Intrigue Abounds With Loaded Distance Events At This Week's Nike Indoor Nationals

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

The Armory in New York City will host many of the best track and field athletes in the country this weekend for Nike Indoor Nationals. Here are 10 storylines to watch at the meet:

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McElhinney vs Moore In Girls 800

The girls 800-meter championshp includes 13 runners with sub-2:10 seed times, and up front, it’s a battle between youth and experience. Dylan McElhinney (Hunter College NY) is the veteran, a two-time Nike Indoor Nationals champion and a USATF U20 champion. She’s also a Manhattan native with plenty of experience at The Armory.

The challenger is Reagan Moore, a sophomore at Oak Knoll NJ. Moore has set personal bests in every event from the 200  to the mile this season, and she has proven that she’s at her best when the competition is high. Last year, she lowered her 800 PB from 2:09.43 to 2:07.72 at New Balance Nationals Outdoor, and this season, she took off another three seconds at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions with a 2:04.80 performance.

Moore has the fastest seed time in the field, and she clearly has a high ceiling. Can she beat the hometown veteran?

Hedengren Set To Dominate

Since last fall, Timpview UT’s Jane Hedengren has consistently delivered mind-blowing performances. First, she went nearly undefeated in the 2024 cross country season and won Nike Cross Nationals by over 40 seconds, throwing down a ridiculous 16:32 on a muddy Glendoveer course in Portland.

She’s only competed a few times this indoor season, but with a 9:37 performance in the 3,200 meters at the Simplot Games and a 4:36 in the 1600 at the REP Distance Challenge (both at altitude, no less), she clearly has the best resume of any distance runner competing at the Armory this weekend. 

Last year, we saw a blowout in the girls 5,000 meter championship, as Elizabeth Leachman torched the national record with a 15:28 performance. Hedengren will likely have that mark in her sights, and it’s certainly within her capabilities. She may not deliver a 49-second margin of victory like Leachman — Zariel Macchia (William Floyd NY), Rylee Blade (Santiago CA) and Emily Wisniewski (Crescent Valley OR) are also in the field — but she’s the clear favorite, and most fans’ eyes will be on the clock.

Hedengren is also part of a stacked girls mile field that includes Macchia, McElhinney, Addison Ritzenhein (Niwot CO), and Ellery Lincoln (Lincoln OR), but she’s the clear favorite there, too, and the meet record of 4:36.61 could easily go down.

Highly Competitive Boys Distance Races

The boys mile and 2-mile fields feature a lot of the same names, and those names belong to some of the best distance runners in the country. NXN champion Charlie Vause (Rio Rancho NM) is in both, as well as Corbin Coombs (Organ Mountain NM), TJ Hansen (Freeland MI), Evan Noonan (Dana Hills CA), Jack Bowen (McCallie TN) and Luke Pash (Ridgewood NJ), among others.

Coombs has a lot of momentum heading into this weekend; on March 1, he threw down a 4:01.62 mile at the CIRCUIT Philly, giving him the fastest seed time in that event by two seconds. He has continued to progress as the season goes on, and like Hedengren in the women’s distance events, he has the advantage of training at altitude year-round.

Hansen is another name to look out for; he finished just behind Coombs at the CIRCUIT, and he’s run under 4:10 four times this winter. He was also second at NXN in the fall.

Vause, meanwhile, has only raced once this season, and Noonan hasn’t raced since finishing fifth at NXN. These races will serve as early tests of their fitness; if either of them can pull off a win, they’ll be sending a message that they are not to be ignored this outdoor season. 

The 2-mile field has a high-caliber name that the mile doesn’t: Tommy Latham. The Marist GA senior has also raced just once this winter, but he made the most of his lone opportunity, winning the boys mile at the Millrose Games in 4:00.94. His indoor 2=mile PB is 9:19.85, and his outdoor 3,200 meter PB is 8:46.88.

Pole Vault Titans Go Head To Head

All eyes will be on Victor Olesen (St. Christopher’s VA) and Luke Beattie (Warwick Valley NY) in the boys pole vault. The two juniors are US#2 and US#3, respectively, and they both rank in the top 15 all-time indoors. They’re separated by only a half inch — Olesen sits at 17-7.50 and Beattie sits at 17-7 — and they set their current PBs on the same day just two weeks ago. Now, they’ll meet head-to-head for the first time this season.

It’s unlikely they’ll set a meet record, or any record, for that matter, as seemingly every pole vault record in existence belongs to Mondo Duplantis. However, their matchup is sure to bring fireworks.

Lutkenhaus Returns To The Armory

A month ago, Cooper Lutkenhaus broke the indoor high school national record in the 800 meters at the Millrose Games, clocking a 1:46.86 as Josh Hoey, the former record holder, broke the American record in the same race with 1:43.90. 

Lutkenhaus, a sophomore at Northwest TX, has the best seed time in the boys 800 meters this weekend by over three seconds. The question isn’t whether he will win, or whether he will break the meet record of 1:49.46; it’s how much he will beat it by, and how many other runners he’ll drag under it. Wyland Obando (Long Beach Wilson CA) ran 1:50.26 at last year’s CIF State Championships, and although he hasn’t competed this winter inside, he may be able to tail behind Lutkenhaus for a lap or two and hang on for a sub-1:50. Obando is the only other competitor in the field with a sub-1:51 credential.

Texas Sprint Talent On Display

Sprinting is different in Texas. Almost every week, it seems, another boys team is dipping under 40 seconds in the 4x100 relay, or another athlete is nearing (or breaking) the 10-second barrier. This weekend, the Lone Star state is sending its best and brightest to the Big Apple. 

Of the top five seeded athletes in the boys and girls 60, 200 and 400 (30 athletes total), 17 are from Texas. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Texans could sweep every individual sprint championship.

Listing every Texas sprinter to look out for would take a decade, so here are the best of the best. Kendrick Jones Jr. (Lake Belton) is looking to defend his title in the boys 200 meters, and he’s also the top seed in the 400. In both of those races, he’ll be facing off against arguably the best sprinter in the Northeast, Philadelphia’s Jayden Horton-Mims (Imhotep Charter PA). Horton-Mims equaled the national record in the 300 meters at the Millrose Games.

Celeste Robinson (Cypress Ranch TX) is another name to watch. The Georgia commit hasn’t picked up any major wins this indoor season, but she comes in with the fastest seed time in the girls 200 meters (22.82), which she recorded in her win at last year’s Nike Outdoor Nationals. She’ll be facing off against some of the best talent in her state in the 200 meters and the 60 meters this weekend, including Skylar Brazzell (Northwest Nelson) and Mia Maxwell (Humble Atastocita).

Other top Texans include Jayden Finley (North Richland Hills), Ja’Shaun Lloyd (Corsicana), Jonathan Simms (Allen) and Tate Taylor (Harlan). 

Seven Returning Champions Back For More

Seniors ruled the 2024 meet, and now they’re gone, leaving a massive hole to fill. The only returning champions are  Horton-Mims (boys 400 meters), McElhinney (girls 800 meters and mile), Skyler Brazzell (girls 400 meters), Olesen (boys pole vault), Lauren Kirby (girls shot put showcase), Jones Jr. (boys 200 meters) and Cordial Vann (boys 60 meters). 

This year, another dominant class of seniors, including Horton-Mims, McElhinney, Hedengren and several others, will be looking to write (or rewrite) their names in the history books, but they’ll be going up against some of the best young talent in the country. Lutkenhaus (Northwest TX), Moore (Oak Knoll NJ), Sophia Rodriguez (Mercer Island WA), and Olivia Harris (Buford GA) — all sophomores — are some of the biggest names in the meet, and they’ll be giving the veterans a run for their money.

Hannah Grace Raising The Bar In PV

If the idea of a two-horse race doesn’t entertain you (see: boys pole vault), watch the girls’ event instead. Hannah Grace (Coastal Christian NC) is the clear favorite, and unlike the top boys, she could easily break the meet record of 14-3.25. She comes in with the best mark in the field — and the country, for that matter — of 14-6. The next highest mark is 13-7.25 from Jaicee Jasmer (Sulphur Springs TX). It will be Grace against the bar.

Grace was last year’s USATF U20 champion, and she won the girls high school pole vault at the Millrose Games in February. She’s cleared 14 feet twice this season, and with an A+ day, she could begin to take aim at the national record of 15-1.5 set by Amanda Moll, who now holds the indoor collegiate record.

Boys 60-Meter Hurdles is STACKED

US#1. US#2. US#5. US#6. US#7. All of them will make their way to The Armory this weekend, making the 60 meters arguably the most competitive event of the meet.

Ja’Shaun Lloyd (Corsicana) and Jasiah Rivera (Kingsville), both from Texas, are neck-and-neck at the top of the list with marks of 7.59 and 7.60, respectively. They haven’t faced off this season yet, and they’ve only lined up in the same field a few times throughout their careers. In addition to sprinting, hurdling is a big deal in Texas, and aside from giving us a glimpse into the outdoor season, this race will decide some bragging rights in the Lone Star state.

Joshua Kai-Smith (Gar-Field VA), Tonovila Hicks (Springside Chestnut Hill PA), Le’Ezra Brown (Dudley NC), Isaiah Washington (Prince George VA) and Trevon Foster (The Hill School PA) are also names to watch; all of them have seed times under 7.80, putting the entire top seven within two tenths of a second.

Jessica Oji On Cusp Of History

All she needs is an inch. Oji’s PB in the shot put is 57-4.50, while the national record, held by Alyssa Wilson in 2017, is 57-5.50. The Livingston NJ senior and UPenn commit has thrown 52 feet or farther eight times this season, and she’s improved by nearly six feet from the 2024 outdoor season.

She’ll need a heave of 56-7.50 to break the meet record, which came from Olympian Raven Saunders in 2014.