Sometimes it takes until mid- to late-April for the weather to warm up enough for the state's top sprinters to really start dropping blazing times. That was not the case in April 2018. On a Friday evening in early April, Largo High School played host to some of the top sprint programs in the Maryland and DC area, and no event was more stacked than the boys 100 meter dash.
Competing on his home track, senior Aaron Hackett gave a preview of the finals when he clocked a 10.80 personal best to lead all qualifiers. A whopping seven of the eight qualifiers all broke the 11-second barrier, setting up an intensely competitive final section that included:
- Northeast senior Davon Carroll (five-time 3A state champion)
- New Town senior Jordan Cofield (three-time 2A state champion)
- McNamara senior Robert Edwards (New Balance Indoor Nationals qualifier)
- Freedom (VA) senior Igo Grimes (two-time Virginia 6A state champion)
- New Town senior Brandon James (four-time 2A state champion)
- Wise senior Demetri Morsell (three-time 4A state qualifier)
- Wise junior Taheer Pierce (two-time 4A state runner-up)
Talk about a loaded race. The finals belonged to Edwards, whose 10.74 mark just beat out Cofield (10.76) and Hackett (10.78). Of the six runners in the finals, only Carroll and Grimes did not set new personal best marks in the event.