Tyson Gay almost didn’t get the chance to do it, but when he did, he set the American record in the 100-meter dash. Recent Groveland South Lake High graduate Jeff Demps eclipsed a national high school recod in the event, while Brooksville’s John Capel ran a season best in the 100 to reach Sunday’s semifinals.

Gay broke Maurice Greene’s American mark in the 100 by running 9.77 seconds in his quarterfinal at the trials.

“It tells me I’m in pretty good shape,” Gay said. “We’ve got two more rounds left.”

The runner-up in Gay’s quarterfinal was Jeffery Demps of Groveland, who got out of the blocks a bit ahead of the favorite and wound up setting a national high school mark at 10.01. The previous record was 10.08, held by J-Mee Samuels, who now runs for Arkansas but failed to reach the semifinals of the 100. Demps is headed to the University of Florida on a football scholarship—unless he makes the Olympic team. That scenario might make him choose to red shirt his freshman season. He was the Class 3A state champion this season in the 100 and last month won the BAYTAF Classic youth meet at Jefferson High.

Gay tied the fourth-fastest time in the history of the event, despite clearly easing up over his final few strides. He almost didn’t escape the opening round when he eased up too soon and had to speed up again and lunge across the finish line in fourth place.

Two other Floridans—Walter Dix, the 2007 NCAA champion from Florida State, Xavier Carter of Palm Bay—were among the 16 sprinters advancing to the men’s 100 semifinals on Sunday.

At 10.06, Capel was just the 11th qualifier in the 100-meter dash Saturday evening at the trials, almost three tenths of a second off Gay and his Americann record. But from his vantage point as an experienced sprinter competing in his third US trials, the 19-year-old Capel is heading into today’s semifinals and finals with a good shot of landing a berth on another US Olympic team.

“Those guys were running fast, but the ultimate goal is, ‘Can they come back and do the same thing tomorrow?’ ... This is my third Olympic trials. That’s why I’m saying, ‘Can they come back and do it again tomorrow? That’s the hard part. A lot of the young guys don’t understand. It’s not NCAAs where you’ve got three rounds; it’s four rounds so can they come back and repeat what they did today?”

With a smile on his face after finishing fourth in his quarterfinal heat, Capel boldly said today’s 100 final will be slower than the quarterfinal in which six sprinters ran below 10-seconds.

“I’m thinking to win the trials you have to run 9.90-something,” Capel said. “It won’t be 9.8, no where near that. Because these guys, they’re looking tired, and I’m not. I’m happy. To take your body to those limits and come back and do it again that’s pretty difficult, and to do it for four rounds, even more difficult than people think.”

Capel, who will also run in his specialty, the 200, said he’s been feeling stronger with each race.

“I’m a little rusty, but it seems like each round I’m getting better and better, so hopefully tomorrow I can drop under 10 seconds. I think I got it in me. I’ve just got to keep it moving.”

Late Friday, Freedom High’s Mike Morse, now a sophomore at the University of South Florida, advanced to today’s finals of the men’s long jump. Morse qualified with his preliminary round mark of 25 feet, 6.75 inches. The top 12 jumpers advanced and Morse, USF’s school record holder at 25-11, grabbed the last qualifying spot.

Tribune correspondent Patrick O’Neill contributed to this report