Five-week layoff during season to heal injured ankle has national high school record holder ready to pursue another title, potential U-20 standards in Florida

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Anna Hall has had time to heal, make history with her Valor Christian teammates at the Colorado state meet and have fun by competing in individual events at the Great Southwest Classic and Brooks PR Invitational.

But the next six weeks are all about the Georgia signee adding to her legacy as one of the all-time most accomplished prep athletes, beginning with Hall’s first heptathlon of the year Saturday and Sunday at the USATF U-20 Outdoor Championships at Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Fla.

LIVE WEBCAST INFO | LIVE RESULTS

“I’m excited because that’s kind of my niche,” Hall said. “It’s been fun doing Great Southwest and doing Brooks and getting in with the open girls who are a lot better than me in the individual events to push me to those PRs, but I’m definitely very excited to get back into my kind of mojo and just see what I can do there.”

Hall, who boasts the national high school record with 5,798 points, was sidelined from competition for five weeks during the regular season with a left ankle injury. Since her return, she has showed significant progress in the running events, along with continuing the improvement in the throws demonstrated during the winter.

But until she begins the two-day competition, Hall is uncertain how her ankle will respond in the jumping events in a dress rehearsal for the heptathlon July 27-28 at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I think if I would have not injured my ankle, I probably would have done a hep at Great Southwest, but I felt like it was a good time to rest mentally and physically,” said Hall, who last competed in the heptathlon 11 months ago at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in Finland.

“It’s been a little tough coming back jumping wise because it is my takeoff leg, so it’s just about trusting my plant again and things like that, and we’re still working through that. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and I don’t think I lost too much fitness.”

Hall’s goal before she arrives at Georgia is to eclipse the American U-20 record of 6,018 points set in 2014 by former Bulldog star Kendell Williams. But she isn’t placing additional pressure on pursuing that mark or chasing the World U-20 lead of 5,952 points by Switzerland’s Annik Kalin this weekend.

“I’m going to go in without a goal score in mind and just to do the best I can in each event,” said Hall, who set the national high school record Feb. 22 in the indoor pentathlon with 4,302 points at the USATF Indoor Championships in New York.

“There are some places: 100 hurdles, 200, 800, shot put and javelin, where I should be ahead of where I was last year, so that’s encouraging to know that I’ll be ahead points-wise in those areas. High jump and long jump, we’ll just have to kind of wait and see where I’m at and hope for the best. I’m hoping they won’t be too far off, but we won’t really know until we (start).”

Hall surpassed 5,650 points in the heptathlon three times in six weeks last year at Great Southwest, the USATF U-20 Championships and IAAF World U-20 Championships. She cleared at least 5-11.50 (1.82m) in the high jump in all three competitions, but managed only 5-10 (1.78m) in her only outdoor competition for Valor Christian before the injury.

“Even with the high jump, I know I may not be as technical as normal or maybe I won’t have the same bar awareness, but just knowing that my general athleticism is where it needs to be is comforting,” Hall said. “I think it shows a lot about what my coaches, especially (FK Elite coach Chuck Dugue) has done with me. He always talks about training the athlete and bringing us to the event. He doesn’t train the event.

“Chuck really has made me a better athlete the past few years I’ve trained with him and I’ve been able to feel that in all areas. Each year when my athleticism increases, then so does my floor in the rest of the events.”

With North Carolina State freshman Timara Chapman, the only other entry in the competition to have surpassed 5,000 points in her career, Hall is a significant favorite to become only the fourth athlete to repeat as champion since the heptathlon was first added to the USATF U-20 meet schedule in 1981.

With former UCLA and Kansas State standout Ryann Krais winning in 2008-09 and USC’s Shana Woods securing titles in 2006-07, Hall also has the potential to become the first prep athlete since Prosser WA graduate Kelly Blair-LaBounty in 1988-89 to capture multiple U-20 heptathlon championships before starting college.

“Every heptathlon I get to do, they are all so special,” Hall said. “I’m glad they held me back, but I’m really itching to do one.”