PEARL — DeMichael Harris rode an hour each way and sat around for six more to run two races and put about 30 seconds worth of work in Friday.

What a 30 seconds it was.

The St. Aloysius senior won the 100-meter dash at the Pearl Track and Field Invitational with a blistering fast time of 10.53 seconds, and then a few hours later won the 200 meters as well with a time of 21.15 seconds.

His 100-meter time was a personal best and the fastest in the state this season.

“I was shooting for 10.5 today. Hopefully I can get it down to a low 10.4 by the end of the season if I just work on my mechanics and continue to work with (St. Al) coach (Michael) Fields,” Harris said. “I feel like I did pretty good today.”

Being the fastest guy around is nothing new for Harris. He swept the MHSAA Class 1A sprint championships last season, winning the 100, 200 and 400 while setting state meet records in the 100 and 400. This season, though, he’s truly become a superstar and a featured attraction at meets.

On Wednesday, while St. Al’s full team competed in a meet at Jackson Prep, Harris ran only the 400 meters to save himself for Friday’s competition. Several opposing coaches and rivals, upon hearing the news, expressed disappointment because they’d been hoping to see Harris run.

On Friday, he was the only athlete from St. Al competing in a meet that included 10 Class 5A and 6A schools. He had the top lane assignment and beat all comers in a strong field that had two other runners finish in under 11 seconds.

Harris was a couple of steps behind coming out of the blocks, but quickly caught up to and passed the field to win by about five meters.

“It’s very scary” to run against Harris, said Vicksburg’s Greg Lewis, who ran in Harris’ heat and finished with a time of 10.88 seconds, “but it feels very good, because you have the pleasure of running with a guy who’s faster than you. If I keep working, I believe I can get there just like he did.”

Harris’ speed has put a target on his back, and led him to focus on some unique goals. St. Al now competes in the Mississippi Association of Private Schools instead of the MHSAA, and the competition in the new league has not been nearly as intense as in the public school division. Barring injury or disqualification, another state championship in the 100, 200 and 400 seems a certainty.

So instead of winning, the Hinds Community College signee has been focusing on more abstract goals like bettering his time and making it the best in Mississippi in any association.

“You’ve just got to prove yourself every week, every run. People may doubt you, but you just work hard and when I come to a track meet I’m ready to run,” Harris said. “It’s definitely different being the one that’s hunted. You just have to continue to hold them off, continue to work hard. When you take a week off, that’s when somebody is going to get you.”

Harris is also dialing in on another goal few athletes have had a shot at. If his MHSAA records are still standing after this year’s state meet, he has a chance to simultaneously hold both the MHSAA and MAIS records in the 100 and 400.

The MAIS overall record in the 100 meters is 10.77 seconds, set by Pillow Academy’s Elliott Thornburg in 2008. The 400 meters record is 49.34 seconds, set by Lee Academy’s Mark Noland in 2006.

Harris set the MHSAA Class 1A record in the 400 with a time of 48.52 seconds last May, and has consistently been near the same time this season. He ran it in 48.69 at the Jackson Prep meet while contending with a steady 20 mph wind during the first half of the race.

Harris also has a chance to break the MAIS overall record of 21.56 seconds in the 200 meters, which was set by former Sylva-Bay and Ole Miss football All-American Cody Prewitt in 2010. Harris has run the 200 in 21.00 seconds this season.

“I’m trying to have the best times in the state regardless of what conference, or what league,” Harris said. “That’d be a great accomplishment. I’m just trying to hold my records, but I know all records are meant to be broken. So I’m just trying to break every one that I can.”

While Harris blew away the competition in the sprints on Friday, he wasn’t the only Warren County athlete to have a strong showing in the final meet of the regular season.

Vicksburg’s Lewis finished third in the 100 meters with a personal-best time of 10.88 seconds. It was the first time the senior has ever gone under 11 seconds.

“That’s a major accomplishment. I’ve been working hard all year for it. I ran an 11.07 a couple of meets ago, and I was really disappointed. But when I ran a 10.8, I was very excited,” Lewis said.

Lewis was also on the Gators’ 4×200 meter relay team that finished second, along with Jeff Scott, Leon Miles and Zahlyn McGruder.

Miles won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.69 seconds — a tenth of a second better than his state championship time from a year ago — and Warren Central’s Miraculous Powers was the runner-up in the race in 14.97 seconds.

Vicksburg’s boys’ 4×800 meter relay team of Shamar Dorsey, Tyler Kimble, Otis Johnson and Darius Tucker won, with a time of 8 minutes, 55.95 seconds.

Warren Central’s Mason Quimby won the boys’ high jump with a height of 5 feet, 8 inches.

On the girls’ side, Vicksburg’s Kiona Patton was third in the 100 meters in 12.68 seconds, while WC’s Raven Thompson and Kiara Lockhart tied for third in the high jump with a height of 5 feet.

Warren Central’s K.K. McCarley finished the girls’ 800 meters with a personal best time of 2:28.58. She missed setting the school record by about two seconds.