![\"Servite\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780183048_409_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBenjamin Harris has already accomplished enough in his high school track career to make most of his peers envious, but he insists he is far from done.<\/p>\n
A junior sprinter from Servite, Harris was eager to check a few more items off his to-do list Saturday at the state meet in Clovis, where he sought to win the 100- and 200-meter dashes while also anchoring the 4×100 relay.<\/p>\n
Since making national headlines in 2024 by winning the 100 at the Arcadia Invitational in a wind-aided 10.38 as a freshman at Long Beach Poly, Harris has been in the spotlight, though he does not seek it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care about the hype,\u201d he said following Friday\u2019s prelims at Buchanan High, where he earned spots in the finals in all three of his events.<\/p>\n
Long Beach Poly boasts one of the proudest programs in California yet Harris opted to transfer to Servite in February 2025 and has not looked back. A year ago he was second to De La Salle\u2019s Jaden Jefferson in the 100 at the state finals, clocking 10.31.<\/p>\n
The Friars won the state 4×100 title in 40.27 last spring without their superstar from Compton and with him were two-hundredths off that in posting the fastest time in Friday\u2019s preliminaries. Their goal Saturday was simple: break their own state record, which they set at Arcadia in April with a nation-leading 39.70.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Servite\u2019s Benjamin Harris wins the 100 meters in 10.17 seconds at the Masters Meet on May 23. <\/p>\n
(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hard change leaving the coaches there at Poly but it was for the better and will benefit me for the future,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWorking out with my teammates is a blessing. They push me. We\u2019ve all gotten better and I\u2019m looking forward to us being training partners until we go off to college.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris was first in the 100 in 10.32 at Arcadia, clocked a personal-best 10.18 in the Southern Section finals and bettered it with a wind-aided 10.17 seven days later at the Masters Meet, equaling the fourth-fastest time in state history under any conditions. He also ran a wind-aided 20.51 in the 200 at the section finals, another lifetime best.<\/p>\n
He won his 100 heat Friday in a wind-legal 10.36 but three others posted faster wind-aided times. In the 200, Harris was the fifth-fastest qualifier in 21.10 but he remained confident he would run his best Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna bet on myself a thousand percent of the time,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThe 100 and 200 will be a battle. Whoever executes better will win but I trust my training. At the end of the day it\u2019s me versus me. My biggest competition is myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Servite head coach Brandon Thomas believes Harris is just hitting his stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s determined not to lose \u2014 he\u2019s the ultimate competitor,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cHe\u2019s been very dominant in the 100 and now he\u2019s coming into his own in the 200.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris prefers the longer of the two sprint races.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 200 was always my favorite event,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s my bread and butter. However, I\u2019ve improved a lot in the 100.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris not only excels on the oval, but also on the gridiron. He led the Friars\u2019 varsity football team with 39 catches for 457 yards and eight touchdowns in 10 games in the fall and plans to be back in pads his senior year.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people want me to be a football player who runs track but for me it\u2019s the other way around,\u201d said Harris, a slot and outside receiver and kick returner. \u201cI\u2019m a track runner who plays football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris is excited about his future and wants to be a two-sport athlete at the next level, having received multiple offers while citing UCLA, USC, Texas Tech, Miami and Oregon State among his favorite destinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of what I\u2019ve done since my freshman year,\u201d he said. \u201cI really have no regrets. As you get older the biggest thing is staying healthy and if I can do that I\u2019m going to be the best in California.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benjamin Harris has already accomplished enough in his high school track career to make most of his peers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[108789,139915,1043,119117,4794,56426,69808,2424,48,52,51,23677,47,50,49,1741,42030,139917,139916,2829,72],"class_list":["post-339579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-arcadia-invitational","tag-benjamin-harris","tag-event","tag-fast-time","tag-final","tag-football-player","tag-friars","tag-friday","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-long-beach-poly","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lot","tag-servite","tag-servite-sprinter-benjamin-harris","tag-state-meet","tag-track","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}