This year we are highlighting the top NBNO commitments each week leading up to the championships on June 19-21.  

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By Steve Underwood of the NSAF

Lexi and Tori Weeks: Keeping the Bar High
Vaulting over 13 feet is no longer rare for girls, nationally, but the 14-foot club has still been tough to get into.  Since the barrier was breached in 2005, there’s been less than one new member a year.  So it stood to reason that when Desiree Freier improved both HSRs last year – to 14-2.75 indoors and a dizzying 14-7.25 outdoors – then that might be it for awhile.  But Arkansas twins Lexi and Tori Weeks have made us rethink that a bit.  Not that this Cabot HS duo hadn’t set the stage; Lexi cleared 14-0 in ’14 and Tori went 13-2.  But that 2015 would be huge became apparent in early January as both twins went 14-0.5 – a huge PR for Tori – at the Jack Frost meet in January at Coach Morrie Saunders’ Arkansas Vault Club indoor facility.

Lexi broke Freier’s indoor record with 14-3.25 in February and both stayed consistent in the 13s, but they didn’t compete at NBNI.  Outdoors, Lexi has been over 14 thrice with a 14-2 best, while Tori has gone 13-10.  And, unlike a lot of elite vaulters, the twins do it all for Cabot HS.  They have heptathlete skills – particularly strong in the sprints, hurdles and horizontal jumps – and combined for 88 pts at state.  But in Greensboro on June 20, you’ll finally seen them make their national meet debut!  With Great Southwest preceding NBNO for them by two weeks, any big meet jitters should be gone and the twins will be ready to put on a show!

Sydney McLaughlin: Encores aren’t easy
When you progress as far and as fast as Sydney McLaughlin did in 2014, coming back for an encore and continuing to improve can be tough.  The nation first saw what this Union Catholic, NJ sensation could do in December, 2013, when as a freshman she ripped a 38.55 300m at Bishop Loughlin.  Outdoors, she debuted with a 1:00.54 for 400H, then went under 14.00 for 100H, then started cutting off huge chunks of time as fans watched in wonder.  At the state Meet of Champs, she had a record-breaking 56.91/13.47 double, then came to NBNO and topped it with a 56.89 triumph and 13.34 100H (losing by .01).  She then capped the season off at USA Juniors by nearly beating the NCAA 400H champ with a near-HSR 55.63.

The “encore” started indoors as McLaughlin, now a soph, improved her 60H dramatically – culminating in an 8.17 title at NBNI (#3 all-time).  She also progressed to a US#1 53.72 for the flat 400 (earlier meet) and had a sub-53 relay carry.  However, she also developed a groin injury after the NBNI triumph.  When finally coming back in May, she’s had to drop the 100H, but her 400H and 400 flat times have progressed in less than a month to 57.39 and 52.59.  Now, the world waits to see what McLaughlin can do at NBNO, and possibly in a bid for a World Youth title.  Can she get in the 55-56 400H range again?  Might she even break the HSR?  Tune in!

Sarah Kettel: Homeschooler ascends to elite level
Sarah Kettel is proof that an elite runner and national championship contenders can come from many backgrounds.  You don’t have to be part of an elite public or private school program, or have to have a coach who has coached athletes at this level before.  You don’t have to have parents who were elites or even have competed for a state championship before.  If you’re Kettel, you can be a home-schooled student from Brighton, Michigan, who started dabbling in distance running with her parents.  That led the Kettels to start looking for competitive opportunities for Sarah in 2013 and finding the Capital Homeschool Athletic Program in Lansing, about an hour away.  There, under Coach Kevin Shoemaker during that fall’s XC season, Kettel’s talent was revealed and nurtured and she made it under 18:30 for 5k.

The following 2014 track seasons saw Kettel run 5:01.46, 10:51.98 and 17:45.74 for 1,600, 3,200 and 5k, and she competed well in both NBN meets.  As a junior this school year, though, she’s taken a big jump.  She qualified for both XC nationals, then kept breaking PRs indoors, eventually taking 5th in both the NBNI 5k (16:57.47) and 2M (10:27.24).  Outdoors, she’s gotten even faster, including lowering her 1,600 to 4:52.86.  When Kettel competes again at NBNO, she will be a legitimate championship contender in the 2M and 5k … and we’ll see what this homeschooled rising star can do!

Noah Lyles – Can he match his indoor achievements?
When Noah Lyles crossed the finish line in the NBNI 200m final with his 20.83, .02 ahead of 60m dash champ Ryan Clark, it represented a new level of achievement for the T.C. Williams, VA junior.  For starters, it was his first sub-21 indoors – this thrilled him perhaps more than anything else – and elevated him to #2 all-time.  Secondly, it was a sweet reversal of his very narrow defeat at the hands of Clark earlier in the afternoon at 60 meters.  Finally, it was his first high school championship victory, as big or bigger in its own way compared to Lyles’ Youth Olympic Games triumph the previous August – after all, Clark was a tougher foe than any he faced there.

There’s never been a question of Lyles’ talent – that was apparent in 2013, when as a freshman he ran a legal 21.28.  He made Team USA for the World Youths and won medley relay silver.  Last year, he set a national soph class 200m record indoors (21.50) and ran 20.82 outdoors, but trailed record-setting, World Junior gold-winning Trentavis Friday in both NBN races.  But then came the YOG triumph and now Lyles has passed Friday on the all-time indoor 200 list.  Could he be the one who makes jaws drop in Cuba (with Team NSAF), Greensboro and Eugene in June’s biggest sprints?  Other than great legs on Penn Relays 4x400s in April, Lyles’ outdoor season has been relatively quiet.  But with June and NBNO finally at hand, big things could happen!

Grant Holloway – Outdoor challenges await triple threat
If anyone can be said to have “worked up the ranks” or “paid his dues” at NBN meets, it would have to be Grant Holloway.  As a very talented freshman and sophomore, already displaying the range of talents that has now made him almost legendary, he competed in 7 indoor and outdoor Freshman and Emerging Elite events (most in 2013), scoring 4 victories – but also suffering a DQ and a false start.  He was also 2nd in the 2014 NBNI championship 60H and had a 7-1 high jump PR outdoors.  Yet coming into this junior year, 2014-15, there was still this sense of so much potential yet to be fulfilled, so much talent still to reveal itself.

That revelation began this past winter, as Holloway amazed all season long with US top-7 performances in SIX events during the regular season, ranging from 55m and 55H to 500m and including the long jump and high jump.  He ran a US#1 7.19 55H at his state meet, but was still the underdog coming into the NBNI 60H.  Then, after getting 2nd in the HJ, Holloway PR’d in his 60H prelim at 7.88, improved to 7.77 in his semi, then rocked a US#1/#2 all-time 7.59 in the final – nipping favored Chad Zallow by less than 1/100 and breaking the 55H nat’l record en route (7.05).  Holloway had arrived.  But here’s the thing: Outdoors, he has improved on his 2014 marks, but has not made a US top 10 in anything.  Is this the mark of someone tired from a long indoor campaign or waiting to explode at NBNO?  We’ll see in two weeks.

Jaron Brooks – From 6-4 to national champ
The improvements for Jaron Brooks, a Henry Clay, KY junior, have been pretty big and dramatic.  He was showing some horizontal jumping talent as a sophomore, getting over 20 feet and 41 feet for the long and triple jumps early in the outdoor season.  Then when he started high jumping, it was 5-6, meet after meet.  But suddenly in April, he got over 6 feet – where he became consistent – and then suddenly he got over 6-4.  At his outdoor state meet, he went 6-2 for 8th, so it would have been reasonable to think this year he might become a 6-6 guy or better.

But already possessing great leaping ability, and fueled by a growth spurt where he grew to 6-5, Brooks very quickly became a national elite this year.  It took all of two meets, as he went 6-10 in an open meet in Indiana in early February, then at the prestigious Kentucky Invite he soared over 7-1.  Everything changed and suddenly Brooks was an NBNI podium candidate.  In the first major meet of his life, he came through – beating Grant Holloway and getting the win in The Armory at 6-11.5.  He had overcome some injury issues that had cropped up in February to win NBNI, so he took a break after that during the early Kentucky outdoor season.  But over the last six weeks, he’s gotten a 7-0 jump and been over 6-10 three times, including the AAA state title.  Brooks will be joining Team NSAF in Cuba, then it will be on to NBNO to see if he can make it an indoor/outdoor double! 

Make sure to check out NBNationals.com and NationalScholastic.org often for new updates and make sure to tune in to NBNationals.com on June 19-21 to watch all the action LIVE!