Entertaining Matchups A Common Thread Running Through Saturday's Meet At The Armory

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by John Nepolitan/Tim Healy

The Millrose Games operates a little bit like a concert. There are opening acts to whet the appetite and the meet builds to a crescendo in the late Saturday afternoon with the Wanamaker Miles before Frank Sinatra's baritone ushers everybody out to dinner plans with "Start spreadin' the news..." 

At its highest level, the meet picks up the storylines of some of the top track and field athletes in the U.S. and around the world following last summer's World Championships in Eugene.

Three members of the U.S. gold-medal winning women's 4x100 relay team will be in attendance – Abby Steiner, Melissa Jefferson and Jenna Prandini – and gold medalists Ryan Crouser, Noah Lyles, Chase Ealey and Katie Moon are also set to compete. 

For all of them, and the rest of the pros, this meet fits into a plan to prepare for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

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Here is a closer look at how the meet will unfold, and build. 

Thursday (starting at 4 p.m. Eastern)

Only a handful of people come to see the few field events that take place on Thursday afternoon at The Armory. It is necessary to get the men's and women's weight throw competitions done early so that the area can be repurposed for Saturday. The girls junior pole vaults also happen early because the schedule on Saturday is squeezed tight. 

Rudy Winkler, sixth place in the hammer at last summer's World Championships, is the first elite athlete to compete. Winkler is the defending champion in the weight throw and also won in 2020. He threw a lifetime best 24.09m (79-0) last year. 

Erica Belvit will return to defend her title in the women's weight throw after winning by more than four feet last year with 19.82m (65-0.50). 

Madelyn Kelley from Villa Maria Academy PA, US#8, is the top entry in the girls pole vault. She jumped has jumped 13-6 this winter. 

Saturday (starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern)

All of the meet officials, Armory staff and timers are fully engaged hours before most of the crowd will arrive. The club, Masters and youth events are all part of the mosaic of Millrose and add to a schedule that will run for more than six hours. 

More than 50 events on Saturday begin with the Women's Distance Medley, comprised of club teams from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

A few of the highlights: 

11:45 - The girls 4x400 relay team from Bullis MD is entered in the Private School race and it could be signficant because the lineup of Lauren Leath, Morgan Rothwell, Tatum Lynn and Cassidy Hopkins is currently ranked US#2. Always tough Union Catholic NJ is also in the race.

11:51 - The boys junior pole vault will bring together the two athletes who have cleared 17 feet this winter. Wyatt Stewart of Richmond KY jumped 17-2.25 at last week's Louisville Indoor Games and is US#1. Maddox Hamm jumped 17-2 two weeks ago and is US#2. 

12:06 - Seton Hall Prep, which won the Millrose Trials boys 4x400 with US#5 3:20.36, gets its turn on the track in the Private School race. 

12:12 - After competing at the 3,000-meter distance last year, the USATF 1-Mile Racewalk championships return to the schedule. The men go first and high schooler Clayton Stoil, a Nike Indoor Nationals champion, is in the field. John Cody Risch, a recent third-place finisher in the USATF 35k Championships is one of the top entrants. 

12:36 - The US#2 long jumper from Montverde Academy, Micah Larry (25-1.25), will face Miles Jones from Dallas, Texas, a 24-3 jumper so far this winter.

12:50 - Maria Michta-Coffey is already a six-time winner at Millrose Games will attempt to win another USATF racewalking title. 

1:11/1:17 - The CHSAA 4x400 relays bring together the top area Catholic schools. The girls go first and St. Anthony's is the top entrant. In the boys race, Bishop Loughlin is a heavy favorite and is currently US#6 with 3:20.79.

1:29 - There is a good competition brewing in the girls long jump, where Alyssa Banales (McKinney, Texas) is making the trip north to face Avery Lewis (Wynnewood, Pa.) Banales competed for the U.S. at the World U20 Championships last summer in Colombia and is currently US#2 with 20-8.50. The multi-talented Lewis is US#3 with 20-7.75.

1:43 - Chaminade NY ran a US#1 time in the boys 4x800 relay last weekend in Boston at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (7:51.92) and will face the current US#2 in Episcopal of Pennsylvania. 

1:53 - Montverde Academy FL duo Micayah Holland and Adaejah Hodge continued their pursuit of the national high school record in what could be an electrifying 60-meter dash. A good field also includes Lewis, who will also be long jumping at the same time. 

1:58 - Issam Asinga, also from Montverde Academy, ran a sensational time of 6.59 seconds in the 60 meters on Jan. 28 and is the top name in the boys 60. The national high school record of 6.57 by Casey Combest in 1999 could be under threat. 

2:11 - Three of the top five girls 4x800 teams in the country will battle for supremacy, including US#2 Saratoga Springs NY, which has run 9:17.55 and brings a lineup with two members of the Nike Cross Nationals championship team (Anya Belisle and Sheridan Wheeler). US#3 West Springfield VA , US#5 Haverford PA, US#8 Shaker NY and US#9 Union Catholic NJ should make this a fun race to watch. 

2:41 - Nathan Cumberbatch from Shorewood WI is in town to take on Brooklyn's Wesley Noble Jr. in the boys 600 meters. Cumberbatch ran US#2 1:18.50 in Chicago last month. Noble, of Bishop Loughlin, has run 1:21.27 for US#4.   

2:45 - A loaded girls 300 field includes US#2 Madison Whyte (Heritage VA), US#3 Elise Cooper (McDonogh MD), US#4 Sydney Sutton (Bullis MD), US#5 Ashley Fulton (Elmont Memorial NY) and US#8 Sage Hinton (Bullis MD). The national leader and high school record holder will be coming up later. 

2:53 - The national leader, Xavier Donaldson from Seton Hall Prep NJ, ran 33.73 in the 300 meters last weekend. Zyaire Nuriddin from Montverde FL is US#3 with 33.92. Asinga and Brody Buffington from Catocin MD are among those doubling back from the 60. 

3:01 - Michelle Smith from Montverde FL ran a US#1 time of 1:30.85 last weekend in the 600 meters, just outside the all-time top 20 in the event. She'll face US#4 Anissa Moore from Hempstead NY and US#11 Kyla Palmer (Skaneateles NY). 

3:11 - The girls high school mile features some standouts from New York, including Zariel Macchia, Angelina Napoleon, Kate Putman, McKinley Wheeler and Emily Bush. Virginians Allie Zealand and Gillian Bushee are also strong contenders for the title. Marlee Starliper holds the meet record at 4:37.77 from 2020.

3:24 - Olympic gold medalist and world champion Katie Moon is in the pole vault competition and looking for improvement over her fourth place finish a week ago in Boston. Another former Olympic gold medalist, Katerina Stefanidi of Greece, 2022 NCAA champion Gabriela Leon and high school standouts Hana and Amanda Moll from Olympia, Wash. should make for competitive and entertaining field event along the backstrech. 

3:31 - The Bullis MD girls will get a chance to rip through a 4x200 and test their US#1 time of 1:37.25. 

3:50 - Olympic legend Bob Beamon and Dr. Anthony Fauci will be recognized during a ceremony. 

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4:03 - Great Britain's Cindy Sember was fifth, and the Bahamas' Devynne Charlton was seventh, as last summer's World Championships in the 100-meter hurdles. They will be challenged by Americans Sharika Nelvis, Tonea Marshall, Nia Ali and first-year pro heptathlete Anna Hall.  

4:10 - The event's 'B' men's mile includes some compelling athletes, including high schoolers Connor Burns from Missouri and Rocky Hansen, who won the junior boys mile last week in Boston, from North Carolina. 

4:18 - Back to the straightaway, world leader Aleia Hobbs will test her hot streak this winter against a strong group of women in the 60 dash. High school record holder Shawnti Jackson is in it, and so is NCAA champion and World gold medalist Melissa Jefferson, Tamari Davis, English Gardner, Mikiah Brisco, Marybeth Sant-Price, Celera Barnes and Kendra Harrison. 

4:23 - The highly anticipated showdown between 60 meters world record holder Christian Coleman and world 200 meters champion Noah Lyles figures to be one of the moments of the meet. Blink and you could miss it. Coleman ran 6.49 to win the race last year at Millrose. Lyles ran 6.51 last weekend in Boston, where he defeated Trayvon Bromell. Lining up on the outside of Lyles is prep phenom Nyckoles Harbor, who last week announced his commitment to play football and run track at South Carolina. Harbor is 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds and has run 6.64 in the 60. 

4:28 - World champion Chase Ealey will take on three elite competitors in the women's shot put in the center of the oval. Sarah Mitton (Canada) and Jessica Woodard and Maggie Ewen of the U.S. were all World finalists last summer in Eugene. Mitton was fourth, Woodard eighth and Ewen ninth. 

4:28 - Starting at the same time, the highly anticipated men's shot put features World and Olympic champion Ryan Crouser taking on Diamond League champion Joe Kovacs. Crouser is No. 1 all-time in the event, Kovacs is No. 2. 

4:30 - Americans Bryce Hoppel, Isaiah Harris, Clayton Murphy and Ole Miss freshman Cade Flatt take on an 800 field that includes rising star Noah Kibet of Kenya (and Nike's Union Athletics Club) and Ireland's Mark English. 

4:38 - North Carolina State's Katelyn Tuohy, who recently broke the all-time collegiate mile record at The Armory, will return to face some of the top pros in the country in the 3,000 meters. defending champion Alicia Monson is back and will race American 5,000 meters record holder Elise Cranny. Karissa Schweizer’s American record of 8:25.70 could be in play. 

4:50 - Michael Cherry, a member of last year's U.S. team, looks to get the ball rolling in 2023 in the 400 meters against Bryce Deadmon and Noah Williams, and Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago. 

4:56 - Nyckoles Harbor is expected to return to the track with his Archbishop Carroll DC teammates to run in the boys 4x200 relay. 

5:00 - The men's 3,000 meters is overloaded. Last year's winner, Geordie Beamish, returns with memories of his blazing close in 2022 still fresh. Cooper Teare, Josh Kerr, Joe Klecker, Luis Grijalva and NCAA stars Nico Young (NAU), Dylan Jacobs (Tennessee) and Alex Maier (Oklahoma State) make this an incredibly strong field. 

5:10 - A really good boys high school mile could be looking to go at a pace to take down Gavin Sherry's meet record of 4:06.59. Clay Shively from Kansas, Devan Kipyego from Rhode Island and Tinoda Matsatsa from Maryland should be among the lead group. Shively is US#3 with 4:04.95. 

5:16 - Meet director Ray Flynn identified the women's 300 meters as his No. 1 storyline of the meet. Less than a year out of her incredible senior season at Kentucky, Abby Steiner caught the track world's attention, again, when she ran 50.59 to open her season in the 400 meters. That could put her in position to break the American record (35.71) and challenge the world all-time best of 35.45. Her World Championships relay teammate, Jenna Prandini, and Brittany Brown are also in the race. 

5:32 - Ajee' Wilson is already a Millrose legend with her seven previous victories. She has a couple of long streaks going indoors, with 15 straight wins and 17 straight at The Armory. She'll race th 600 meters and be tested by Shamier Little and Allie Wilson. And high school star Sophia Gorriaran is mixing it up as well.

5:41 - The Women's Wanamaker mile is another star-studded field and this year it includes British star Laura Muir, the Olympic silver medalist and World bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters. Muir also won the 5th Avenue Mile in New York last summer. Canada's Lucia Stafford and Americans Josette Andrews, Sinclaire Johnson, Nikki Hiltz and Sage Hurta-Klecker should all be in the thick of it. 

5:51 - The Men's Wanamaker Mile will see the return of 2022 champion Olli Hoare of Australia (and On Athletics Club) taking on the new American record holder in the 3,000 meters, Yared Nuguse, Olympic finalist Cole Hocker, Spain's Mario Garcia Romo and New Zealand's Sam Tanner. As many as four national records could be in play.