Record Watch: 10 Events To Keep An Eye On At NBNI

By Erik Boal, DyeStatCAL Editor

Last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor meet produced six U.S. high school records, making the event one of the most memorable in history.

One national high school record has already been set this year in the boys pole vault and could be broken again this weekend at The Armory in New York City.

Here is a look at 10 national high school records that have the potential to be eclipsed during the March 11-13 meet.

Boys pole vault (Final 3 p.m. EST Saturday)

Sophomore Mondo Duplantis of Lafayette (Louisiana) already set the record Feb. 6 at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier, clearing 18-0.5 to eclipse the mark of 17-11.25 set at last year’s meet by Deakin Volz of Indiana.

Duplantis, the World Youth outdoor champion for Sweden this past summer in Colombia, will look to raise the bar again with another record-setting performance in his indoor nationals debut.

Should Duplantis eclipse his own standard, it would mark the third year in a row the indoor record has been broken at the national final.

The next big target for Duplantis is the World Junior indoor record of 18-7.5, set in 2008 by Germany’s Raphael Holzdeppe.

Girls 5,000 meters (Final 5:15 p.m. Friday)

Since the record has been broken in five consecutive years, don’t be surprised if that streak reaches six in a row.

Weini Kelati, the reigning Foot Locker cross country national champion, will look to chase the record set at last year’s meet by another Foot Locker winner, Anna Rohrer of Mishawaka (Indiana).

Kelati, a junior from Heritage High in Virginia with only one season of high school eligibility remaining, has the potential to take down Rohrer’s effort of 16:10.79, an improvement of more than a second from Tessa Barrett’s 2014 record.

Kelati clocked 17:09.7 at the Foot Locker national cross country final at Balboa Park in San Diego. Rohrer’s winning effort on the same course in 2014 was 17:13.

Maryjeanne Gilbert of Peoria Notre Dame (Illinois), who was Foot Locker runner-up to Kelati in 17:10.6, is also scheduled to compete in the 5,000 final.

Boys 60-meter hurdles (Final 1:49 p.m. Sunday)

Grant Holloway of Grassfield (Virginia), who edged Ohio’s Chad Zallow by a 7.585 to 7.589 margin to win last year’s title, also came close to taking down the national record in the process.

Holloway, who set the national junior record last year, could eclipse the overall mark belonging to another Ohio star, Donovan Robertson, in his final national indoor competition.

Robertson clocked 7.57 in 2012, then won the national title two weeks later in 7.70.

Holloway has clocked 7.14 in the 55 hurdles Feb. 26 at the Virginia indoor state meet, but has yet to run a full 60-meter hurdles race this winter. Last year, Holloway equaled the 55 hurdles national record of 7.05 set in 2009 by Wayne Davis II.

Braxton Canady of Paxon (Florida) and Trey Cunningham of Winfeld (Alabama) are darkhorses in the national title pursuit, having run 7.75 and 7.76 respectively.

Girls 4 x 55 shuttle hurdles relay (Final 11:15 a.m. Saturday)

Western Branch (Virginia) and Hoover (Alabama) have combined to run the five fastest times in history the past two years, with each taking turns holding the national record.

Although they aren’t competing in the same heat, both schools are entered again in pursuit of Western Branch’s standard of 31.22 set last year, which eclipsed Hoover’s mark of 31.35.

Only Faith Ross returns from Western Branch’s record-setting lineup, but Hoover has a veteran group in place ready to return to national supremacy. Brittley Humphrey, Caitlyn Little, Kyla Horn and Michelle Nkoudou are back after taking second to Western Branch in the 4 x 100 shuttle hurdles at New Balance Outdoor in June in North Carolina.

New Jersey’s Union Catholic, which placed second at last year’s indoor nationals in 32.34 and has Sydney McLaughlin scheduled to compete on its relay, could challenge the record as well.

Boys 4 x mile relay (Final 1:10 p.m. Saturday)

New Jersey’s Christian Brothers Academy set the national record of 17:07.17 to win the 2014 title and no quartet got within three seconds of the mark last year.

With Drew Hunter of Loudoun Valley (Virginia) not running any individual events, this could be where the reigning Foot Locker national cross country champion and owner of the high school indoor mile national record could capture the spotlight.

Hunter will be competing for Jungle Track Club, looking to break 4 minutes for the third time this year, but even that performance might not be enough.

Perhaps the strongest challengers are Sandburg (Illinois), which ran a national-leading 7:45.80 in the 4 x 800 relay Monday, and defending national champion La Salle Academy (Rhode Island). David Principe, Matthew Bouthilette and Jack Salisbury all return from La Salle’s championship team that ran 17:11.07 to capture last year’s title.

Girls 1,600 sprint medley relay (Final 1:55 p.m. Saturday)

Rush-Henrietta (New York) finally took down Long Beach Wilson’s 2001 record to win last year’s championship in 3:52.68 and the nucleus of its lineup returns in an effort to eclipse that mark.

Sammy Watson, Lanae-Tava Thomas and Tori Thompson are back for Rush-Henrietta, which replaces Ceara Watson with Stephanie Nwachi.

New York rival Suffern, which took second last year in No. 4 all-time 3:54.48, also returns three athletes in Kamryn McIntosh, Nicole Becker and Kyra Greenbaum.

Boys 200 meters (Final 2:54 p.m. Sunday)

Noah Lyles of TC Williams (Virginia) set meet and national junior records, in addition to producing the No. 2 all-time performance of 20.83 to win last year’s title, just edging Ryan Clark in 20.85.

The standard of 20.69 set by Xavier Carter has stood since 2004, but Lyles’ victory last season combined with his 20.18 outdoors at the U.S. Junior Nationals, makes the indoor record well within reach.

Girls 60-meter hurdles (Final 1:41 p.m. Sunday)

Even without Sydney McLaughlin attempting to defend her title, three of the top 10 all-time performers in the event will compete looking to chase the 2014 mark of 8.11 set by Dior Hall.

Anna Cockrell of Providence Day (North Carolina), Chanel Brissett of Cheltenham (Pennsylvania) and Tonea Marshall of Arlington Seguin (Texas) have all run under 8.30 this season. Cockrell was runner-up to McLaughlin last year in 8.21.

The wild card in the field could be Georgia freshman Tia Jones, who ran a wind-aided 13.08 in the 100 hurdles at New Balance Outdoor in June and has clocked 8.04 in the indoor 55-meter hurdles this year.

Boys 4 x 200 relay (Final 1:03 p.m. Sunday)

Although Long Beach Poly’s mark of 1:26.09 from 2005 is one of the most impressive national relay records, any lineup that has the Lyles brothers has the potential to challenge that mark.

TC Williams, which ran 1:27.29 on Jan. 30, should eclipse the meet record of 1:27.04 set by Union Catholic in 2014 and could become only the second team to run under 1:27.

It will take significant performances from both Josephus and Noah Lyles to approach the record, but with Archbishop Carroll -- running as Elite 6ix -- of Washington D.C. and New Image Training Group from California challenging TC Williams, it could happen.

Boys 4 x 55 shuttle hurdles relay (Final 10:40 a.m. Saturday)

Union Catholic set the national record of 29.20 in 2013 to secure the title, sparking a run of four of the top five all-time marks in the past three years.

Weequahic (New Jersey) ran 29.77 on Saturday and poses the biggest threat to Union Catholic’s standard, returning James Jean, Stephon Hughes and Isaiah Greene from last year’s lineup that placed 17th.