Ryan Milus never planned on becoming the fastest runner Arizona has seen in 31 years.

There were no pre-dawn workouts. No grand dreams of emulating Carl Lewis.

As a freshman who grew tired of sitting on his couch, the football kid needed something to do.

"I was at home, but I was just too bored," said Chandler Hamilton's senior sprinter, who will play cornerback for the Arizona football team in the fall. "So I decided to check it out."

He showed up for track two weeks late, threw on the spikes and ran.

Now, he can't be stopped.

Milus has blistered the competition all season, and his main target now is something bigger: the 31-year-old 100-meter dash state record, set in 1978 by Dysart's LaNorris 'Cricket' Marshall.

In the 5A-I state meet preliminaries on Wednesday, Milus tied Marshall's mark with a time of 10.33 seconds.

While there have been challengers to the throne before him - like Peoria's Keegan Herring and Tempe Corona del Sol's Steven Koehnemann earlier this decade - no one has matched Marshall's mark.

Until Milus.

He gets his final shot to break the record on Arizona turf on Saturday in the state meet finals at Chandler High.

"Obviously," Milus said, "I want to win state. But to break that record would be special."

Marshall and Milus are officially co-owners of the record now, although this drama could have ended weeks ago.

The 100 meters Milus ran at the Tribune Invitational on April 24 was unbelievable, in more ways than one.

There was the traditional sense.

He was so fast out of the gate - and held that pace for 70 more meters - that onlookers did a double-take after glancing at their stopwatches.

Milus himself didn't believe it at first.

"The person down (on the track) clocked me at 10.04," Milus said. "I was like 'Naw, it couldn't be. There's no way. Then I came into the stands and there were three or four people that said they had me at 10.1.'"

The second mode of disbelief is in the more literal sense, because who will believe he did it if there is no official record of the race?

Although multiple stopwatches had him below Marshall's time, the electronic clock malfunctioned and failed to record the race. His time didn't count because it wasn't official.

"There's nothing you can do about it," Milus said. "It was unfortunate, but it didn't really bug me too much."

One hundred meter dash champions have traditionally conjured up images of chest-thumping, jewelry-wearing extroverts. But Milus doesn't fit that bill, either.

"One of the things that I like about Ryan is he's extremely humble," Hamilton coach Norris Thomas said. "Regardless of what happens Saturday night, you won't see him wag his tongue or pound his chest. The better he performs, the more quiet he gets."

The two don't talk about the record much.

Thomas is sure Milus has it in the back of his mind, but it's not something that drives him.

"I really don't think he understands the magnitude of what he's doing right now," Thomas said. "Maybe in 10 years he'll look back and say 'wow', but right now, nothing.

"We talked about the record a couple times in the beginning of the season. He said, 'Maybe I'll get a shirt'" for beating the time.

Milus has always been a natural.

His fast starts give him an instant edge, and he's able to keep up the pace the entire race. For the most part, the coaching staff just lets him do his thing.

"It's fun to watch him," Thomas said. "We're just as much in awe as a staff as anyone else in the stands."

Milus knows what it will take to break the record. In a race that lasts all of 10 seconds, the final two will make him or break him.

"If I can keep my speed all the way to the end, and accelerate through the end of the tape, that will give me a chance," he said.

Football still has Milus' heart, as he is undecided whether he will run track at UA next season.

But for the past four years, it has sure beaten afternoons lounging in front of the TV.

"Track hadn't really been my thing, but it's been pretty good to me," Milus said.