Following false start by Servite’s Max Thomas, Archbishop Carroll junior trails St. John Bosco’s Rayshon Luke in invitational 100-meter race in California, before late surge allows 6-foot-5 standout to prevail by 10.28 to 10.32 margin

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

WALNUT, Calif. – He came a long way to get a marquee matchup in a prestigious event.

Nyckoles Harbor II got one, too, but not from who everyone figured.

Harbor, a junior from Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington D.C., ran the No. 2 wind-legal time nationally in the boys invitational 100-meter dash Saturday at the 62nd Mt. SAC Relays Presented by Nike, the first time the meet has returned to the renovated, on-campus Hilmer Lodge Stadium since 2015.

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Harbor, a five-star defensive end prospect with more than 40 NCAA Division 1 football offers already, won the 100 in a personal-best 10.28 seconds, eclipsing his previous season-best of 10.29 at the Beach Run Invitational on April 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

But he did it in what proved to be a great duel with St. John Bosco senior Rayshon Luke, and not Servite senior and USC-bound Max Thomas.

Thomas false started and thus, was out of the race.

Luke, though, ran so well that he wound up with the nation’s No. 3 high school time, 10.32, and gave Harbor everything he could handle from an outside lane.

“I was winning the whole friggin’ 90-meter race,” Luke said. “I felt it.”

Harbor, at 6 feet 5, 235 pounds, inched ahead in the final 10-15 meters, helped perhaps by that long stride.

“His two steps is my eight steps,” Luke joked.

In reality, Luke was already figuring how to learn from the loss afterward.

“I love guys like that because they’re going to make me faster,” Luke said of Harbor. “And now I learn in my head – keep that last 10 (meters), keep it going. Don’t think you’ve got it, even though I didn’t think that way. But it’s just a simple fact; you’ve always got to keep pushing.”

Saturday had figured to be a bicoastal showdown between Harbor and Thomas, who swept the elite sections of the 100 and 200 by clocking 10.40 and 20.97 on April 9 at the Arcadia Invitational, in addition to running a wind-aided 10.37 on March 12 at the Redondo Nike Track Festival.

But Thomas moved ever so slightly and was called for the false start. He said he knew as soon as the second gun went off that it was on him.

“I was looking forward to racing him,” Thomas said of Harbor, “and I don’t know if I’ll be able to have this opportunity again.”

Harbor said the restart definitely was disrupting.

“I’m like, ‘All right, he left, it’s time to get in the zone again,’” Harbor said. “I’m still in the race and that’s all that matters, and just go out there and go run.

“It’s great competition to have,” Harbor added. “I wish (Thomas) was still in the race. I wish they still would’ve let him run. But you know, it’s what the official decides.”

Thomas, a double CIF-Southern Section Division 3 champion last year, came back later in the invitational 200 and finished second (wind-aided 20.94) to Long Beach Poly senior Jaelen Knox, who ran 20.85.

Knox also had a sense of rallying in the 200 after finishing a disappointing sixth in the 100 at 10.70.

“When the 200 came, I felt like I was more prepared, more ready, since I got the jitters out of the way in the 100,” Knox said.

Luke was coming off a sensational two-week stretch after helping his 4x200 team set a California state record 1:24.15 in their victory at Arcadia and placing second in a previous-best 10.45. He took things a step better Saturday by lowering his 100 time. He also anchored St, John Bosco’s winning 4x100 relay, which set a meet record, secured the state lead, and elevated to No. 7 nationally in 40.80.

“This week, we got it all right,” Luke said. “We came up on time, we’re always ready, and then look what happened – we came out and showed up.”

Harbor later ran a leg on Carroll’s invitational 4x200 relay that finished second (1:28.96) to the Long Beach Jordan (1:28.01) team of senior Elijah Jones, junior Darryll Stevens, senior Ahmad Biouf and sophomore Jordan Washington. Harbor anchored with a 21.1 split for Carroll, but the deficit was too large for even him to overcome.

Coming to Mt. SAC was exciting, he said, even for a track team that travels regularly.

“Just a great environment,” Harbor said. “We’re a traveling team. We like to travel. We like to go against the best of the best. We don’t get to see California a lot. To come out there and get to run against California’s best is the best thing ever because we’ll probably never see each other.”