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Turnover To New Batch of Stars Highlights 2018 New Balance Nationals Indoor

Published by
DyeStat.com   Mar 12th 2018, 2:01pm
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Show-stoppers at NBNI reveal the present, future of HS track

By Doug Binder, DyeStat

NEW YORK -- Three new national high school records and dozens of memorable performances came out of the weekend's New Balance Nationals Indoor at The Armory. This year's meet dazzled, as always, with the best of the best from a wide swath of the country gathering to compete.

As the dust settled on the arena Sunday afternoon in Washington Heights, the big picture about the quality of one of track and field's best shows came into focus.

The bar is set so high. A year after Mondo-Sydney-Sammy-Brie-Alyssa (and others), there was no way to capture all of the lightning of of 2017 or other recent years. 

But there were all-time record-breakers in the building, to be sure, and some of them might not even know it yet. 

The highlights of the 2018 meet were plentiful, and many of them came from athletes who are eligibile to come back in 2019. 

Every girls champion on the track from 60 meters to 2 miles was a non-senior.

Florida freshman Tamari Davis continues to break out, revealing speed and poise that could take her to the all-time pinnacle of high school sprinting. Junior Arria Minor from Colorado made her Armory debut with a 400-meter victory (52.74). 

Sophomore Athing Mu from New Jersey has appeared, as if on cue, to begin filling a void left by Olivia Baker and Sydney McLaughlin. Mu won the 800 championship (2:06.59) and also won the emerging elite 400 (54.98). 

Sophomore Katelynne Hart came out from Illinois and won the mile (4:45.47) and sped by another sophomore, West Virginian Victoria Starcher (4:46.32) to reach the finish tape first.

Sophomore Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland, already one of the best distance runners in prep history, won the 2-mile in 9:58.89 on her third consecutive day of racing. 

Juniors Tia Jones (8.044) and Grace Stark (8.047) both bumped up against the national high school record (8.02) in the 60-meter hurdles.

Sophomore Taylor Ewert from Ohio won the 1-mile racewalk in 6:49.20, which is faster than any of the boys who competed this weekend, and she was also 11th in the 2-mile. 

In the field events, most of the winners were seniors. But junior Jasmine Moore from Texas won the triple jump with 42-11.75. 

A strong senior class of boys dominated the top of the awards podium, but there was a youth movement afoot on that side as well. Talents like Caleb Jackson and Mario Heslop in the 60 (fourth and fifth, both junors), Marcellus Moore (sophomore, fourth in the 200), Luis Peralta (a junior, third in the 800) and Ryan Oosting (a junior, second in the 2-mile) ensure that big things are still to come. 

Brian Herron, a junior, broke the meet record in the 400 with 46.31 and his Flight 400 Club teammate Nick Ramey was second in 46.78. 

Sophomore Trey Knight of Ridgefield WA dominated the weight throw (82-11) and placed third in the shot put (64-2). 

And Tyrese Cooper, one of the headlining stars of the weekend, is still only a junior. Cooper, however, was trying to work on an injury that went from bad to much worse. 

The defending champion in the 200 and 400 suffered a mishap on the second-floor warm-up area when he had to abruptly stop to avoid traffic. He was in pain before going to the third floor to take on Herron in the 400. Cooper made one valiant lap of the track and was on Herron's shoulder when he pulled up and fell to the ground. 

Cooper said he believed he had a torn hip flexor, which if severe, could put him out for four to eight weeks.  

Three biggest moments of the weekend, the national records, came on relays. 

The Bullis MD girls crushed the shuttle hurdles relay record on Saturday with 30.44 seconds. That group consisted of junior Lauryn Harris, senior Masai Russell, sophomore Leah Phillips and senior Cierra Pyles

On Sunday, Bullis smashed its own national record in the 4x200 relay with a perfectly executed race that produced a jaw-dropping time of 1:34.75. Sophomore Shaniya Hall, Phillips, senior Ashley Seymour, and Russell, were pushed. War TC (Nansemond River VA) matched the previous record of 1:36.35 with four juniors -- Kori Carter, Tre'Breh Scott-McKoy, Brene' Donaldson and Asia Crocker

"We're family," Bullis coach Joe Lee said. "Family does not always mean having a blood connection. It's a connection to something significant that will last a lifetime. They will remember this forever."

The Bullis girls -- junior Sierra Leonard, Hall, Russell and Phillips -- also won the 4x400 relay in 3:39.86, just off their 2017 meet record.

The outgoing senior class had its share of moments as well. 

Anthony Schwartz, the nation's premier 100 sprinter, came up from Florida and flashed brilliance in the 60. Schwartz broke the Armory record in the prelims with 6.63 seconds, then went down to 6.62 in the semifinals before blasting 6.59 in the final -- moving to No. 2 all-time behind Casey Combest's 19-year-old national record of 6.57.

The Jungle TC from Loudoun Valley VA showed its might as the best boys distance program in the country. 

The lineup of junior Connor Wells, junior Jacob Hunter, junior Sam Affolder and senior Colton Bogucki destroyed the national record in the indoor 4xMile relay with 17:01.82. 

A 'B' team of senior Peter Morris, junior Jacob Windle, senior Chase Dawson and sophomore Kevin Carlson placed sixth in 17:45.71.

The Jungle, a name derived from the student body's nickname at basketball games, also came back later Saturday to claim the 4x800 relay in 7:39.30 for an Armory record using the same lineup as the record-breaking 4xMile. 

On Friday night, the same guys finished third in an intensely competitive distance medley relay (10:00.58) that seemed to spur them to greatness a day later.

The nation's top miler/2-miler, Brodey Hasty of Brentwood TC TN, used his kick to secure a second straight 2-mile victory in 9:00.38.

Californian Jett Charvet, a senior running on a banked 200-meter oval for the second time, won the 800 in 1:50.91. Ohio's Dustin Horter took the mile in 4:08.03.

Austin Kratz of Dock Mennonite PA, one of the nation's best unsigned seniors, blitzed the field in the 200 to win in 21.01.

Ayden Owens of Pittsburgh ran 7.59 to beat Kyle Garland of Philadelphia (7.74) in the 60 hurdles a day after Garland had beaten Owens in the pentathlon. Owens is headed to USC in the fall, Garland to Georgia. 

Zachery Bradford of Bloomington, Ill. became just third third prep to clear 18 feet in the pole vault indoors -- skimming a bar that managed to stay on top of the pegs -- with 18-0.50. That made clearance Saturday won a close competition with KC Lightfoot of Missouri, who topped out at 17-9. 

Mayson Conner, from Nebraska, won the high jump with 7-1.75. Patrick Larrison, from Oklahoma, won the shot put with 67-6.

Sunday's loudest moments came right after the opening ceremonies in the Armory's signature event -- the 4x200s. Bullis' girls beat their record by a half second. 

And then, in the boys race, War TC (Nansemond River VA) anchor Jacob Nixon, a junior, took the baton in third place and gave everything he had to pass Bullis MD and DeMatha Catholic MD on the final curve to bring his team home in 1:27.11. 

"I really wanted to hit that tape before anybody else," Nixon said. "On that backstretch I was just looking to kill and catch anybody in front of me."

The temperature in that race boiled over. The crowd went nuts.

The Sunday afternoon finale at New Balance Nationals Indoor whips into a frenzy unlike almost anything else in the sport of track and field. Not only are the performances historic, in many cases, they are fueled by an electric atmosphere that makes the event truly special.

It will take another year to build up that kind of charge again, but even more records are bound to tumble in 2019.



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