Stellar Sprints on tap at GSW
By Steve Underwood
MaryBeth Sant currently holds the girls’ prep national 100-meter lead at 11.25 seconds. Ariana Washington is the new California 100 and 200 meter champ and anchors one of history’s fastest 4x100 meter relays at one of nation’s most celebrated programs. Ky Westbrook has won the nation’s two biggest showdowns in the 100 this year, triumphing at the adidas Dream 100 and the Arcadia Invitational.
Who will win when they collide Saturday in the Great Southwest Classic girls’ 100 meter dash? Or in the 200 to follow?
The girls’ 100 could be the best and most intriguing race of the 38th edition of the meet, held Thursday through Saturday in Albuquerque, with 4 of the top 5 and 6 of the top 8 in the nation here. Westbrook, the Chandler (Ariz.) senior is “only” US#5, with an 11.45 best, but she’s the queen of the century until proven otherwise. That’s because she’s won the two biggest prep 100s to date in 2013. At Arcadia in April, she dashed an 11.50, nipping 
Florida star Kali Davis-White. Then two weeks ago in New York, she ran 11.52 in cool, wet, windy conditions to take the adidas Dream 100, topping Sant (11.55), Davis-White (11.59), Illinois’ Aaliyah Brown (the 2012 GSW 100 champ) and five other stars.
Sant, a Valor Christian (Colo.) senior, beat Westbrook at 60 meters indoors at Simplot, then had a bad day on the big stage at the Brooks PR meet, not making the 60 final. But after an outdoor campaign in Colorado where she ran an11.38 best (US#1 at the time), then defended her state 5A 100 and 200 titles, she came to the adidas meet and – though she didn’t win – certainly proved she belonged. Then there was that 11.25, which came at a Colorado USATF meet a week later, to retake the national lead from Ana Holland (not in this meet). Sant was third here last year, the only returnee in the elite 100.
Meanwhile, Washington bypassed the Arcadia 100, while dominating the 200 and anchoring her relay teams to two big wins. Since then, however, she has dominated both the 100 and 200 in the Golden State, including an 11.38 win last week and an 11.20 wind-aided mark a few weeks earlier (the best all-conditions mark this spring). She also couldn’t run the adidas meet because the Southern Section Masters were the same day. She is certainly as capable of winning this showdown as either Westbrook or Sant.
Although it’s hard to imagine a 100 winner here Saturday besides the above-mentioned trio, the rest of the seven-girl field is certainly stellar. Two Coloradoans, Alleandra Watt (Pine Creek soph) and Zainab Sanni (Smoky Hill sr), ran big PRs (by more than .20) behind Sant in the CO USATF meet of US#4 11.41 and #7 11.52. They’ll hope to at least back those up here. Then from Florida comes super frosh Kaylin Whitney (East Ridge), with a US#8 11.54 to her credit. She’s already performed well in the limelight, with a solid 5th in the Dream 100 and with a pair of state 3A titles in hand. Finally, big-race veteran Hannah Cunliffe, a junior from Washington who runs unattached, brings a US#12 best of 11.58 into the meet. She was a strong third in the Brooks 60 indoors and has many big meets to her credit.
Later, Washington, Westbrook, Whitney, Cunliffe, Sant and Watt are all slated to double back at 200. In that race, however, Washington comes in as the favorite with a US#2 23.18 and five marks under 23.40 on her annual slate. Westbrook, Whitney and the rest certainly have a shot, but it would be an upset if Washington lost at what is arguably her specialty.
As for the boys’ 100 and 200 fields, they are very strong as well – even if not quite as much so as on the girls’ side. And, in the case of the guys, the 100 has more of a clear favorite with the 200 having potentially more drama.
Gibbs (St. Petersburg, Fla.) sr Trayvon Bromell sits atop the national list in the century with a 10.27(+0.7w) that claimed victory in the Golden South Classic three weeks ago. The 3A state champ also clocked a scintillating 10.14 
in a no-wind-gauge situation at his region meet that observers claim was in legal conditions. Bromell has lost just once, but it was a tough one – he was 5th in the Dream 100 behind three Texas stars and fellow Floridian Ceo Ways.
None of those guys are in Albuquerque, though. But Bromell will face a field with a handful of guys in the 10.4-10.6 range. The Edna Karr Magnet (New Orleans) duo of Jermey Hicks and Sharkieth Beverly ran 10.48 and 10.49 with a barely illegal (2.1) wind at the Sugar Bowl meet and were part of the relay crews that went 40.84 and 1:25.81 early in the year. Beverly nipped Hicks in the 4A state race. Also from Louisiana is Chris Lewis, the junior from Lakeside (Sibley), who took the 2A state race with 10.46w and is known for his super 55 marks indoors.
Exciting young Mountain Point (Ariz.) soph Paul Lucas has a lot of upside, a triple threat with 10.44/20.99/47.48 bests. He earned two wins and a second at D1 state. Cleveland NJROTC Academy (St. Louis) jr Michael Wells was the Missouri 2A champ and had a 10.43w last week at the Forest Park Festival. Two others have sub-10.7 creds: Colorado 4A state champ and Mead (Longmont) sr Alex Mead (10.66/+0.8w and 10.62/+1.3w in 2012) and New Mexico 4A champ and Piedra Vista (Farmington) sr Zach Johnson. Lewis was fifth and Mead sixth last year as the only returnees.
The 200 – now there’s the boys’ sprint race that suggests a barnburner. With Lucas, and Florida stars Jerimy Strainge and Reggie Glover, you have three of the country’s wind-legal sub-21 performers this year. Strainge (North Broward sr) was targeted for great things even before his frosh year, when he ran 10.49w and 21.18w. He missed a year with injury, but this spring has a US#5 20.84 that was third at Golden South and was the state 2A champ. Glover (Dr. Phillips, Orlando, sr) is best at 400, but clocked a 20.98 in the Golden South prelims.
And how about Bromell? He has “just” a 21.07 legal PR, but that came in beating Glover (21.28) early in the Florida campaign at the Steinbrenner meet. He was second to Kendal Williams in the 3A state 200, but also had a 20.86 nwi in his conference meet. He was originally listed to double, though he currently isn’t listed in the 200 entries. Could he pull off the double if he chose to? You bet he could – but the second half could be much more challenging than the first.
Should the aforementioned Reggie Glover and Alleandra Watt find the short dashes a little daunting, there’s a strong chance gold will await them at the end of the meet’s longest individual sprint. Glover has a US#3 46.46 best, a time that led the nation during the middle of the season. He’s got 0.75 seconds on the rest of the field. Similarly, Watt’s 53.78 PR is a half-second beyond anyone else.
