By the time Laramie's Stephen Michel received his medal for winning the long jump on Friday, his work in the sand pit was already old news.

In between winning the long jump and receiving the medal, Michel found time to obliterate the state meet record in the 100-meter dash, as well.

Michel's time of 10.50 seconds during the 100 preliminaries at the Wyoming State High School Track and Field Championships at Harry Geldien stadium broke the 15-year-old state meet record by 0.25 seconds - a world of difference in a race as short as the 100.

And even Michel wasn't sure what to think.

"I thought my best ever would be in the 10.6 range, but to run a 10.50, I don't even know how to react," he said.

Not only that, he won the long jump with a new personal best of 23 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

He needed it, because Natrona County's Cale Fedore made it awfully tough on Michel to win the long jump.

Fedore's first jump, a leap of 23 feet, 3 1/2 inches, was the longest jump in the state at that point and broke a 23-year-old Natrona County school record.

"To be honest, I really didn't think it was good enough," Fedore said. "I thought (Michel) would get one better than that."

Michel followed Fedore, and on his first jump uncorked the winner - also a school record.

"I was pretty sure it was a (personal best)," he said.

"It felt like a really big jump."

Michel's coach, Bruce Schmidt, was never worried.

"Stephen's a competitor, one of the best competitors I've ever coached, and I knew he'd match Cale," he said.

But the thrill of winning the long jump didn't last long. Just a few minutes later, Michel was running in the preliminaries of the 100.

He used a great start to end the competitive phase of his heat early - and then the question became whether he could break the record of 10.75 seconds set by Cheyenne East's Lee Vaughn in 1993.

Michel knew he ran a solid race but wasn't sure he had the record.

It was never in doubt, though. The weather - with temperatures in the mid-60s and a slight wind at his back - also set up perfectly for a record run.

"(The conditions) were perfect," Michel said. "I knew coming in, I got to do this (Friday). It just felt right."

He's hoping for similar conditions today. He's running in the finals of the 100 and 200 and will also try to break his own state record in the finals of the triple jump.

n GEBICKI BREAKS POLE VAULT RECORD: The loudest cheers of the day came for Cheyenne East senior Justin Gebicki, who broke the all-class state record in the pole vault.

His vault of 16 feet, 1/4 inch broke the existing all-class record by 1/4 inch.

Gebicki said his warm-ups weren't great, but that had no reflection on his performance.

"I came in at 14 (feet) and as soon as the bar went up I knew what I had to do," he said.

After breaking the state record, he tried to match his personal best of 16-6. However, he missed all three jumps after he "didn't adjust for adrenaline."

The old record of 16-0 was set by Cody's Ben Peterson in 2006.

Contact high school sports coordinator Patrick Schmiedt at (307) 266-0615 or patrick.schmiedt@trib.com.