Hayes Delivers Record Run in 300

Reigning national indoor 400 champion lowers Natasha Hastings' American standard; Candace Hill runs fastest time by high school girl and is No. 2 all-time U.S. Junior

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Quanera Hayes achieved her career highlight in March by winning the 400-meter title at the USATF Indoor Championships, prevailing over Olympians Ashley Spencer, Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis.

Hayes continued to bolster her resume Saturday at the Clemson Orange and Purple Classic by setting the American indoor 300-meter record at 35.71 seconds to highlight the first meet on the Tigers’ new banked track. Candace Hill, a Rockdale County GA senior who competes professionally for ASICS, ran the fastest time ever by a high school female to place second in 36.86.

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Hayes, who improved to the No. 3 all-time performer in the world on a standard 200-meter track, eclipsed Hastings’ American record of 36.25 set in February. Hastings, who set the only American indoor track record last year, had broken the mark of 36.33 established in 2007 by Allyson Felix.

Only Russia’s Irina Privalova (35.45) and Jamaica’s Patricia Hall-Pritchett (35.69) have run faster in the indoor 300 than Hayes, who secured the bronze medal in the 400 and gold in the 4x400 relay in March at the World Indoor Championships. Russia's Svetlana Goncharenko ran 35.48 on an oversized track in 1998.

Hayes, a Livingstone College graduate, placed eighth in the 400 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, despite being bothered by leg and foot injuries that resulted in her being on crutches less than a month before the meet.

Francena McCorory ran 36.96 in 2006 at Bethel High in Virginia to set the national high school indoor 300 record. McCorory also holds the American Junior indoor 300 record at 36.67, which she set in 2007 during her freshman year at Hampton, with Hill’s mark ranking No. 2 all-time on the American Junior list.

Hill edged Hayes by a 7.30 to 7.34 margin in the Olympic Development 60-meter dash earlier in the meet.