De La Salle sprinter Jaden Jefferson arrived at California’s 105th state track and field championships this weekend in Clovis as the top qualifier in the 100 meters from last weekend’s sectional meets.

Turns out, he was just warming up.

In a mind-blowing dash at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night, Jefferson crossed the finish line in a wind-legal, state-meet record 10.01 seconds during the first of four preliminary heats that set up Saturday night’s final, which hadn’t started when this edition went to press. The previous record was 10.20, set in the 2023 final by Serra-Gardena’s Rodrick Pleasant.

Jefferson crossed the finish line first in Heat 1, a race that included Torrance’s Nicolas Obimgba running 10.20 to match Pleasant’s time.

The De La Salle junior is a two-sport star, having orally committed in January to play football for Bill Belichick at North Carolina.

This spring, Jefferson, along with his teammates, are competing with heavy hearts after the passing of De La Salle head track coach John Harvey, who died in late April at 56 after what was reported to be a long respiratory illness.

De La Salle dedicated the North Coast Section team championship it captured on May 24 to its late coach.

“Our coach’s passing was motivation for me,” Jefferson said after he broke the NCS’s record in the 100 in 10.30. “He was always hard on me. He never told me what I wanted to hear, always told me what I needed to hear. He was very motivational.”

The pre-meet focus this past week, across the state and nationally, was on Jurupa Valley’s AB Hernandez, a transgender athlete who is contending for championships in the girls triple jump, long jump and possibly the high jump.

Hernandez had a big day Friday, advancing as the top qualifier in all three of the events amid California Interscholastic Federation rule changes for this year’s meet that would allow biological female student-athletes displaced by Hernandez on the medal stand to claim that medal along with the Jurupa Valley junior.

On the track, the headliner was Jefferson, who before the 100 helped De La Salle qualify for the final in the 4×100 (40.87). Later, he advanced to the final in the 200, finishing second in Heat 4 in 20.99.

St. Ignatius’ Ellie McCuskey-Hay reached the girls 100 final, winning Heat 1 in 11.43, the second-best time during Friday’s qualifying heats.

In the girls long jump, McCuskey-Hay qualified second in 19-5 ½ and St. Mary’s-Berkeley’s Kira Gant Hatcher had the third-best mark among the 12 athletes who advanced to Saturday’s final at 19-4. Hernandez was the top qualifier at 19-11 3/4.

In the girls triple jump, Hernandez led the way in prelim qualifying at 40-9 3/4. But the finals field on Saturday night was expected to include two St. Mary’s-Berkeley jumpers (Hatcher and Corinne Jones), Los Altos’ Daniela Hughes, Clayton Valley’s Santia Ali and two Bishop O’Dowd jumpers (Amaya DeFlorimonte and Daia Sanders).