42, just off her nation-leading time of 13.34 from earlier this season. Cox also posted the fastest time in the 300 hurdles, prevailing in 43.26.

McClain said he could not sense the considerable distance between himself and the next-closest competitor in his 100 heat, Sacramento Kennedy’s Breonntae Snelling, who finished in 10.71.

“I just run,” McClain said.

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