Covina’s Remontay McClain to defend 100-meter dash title against someone like himself

Remontay McClain’s biggest worry this weekend might be if someone, in the words of his track coach, “pulls a Remontay.”

The only sprinter who won’t be able to do it: McClain himself.

The Covina senior can’t emulate his out-of-nowhere state title in the 100-meter dash from 2010 during the state track meet Friday and Saturday at Clovis Buchanan High now that he is the defending champion.

Last year, McClain was a largely unheralded sprinter in the weeks leading up to the state meet.

He finished tied for fourth in the 100 at the Arcadia Invitational in April before moving up to second at the Mt. SAC Relays and the Southern Section Masters Meet.

Then, at the state meet, McClain edged Gardena Serra’s George Farmer by one-thousandth of a second, winning in 10.448 seconds.

“Nobody really expected much out of him a month before the state meet,” said Kevin Glaspy, McClain’s coach at Covina. “He continued to progress and got better at the right time and ran the race of his life to win it.”

McClain is hoping to one-up himself a year later so that he can break the 26-year-old state record of 10.25 set by Hawthorne’s Henry Thomas. Glaspy said setting a new mark would require perfect conditions, which are not expected for the championship races Saturday.

While the forecast for Friday’s preliminary heats — a high of 80 with mostly sunny skies — seems ideal, there is a 40% chance of rain Saturday, with temperatures expected to drop into the low 70s.

Another athlete seeking a record-setting performance will be Agoura hurdler Jonathan Cabral, who last week at the Masters Meet ran the 110 hurdles in a wind-aided 13.27, the fastest time in California under any conditions. Cabral also won the 300 hurdles in 36.19, the fastest time in the nation this year.

“I’m just going to go in and do what I do every week and try to get a [personal record] and just hope it goes the best,” Cabral said of his goals for the state meet.

McClain, who swept the 100 and 200 at the Masters Meet, will probably have greater difficulty repeating his state title in the latter event. He won the 200 at the Masters Meet in 20.87, edging West Covina’s Beejay Lee (20.96), but he finished behind San Diego Rancho Bernardo’s Jared Pickering in April at the Arcadia Invitational.

McClain posted a 10.34 in the 100 during the Masters Meet and is widely expected to repeat as state champion with Farmer sidelined by an ankle injury and Lee having been disqualified during the divisional meet because of a false start.

Of course, that’s assuming nobody does what McClain did last year.

“Even though on paper it looks like he should be the heavy favorite, the margin of error is slim,” Glaspy said. “Somebody could pull a Remontay.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com