Cahokia IL, Male KY Bring Strong Sprint Squads To Louisville

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo by Dominick Gramarosso

State champions and 2026 state leaders from a variety of Midwest states will meet Friday and Saturday at the Cardinal Track Stadium at the University of Louisville. 

Among them, Paul Van Laningham of Cooper KY, a University of Wisconsin commit, and Indiana state 300-meter hurdles champion Jada Harper of New Albany IN are two of the standouts.

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Van Laningham, who placed eighth in the 2-mile and sixth in the mile at Nike Indoor Nationals, opened his outdoor season by running 14:14.07 for 5,000 meters for an all-time Kentucky best on March 21. 

This weekend, Van Laningham is entered in the mile and 800 meters. His best mile time is 4:05.70. The all-time Kentucky record is 4:03.35 by Will Sheets from last year's HOKA Festival of Miles. 

The boys mile also includes Nick Sanders of St. Xavier KY, James Gurley of Louisville Collegiate KY and Xavier Richardson of Lafayette KY, all of whom have broken 4:10. 

The boys 3,200 meters features Dom Ellis of St. Xavier OH, who was 13th in the 2-mile at New Balance Nationals Indoor in Boston. 

Ellis will face Maxwell Friedrich of St .Ignatius OH, Luke Sievers of Rock Bridge MO and Ryne Reynolds from Little Miami OH. 

In the girls hurdles, Harper, a sophomore, brings personal bests of 13.97 in the 100 hurdles and 41.52 in the 300 hurdles. She recently won the 60-meter hurdles indoors at the Hoosier State Relays. 

Kabilan Murugesu from Fairdale KY is the top boys 110-meter hurdler with 14.62 this season. 

Defending Eastern Relays boys 400 meters champion Phoenix Boyer from Indianapolis Bishop Chatard IN will return to the place where he ran his PR of 47.39 seconds in 2025. He'll face Camran Mitchell of Charlestown IN. 

In the boys 100 meters, Kaden John from Frederick Douglas KY will go head to head with Kaden Mack from DuPont Manual KY in a matchup of two of Kentucky's fastest sprinters. 

Cahokia IL, led by Jayden McCallum, is the top seeded team in both the boys 4x200 and 4x400 relays. 

Among the top field event athletes on the boys side are Donovan Moore (Eastern KY) in the shot put, Malcolm Crow in the triple jump (Frederick Douglass KY) and high jumpers Aaron Ramey of Male KY and Mitchell Staples of Meade County KY.

Mabel George from Assumption KY, the Kentucky 3A champion in the 800 meters, leads the field in that event and owns a best of 2:08.81.

In the girls 3,200 meters, Addison Moore from Woodford County KY and Shelby Lamb of Madison Central KY are the top entries. 

In the mile, Moore and George will go head to head. Both have run 4:50 for 1,600 meters. 

Clara Warrick of Oldham County KY, who ran a best of 11.59w recently, tops the list in the girls 100 meters. Grace Bethel and Jaliyah Taylor, both of Male KY, are also challengers. 

Warrick, Bethel and Taylor will also meet in the 200. 

A competitive lineup in the girls 400 meters includes 56-second performers Gracie Hoskins of South Laurel KY, Aniya Davis from Hazelwood West MO, Caroline Nordman of Beechwood KY and Adeline Shultz of Floyd Central IN.

In the relays, Male KY is the top team in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. Floyd Central of Indiana is the top team in the 4x800. 

Sophia Scott of Silver Creek IN is a standout in the girls discus with a best of 149-5. 

Taya Rice of Chicago (Agricultural Science) IL leads the long jump field and will face a high quality matchup with Giulia Sironi from SPIRE Academy OH in the triple jump.