Montverde Academy Standouts Put Down Early Season US#1s

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

The two-day Louie Bing Invitational in Miami headlined the weekend in Florida and produced nine early nation-leading outdoor performances.

RESULTS

The Montverde Academy girls wasted no time making noise outdoors. University of Georgia signee Michelle Smith, the reigning New Balance Nationals Outdoor champion in the 400-meter hurdles, just missed a personal best mark with her time of 56.82 to set a new meet record, national leader, and the fastest time ever run in the state of Florida.

Senior teammates Alivia Williams and Adaejah Hodge went 1-2 in the 400 meters with the top two times in the country for 2024. Williams, a University of Iowa signee, who ran 53.47 two weeks ago indoors at the Florida HS Challenge, dropped a blazing-fast personal best of 52.88, No. 12 all-time in Florida. Hodge, a Georgia signee who competed at the World Championships last season and made the semifinals in the 200, was second in 53.64.

"For Adaejah, the 200 meters Olympic Final is all that matters, so we are working towards making that happen," Montverde Academy coach Gerald Phiri said earlier this year. 

Senior teammate and University of Tennessee signee Jayvian Greene became one of eight athletes in Louie Bing's history to break 47 seconds with his US#1 mark of 46.99. Greene joins the likes of Arman Hall, Tyquan Thornton, Hugh Graham Jr., former teammate and current Tennessee standout Zyaire Nurridin, Jamal Walton and Tyrese Cooper.

Speed In Samuel's Genes

Somerset Academy junior Aleesa Samuel comes from an athletic family. Her dad is former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel, and her brother Asante Samuel Jr. is currently a cornerback for the Los Angeles Chargers. Make no mistake about it, though, Aleesa is making her name for herself as one of the top sprinters and hurdlers in the country. She won the 100-meter hurdles for the second consecutive year to go along with titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters, showcasing her skillset at Louie Bing with a US#1 time of 13.78 to win the 100-meter hurdles to go with US#3 11.85 in the 100.

Her father was happy after the race but still knew there was more work to be done.

"Congratulations baby girl," Asante Samuel wrote on social media. "One good race and the other a little sloppy. We still have work to do. Go, Baby Leesa."

Relays As Good As Advertised

The Dillard girls kicked off the relay portion of the meet with a US #1 time of 9:20.37 in the 4x800. Although it is the best mark in 2024, it is still a far cry from the school record and FHSAA state meet record of 9:03.27 set in 2022.

American Heritage has had a history of amazing boys teams with the likes of Anthony Schwartz and Tyson Campbell in recent years, both of which are now placed on Sundays in the NFL. Coach Greg Barnes  reloaded this year his squad boast some of the fastest sophomores in the country with Zamari Sanders, Brandon Bennett and Braylen Bennett, who went 1-2-3 in the 100. The trio then teamed up with Braden Paris to win the 4x200 meter relay in a nation-leading 1:23.57, a Florida state record and the No. 7 performance in U.S. prep history.

"Going 1-2-3 in the 100 meters was very impressive at such a high caliber invitational such as Louie Bing," Barnes said. "Me and the guys had some small talk about sweeping 100 and they pulled it off. I’m very proud of those guys. They work very hard and deserve it."

As for the relay team, they were awarded their trophies by none other than Schwartz himself, who is with the Miami Dolphins and currently training with Barnes in the offseason. Barnes has high praise for this year's squad.

"This group is very special," he said. "When they all rolled into the school I was telling people they were going to be better than that 2018 team that had Anthony Schwartz, Patrick Surtain, Tyson Campbell, and Jaden McBrugus. They are always special but this group has it too, and are ahead of them at this age."

The host Miami Northwestern girls and the Miami Southridge boys closed out the weekend with a pair of nation-leading times in the 4x400 meter relay with times of 3:41.91 and 3:14.98 respectively. The girls 4x400 also saw Dillard, Southridge, and St. Thomas Aquinas produce top five national times.

Best Of The Rest

Chaminade Madonna senior Tyson Waters clocked a massive personal best and US#1 time of 54.92 in the 400-meter hurdles. Waters was third in the 110-meter hurdles and runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1A state meet as a sophomore. He finished fifth at Louie Bing in the same event last year and improved over two seconds off of his time in a race that saw the top eight times in the country.

In the field events, the lone US#1 came on day one in the long jump. Columbus junior Shaddai Carter, defended his long jump title from the 2023 Louie Bing Invitational with a massive leap, a new personal best of 23-7.50.