One of the most competitive events at Friday night’s Coos County Track Meet could be the boys 100 meters, with a group of relative newcomers competing for the title.

For the first time in recent years, the county has a variety of good sprinters from different schools.

Marshfield’s Ryan Scoville, North Bend’s Mike Forbes, Bandon’s Ben Rich and Coquille’s Joseph Harris all have posted impressive times in the event this year.

The only seasoned runner among the group is Scoville, a sophomore who was on the Pirate sprint relay last year and has helped the Pirates become one of the fastest relays in the state.

Scoville didn’t compete in last year’s county meet, but was part of the Marshfield relay team at the end of the season. Already this spring, he has improved more than half a second in the 100 from his best last season, improving from 12.01 seconds to 11.44 seconds.

Forbes, a senior for the Bulldogs, also ran last year, but had to cut his season short because of injuries, coach Steve Greif said.

Greif said Forbes’ talent first was discovered by instructors in North Bend’s physical education department.

“They did some time testing, so they knew he would be good for us,” Greif said.

The results have been that way this year, including an outstanding time of 11.18 seconds in the season opener at Florence, but Forbes again is battling injuries, this time painful shin splints.

He finished fourth in the 100 meters at the Jim Robinson Twilight Invitational at Roseburg on Saturday — two spots behind Scoville — but had to pull out of the 200.

“He didn’t run as well as he could in the 100, we thought,” Greif said. “His times weren’t what we were expecting. Hopefully he’ll be there Friday.”

Rich is another upperclassman who is a newcomer to the sport.

The Bandon junior is a gifted pianist who had not shown an interest in track before this season, coach Jim Boyd said.

“He got interested in it and decided to give it a go — and we’re glad he did,” Boyd said.

Suddenly, Rich has been hand-timed in under 11.2 seconds twice this spring.

“He’s just fast,” Boyd said. “We’re still trying to get him in shape. That’s what God gave him.”

Boyd has been working with Rich on sprinting drills and techniques.

“Everything has been kind of a challenge because he’s completely new,” he said.

Rich is just starting to learn his potential. Harris could be in the same boat.

The Coquille sophomore is one of the best all-around athletes on the South Coast, but his springtime specialty is baseball. He didn’t compete in track last year and is sharing the sports this year, but has shown great potential.

At the Brookings-Harbor Rotary Invitational on Saturday, he finished third in the 100 and 200, one spot behind Rich.

At the meet in Florence in March, all four county runners competed together and took the top four places, with Forbes leading the way, followed by Rich, Scoville and Harris, ranging from 11.53 to 11.66 seconds.

Boyd said this spring is a nice change for the county in terms of sprinters.

“We really haven’t had any,” he said.

That’s not entirely true, but they have been spread out.

The last runner to break 11.60 seconds in the event at the county meet was North Bend’s Michael Bishop, who was timed in 11.40 in 2006.

“It seems like it’s been a distance county the last 20 years,” Greif said.

At least in recent years, the best runners have been in the distances. From North Bend’s Spenser Lynass, Steven Garboden and Trevor Berrian, this year’s top distance ace in the area, to Marshfield’s Jared Bassett and Coquille’s Josh Frasier, the county has been blessed with standouts.

Now the sprinters are earning attention, including Marshfield’s speedy relay crew.

“Mac’s done a nice job with some offseason workouts,” Greif said of Marshfield coach Rich “Mac” McIntosh.

The county record for the event is converted to 11.34 seconds — numerous runners were hand-timed in 11.1 seconds over the past decades and .24 seconds is added to convert to the new fully automated timing system used at Marshfield and North Bend. A few of the sprinters could make a run at the record if the conditions are right Friday.

“We haven’t had the fastest times at county because the weather (often) is bad and also because we were running uphill until they redid the track,” Greif said, referring to the old track set-up at Pete Susick Stadium, which surveyors determined had the finish line higher than the starting line until the track was completely rebuilt several years ago.

Greif remembered a conversation with Tim Varga, one of the best sprinters in North Bend history and one of the seven runners sharing the record.

“Tim said ‘I’ve never had my best times at Marshfield, because I felt we were running uphill’,” Greif said. “Then we found out he was.”

On Friday night, a new crop of sprinters will see if they can challenge the 100 record.