Top athletes chasing history at this weekend's NBNI

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor 

There have already been six national high school records set at The Armory and that number could double this weekend with the arrival of the New Balance Nationals Indoor, Friday through Sunday in Upper Manhattan. 

The athletes who have made history so far this season – Samantha Watson, Tyrese Cooper, Sydney McLaughlin, Alyssa Wilson and Mondo Duplantis – are all coming back to the building. Additionally, a wide swath of the top prep athletes in the country will be in a meet fueled by the highest possible level of elite high school competition. 

Here is a closer look at the championship events and the chances that a big record could fall: 

Girls 60-Meter Dash: National leader Jayla Kirkland from Woodlawn AL is entered and has run 7.34 this season. The national (7.19) and meet records (7.26) are quite strong and will require a tremendous performance. Sophomore Thelma Davies from Girard College PA is another to keep an eye on. 

Girls 200: Kirkland is one of two girls under 24 seconds this winter and could be considered the favorite here. However, Lynna Irby of Pike IN has impressive credentials and can’t be overlooked. 

Girls 400: National record holder and Olympian Sydney McLaughlin is back to defend her 2016 title and see if she can drive the record she set (51.84) out of sight. 

Girls 800: With Samantha Watson opting for the mile, her 800 meter record of 2:01.78 is safe here. Terri Turner of Penn Wood PA comes in with a season’s best of 2:08.78. 

Girls Mile: The meet record (4:36.61) might be a more reasonable goal than the national record (4:28.25), but at this point, who could rule out the possibility that Watson could put serious pressure on this. After all, she has smashed records from 600 to 1,000 this winter. Her 1,000-meter record from last week (2:40.72) shows that she is capable of holding a hot pace. 

Girls 2-Mile: The national record (9:38.68) is out of range. National leader Katelynne Hart of Illinois ran 10:15.95 (3,200) but she isn’t in the meet. Kelsey Chmiel ran the sophomore class national record last weekend in the 3,000 (9:26.28) and deserves to be a favorite, along with NXN cross country champion Brie Oakley. 

Girls 5,000: Oakley has stated her intention of trying to break the record, which has tumbled six years in a row at this meet. The national record of 16:08.83 set last season by Weini Kelati won’t be easy to get, but Oakley’s engine is impressive. If she can get into a groove, the record could fall for the seventh straight year. 

Girls 60 Hurdles: This is a record that could fall. Tonea Marshall from Seguin TX broke the record last year with 8.02. Nobody has run close to that so far this season, but sophomore Tia Jones of George Walton Comprehensive GA is the national record holder in the 100-meter hurdles outdoors, and Chanel Brissett of Cheltenham PA is an Olympic Trials semifinalist. 

Girls 4x200 Relay: The Long Beach Poly record from 2005 (1:35.86) has lasted because it is very strong. Western Branch VA has run 1:37.09, good for No. 8 all-time and a Virginia state record. Additional strong teams from Bullis MD, Motor City TC MI and Cheltenham PA will be going for it as well. 

Girls 4x400 Relay: Again, the national record is owned by Long Beach Poly from 2004 (3:38.91). Last year, McLaughlin anchored Union Catholic to a victory in 3:40.28, good for No. 2 all-time. The top team so far this season is Bullis MD with 3:44.44. 

Girls 4x800 Relay: It’s the 15th anniversary of a famous record-setting performance by Boys & Girls High of Brooklyn, which ran 8:53.67. Shenendehowa NY is always strong in this event and has run US#1 9:00.34. Fourteen girls teams have broken nine minutes.   

Girls 4xMile Relay: This event is tailor-made for a strong cross country program. The record goes back to 2005 when the star-studded team from Saratoga Springs dipped under 20 minutes (19:59.24). Katherine Lee of Shoreham-Wading River and Jessica Lawson of Corning are strong anchors, but the overall record seems out of reach.   

Girls Sprint Medley Relay: Watson powered Rush-Henrietta NY to the national title and national record (3:52.68) in 2015. You can throw out the season’s best list on this one. The entire list will be re-written by the field assembled this weekend. Penn Wood PA and South Dade Express TC FL could be the top entrants. 

Girls Distance Medley Relay: North Rockland NY cares deeply about this one and Alex Harris and Katelyn Tuohy are both back after leading the team to the national record and indoor-outdoor national titles in 2016. North Rockland’s national record (11:34.85) fell to Lake Braddock VA when Kate Murphy anchored her team to 11:34.54 in January. 

Shuttle Hurdles Relay: This event has special significance for Western Branch VA and its renowned hurdles group. The record set in 2015 (31.22) came from a very talented group. Western Branch could again be the championship favorite but might not have enough experience to surpass Milan Parks, Funlayo Oluwole, Jewel Smith and Faith Ross. 

Girls High Jump: Vashti Cunningham’s national record isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future. She was the world indoor champion last year as a high school senior at Bishop Gorman NV before turning pro. She jumped 6-6.25. No one this season has made six feet. You have to love the potential of freshman Kamiyah Dendy, who is coming up from Anderson SC. She is an inch away from the freshman class national record (5-10). 

Girls Pole Vault: Carson Dingler of First Presbyterian Day GA is the defending champion. She and Landon Kemp of Greenville MI have both gone 13-6 this winter and it should take a clearance higher than that to win. One year before she made it to the Olympic Games, Lexi Weeks of Cabot AR set the national high school record at 14-3.25. 

Girls Long Jump: National record holder Tara Davis of Agoura CA is in the building. She broke a 36-year-old record when she jumped 21-11 on Feb. 10. She only went 20-0.50 at U.S. Indoors last weekend in New Mexico, but if she can rebound this weekend her own record is definitely in play. The meet record, set last year by Samiyah Samuels, is 21-3.25. 

Girls Triple Jump: Sophomore Jasmine Moore of North Texas Cheetahs and junior Titiana Marsh of Thomas Dale VA have both surpassed 42 feet this indoor season. Unless something crazy happens, the 2007 record of 44-6.75 set by Ke’Niya Richardson seems safe at this point. 

Girls Shot Put: The star of Eastern States was Alyssa Wilson of Monsignor Donovan, who broke Raven Saunders’ high school record with a monster throw of 57 feet, 5.50 inches. With the pressure of the record out of the way, Wilson is free to cut loose and see if she can launch something out close to 60 feet.

Last weekend at U.S. Indoors, Olympic gold medalist Michelle Carter said she was well aware of Wilson’s mark.

“That’s a great thing,” said Carter, who held the record prior to Saunders. “You always want someone coming up behind you. U.S. women are here to stay. We’re bringing up young throwers that are killing it.” 

Girls Weight Throw: Gianna Rao, a junior from Ponaganset RI, is the national leader at 61-3. She is entered along with most of the top throwers in the country. The 2011 record of Shelby Ashe (68-2.50) is likely out of reach. 

Girls 1-Mile Race Walk: Lauren Harris of Sachem East NY is the defending champion and the national record holder. She clocked 6:57.36 last year and will no doubt be trying to go even faster this weekend.

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BOYS 

Boys 60: William Henderson of Baltimore Poly is the national leader in the 55 dash at 6.31, along with J Johnson from Panther Creek NC. Tyrese Cooper of Miami Gardens Express FL has run 6.78 for the 60 and is one of the favorites, although his best events are the 200 and 400. The 1999 record of 6.57 set by Casey Combest is probably safe for another year. 

Boys 200: Cooper and Texan Champion Allison appear to be on a collision course in this event. Cooper has run 21.12 and Allison has gone 21.19. Neither of them is quite ready to take down Noah Lyles’ 2016 national record of 20.63. A year later, Lyles has broken the world record in the 300. 

Boys 400: With his 46.01 clocking indoors at Arkansas, Cooper may be able to challenge Elzie Coleman’s 2004 national record of 45.92. They key here may be managing his energy through the weekend. Cooper competes virtually every weekend in multiple events and he has a busy schedule with three events this weekend. Fellow sophomore Brian Herron from Flight 400 Track GA is a contender. Rodney Agyare-May of Burncoat MA is the national leader in the 600. Utah state champ Hunter Woodhall is the first double amputee to compete at nationals and is a Paralympics double medalist (200 and 400).   

Boys 800: This could be a great matchup between US#1 Cameron Cooper of Motor City TC MI and US#2 Brandon McGorty of Chantilly VA. The national record is 1:49.21 by Robby Andrews in 2009 and it’s going to be hard to get. Ben Malone’s 2012 meet record of 1:49.94 is a bit more realistic. 

Boys Mile: Reed Brown of Southlake Carroll TX, the Foot Locker Cross Country champion, has some impressive mile credentials. He ran 4:04 outdoors last spring and has run 4:06.40 indoors this season. He could be challenged by Dalton Hengst of McDonogh MD, Dustin Horter of Lakota East OH, or Cooper Teare, coming all the way from California. Andrew Hunter set the national record in the mile last year at 3:57.81 and a sub-four challenge type effort is unlikely to come in a high school-only race. 

Boys 2-Mile: There is a great showdown on the horizon here with D.J. Principe of La Salle RI taking on Noah Affolder of Carlisle PA and Brodey Hasty of Brentwood TN. This is the type of field that could drive the time down into the 8:40s, but the national record is 8:39.15 by Edward Cheserek (2013).   

Boys 5,000: The record here, again, belongs to Cheserek at 13:57.04. That’s not going anywhere, but it should still be a good race with some of last fall’s strong cross country runners, including Matthew Grossman of Millburn NJ. 

Boys 60 Hurdles: National record holder Trey Cunningham from Winfield AL is entered and ready to try and lower his PR (7.49) against a great field that includes Cory Poole of East Orange NJ, Joseph Anderson of Upland CA and Damion Thomas of Oakland Park FL. 

Boys 4x200 Relay: It will probably take something under 1:27 to win the title, but Long Beach Poly’s 2005 record of 1:26.09 is quite strong. Bullis MD comes in with the US#1 time of 1:27.17 but they will be pressed by Imhotep Charter PA, Western Branch VA and East Orange NJ. 

Boys 4x400 Relay: The national leaders are East Orange NJ (Cory Poole on anchor) and Bullis MD. Both teams have run faster than 3:18 this winter. Neither of them has been within four seconds of New Bern NC’s 2009 record of 3:13.06. That’s a record that is built to last – at least a bit longer. 

Boys 4x800 Relay: It would take four guys to average 1:54 to break Albemarle VA’s 4x800 national record (7:36.99) from 2009. That’s not impossible because it could take a performance under 7:40 to win the title this weekend. Xavier of NY ran a very strong 7:38.63 to win the New Balance Games at The Armory back in January. Staples CT, Marshfield MA and Thomas Worthington OH all come in with strong lineups. 

Boys 4xMile Relay: Can the guys from CBA go chasing after the school’s 2014 national record of 17:07.17? Brothers TC is probably the favorite to win the title, but the record is surely out of reach.   

Boys Sprint Medley Relay: The national record has been broken the past two years, by Dunbar OH and Chantilly VA last year (3:24.02). With Cameron Cooper running on the anchor for Motor City TC (Oak Park MI), it’s possible that this record gets broken again. 

Boys Distance Medley Relay: Gloucester MA has held this record (9:59.94) since 2000 and is the only team to ever puncture the 10-minute barrier indoors. Carlisle PA has a chance to go threaten this record with Sam Affolder on the lead leg (1,200) and Noah Affolder on the close (1,600). With the Affolder brothers handling 14 of the 20 laps of this race, Carlisle stands a chance to run significantly faster than the 10:13.12 that it ran at the Pennsylvania state meet. Also keep an eye on Liverpool, which has a strong 1200-1600 duo in Ty Browlow and Stephen Schulz. 

Boys Shuttle Hurdles Relay: This event is all about execution. Union Catholic NJ ran 29.20 in 2013 and holds the meet and national record. Two other Jersey schools, West Essex and East Orange Campus, are among the likely challengers to try to win the event and possibly break the record.  

Boys High Jump: Daniel Claxton of Smithtown East NY is the only jumper in the nation with a 7-foot clearance indoors this season. Eight additional guys have made 6-10. The national indoor record of 7-5.25 by Texan Scott Sellers is unlikely to come under fire.  

Boys Pole Vault: Mondo Duplantis of Lafayette LA expects to take aim at 19 feet this weekend, which would break his father’s family record and cement him as one of the brightest talents in the world of vaulting. The dad (Greg Duplantis) and world junior record is 19-0.25 (5.80m). Mondo needs five more centimeters to match. He has single-handedly tacked nearly a foot onto the national high school record over the past couple months. Only one pole vaulter (Shawn Barber) has ever made a 19-foot vault at The Armory. 

Boys Long Jump: William Henderson of Baltimore Poly MD and Noah Igbinoghene from Hewitt-Trussville AL have both hit the mid-24 foot range this winter. If the competition drives the winner past 25 feet it would not be a surprise. But Rayvon Grey’s 2016 meet record of 26-0.25 and Dion Bentley’s 1989 national record of 26-6.50 seem out of reach. 

Boys Triple Jump: Igbinoghene has a very real opportunity to sweep the horizontal jumps. He is the only jumper in the country with a 50-foot jump this indoor season. The national record dates all the way back to 1988 when Keith Holley of Bayside VA went 52-7.50.

Boys Shot Put: With Jordan Geist of Knoch PA and Tripp Piperi of The Woodlands TX in the meet, it is fair to assume that the meet record Geist set last year (71-2.75) will be toast. Both of these guys should surpass that by at least three feet. Five years before he became the Olympic champion, Ryan Crouser threw 77-2.75 in 2011. That is the number that Geist and Piperi will be shooting for this weekend and one of them could get it. Geist has thrown 76-10.50 this winter. Piperi threw 74-11.50 last week outdoors. 

Boys Weight Throw: Jacob Wickey from Medina OH is the national leader at 78-7 and could be primed to join the exclusive 80-foot club, of which there are 11 throwers in high school history. Conor McCullough threw 93-3.25 at The Armory in 2009 and almost hit the balcony that hangs over the far end of the throwing area.

Boys 1-Mile Race Walk: Cameron Haught of the Southwest Ohio TC is the reigning champion and posted 6:16.95 at the NYRR Millrose Games for a new PR. The national record is 6:03.48 by Trevor Barron in 2010.