NORWELL — Jonas Clarke knew the state record was out of the question leaving the blocks.
The South Hadley junior had a poor start to Saturday’s All-State 100-meter dash final. He entered as the top seed but trailed several runners by two steps at the 40-meter mark.
“It wasn’t my greatest start ever, so it had to be a lot of recovery,” Clarke said. “It was way more of a race than the record. It was an ‘I need to get first’ type of run. I had to turn over.”
He made up the difference over the next 60 meters and leaned over the line first in 10.67 seconds. It was his first All-State title across both indoor and outdoor competition.
“First thing: we want the win. It would be awesome to get the record, but this record chase might have to get postponed to next year,” Clarke said. “It’s been a long year.”
Breaking the state record of 10.4 seconds — set in 1981 — first entered Clarke’s mind a few weeks ago after he went 10.45 at the Lou Tozzi Coaches’ Invitational on June 5. Since, he set a meet record at last weekend’s Central/West Division 2 championships but couldn’t crack the state mark.
South Hadley’s Jonas Clarke wins the all-state 100m dash title in 10.67 seconds. It’s the junior’s first all-state championship pic.twitter.com/qtGLyjBuC5
— Kyle Grabowski👑 (@kylegrbwsk) June 26, 2021
“I’m not burning out, but I kind of think my peak is here right now. I’m not consistent enough in the blocks to be focusing on the record right now,” Clarke said. “In all honesty, it’s something that’s awesome because I get to tune it up next year. I think it’s good for the future.”