Trayvon Bromell Looks to Shine Bright in the 100 Meters

Former Baylor star Trayvon Bromell takes to the track for the first time in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday morning in the prelims of the men's 100 meter race. If Bromell advances as expected, he will run in the semifinals on Sunday night with the opportunity to advance to the finals the same night.

Trayvon is just the latest Bear to make an appearance on the Olympic stage. Starting with Michael Johnson in 1992, this is the seventh consecutive Olympics in which at least one former Baylor trackster has competed for Team USA. Baylor has certainly had a history of great success in the 400 meter race, with 7 individual NCAA championships in the 400 and a staggering 19 titles in the 4x400 meter relay. This has translated to the Olympics as well as Baylor has had individual gold medal wins from Johnson in 1996 and 2000 before passing the torch to Jeremy Wariner in 2004. The nickname Quarter Mile U is well earned.

Johnson also produced one of the most memorable moments in American track history at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he became the first man in history to win the 200 meter and 400 meter races in the same Olympics. MJ simply blowing away the field to win the 200 and obliterate his own world record is one of those Olympic moments that you remember for ages.

But Baylor has never had a 100 meter star like Bromell. Trayvon burst onto the scene for the Bears in 2014 by becoming the first freshman in nearly a decade to win the 100 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He followed that up by winning the NCAA Indoor title in the 60 meter race in 2015 and becoming the first Baylor athlete to be an All-American in two different events in almost 70 years.

And now Trayvon gets the chance to show out for the premiere event in his sport. After a third place finish in last year's world championships and a runner-up effort at the U.S. Olympic Trails earlier this summer, Bromell is certainly expected to be in the mix for a medal. At just 21 years old and thought of as the future of American sprinting, he could be the next in a line of Baylor greats who have taken the Olympic track by storm.