Championship Fields Ready To Bring Incredible Indoor Season To A Crescendo In Boston

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Photos by John Nepolitan/Ken Martinez

High school track and field athletes descend upon the TRACK at New Balance for this year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor on March 13-16 in Boston in hopes of being crowned the next national champion.

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Here are 10 storylines to follow at this year’s national championship meet:

All Eyes On Quincy Wilson

Quincy Wilson’s got both the 400 meters and 4x400 relay records in his pocket. What about the 4x200?

The Bullis MD junior, a 2024 Olympian, has broken numerous records over the past year and a half, but it’s the 4x200 he has yet to get hold of that could complete another fantastic indoor season.

The opportunity to claim three national titles this weekend presents itself when he adds the 4x200 alongside the 400 and 4x400 at New Balance Nationals Indoor. The obstacle for Wilson and his relay teammates are the boys from Archbishop Carroll DC.

The team of Elijah Amenra, Niles Briggman, Keenan Davis and Jake Odey-Jordan have broken the national record twice this indoor season, running 1:25.15 at the Millrose Games.

Archbishop Carroll owns the top three all-time performances in the event, with Bullis sitting in fourth at 1:25.60 from 2019.

Bullis will feature Wilson, Cameron Homer, Connor Salmin and Alexander Lambert in this weekend’s 4x200 lineup.

Lisa Raye Speed

Lisa Raye was once chasing down Shawnti Jackson. Now, it’s herself versus herself.

In a year full of national records, none were more impressive than Raye’s 60-meter dash in 7.13 seconds at the Millrose Games on Feb. 6 in New York City, shattering Jackson’s previous best of 7.16.

Raye, who recently won her third consecutive New England Indoor title in the girls 55 meters, heads to Boston as an overwhelming favorite at this year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor a year after finishing second at last year’s Nike Indoor Nationals in New York.

Raye will face US#5 Dasia Reed (Montverde Academy FL), US#7 Payton Payne (Bullis MD) and US#10 Athaleyha Hinckson (Medgar Ever College Prep NY).

Crater Duo Go For Broke

National records. Top U.S. times. What more is there to accomplish this indoor season for Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen? National titles, of course.

The Crater OR duo will both be aiming to put an exclamation mark on their historic indoor seasons when they hit the track in Boston for their respective individual events and relay team in hopes of coming away with a pair of national titles.

Tostenson, who became the second-fastest high school indoor miler on Feb. 21 when he ran 3:57.47 at the Terrier DMR Challenge, will run in the boys 2-mile championship, attempting to go after Drew Griffith’s national record time of 8 minutes, 34.91 seconds. Tostenson already ran 7:57.42 for 3,000 meters at the Husky Classic on Feb. 14, which is the equivalent of running 8:33 for two miles.

Kitchen, who ran the fastest high school 3,000 meters time of 7:55.48, also at the Husky Classic, will contest in the boys 5,000 meters championship race, looking to not only break 14 minutes for the first time in his career, but lower former teammate Tyrone Gorze’s school record and No. 2 all-time indoor performance of 13:56.82. Daniel Simmons of American Fork ran to a national record at last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor in 13:38.86.

Both will return to race in the 4xMile relay, too, on Saturday, after completing each of their individual events on the first two days of the meet.

Super Cooper

It could have been easy for Elise Cooper to call her season after a record-breaking run in Philadelphia, but the competitor in her wants more.

The McDonogh MD senior will head to Boston as a high school national record holder following her performance at The CIRCUIT Philly on March 1, where she lowered, you guessed it, Shawnti Jackson’s 300 meters national record time of 36.63 seconds to 36.30.

Cooper will tackle the 200 meters a year after winning the national title at Nike Indoor Nationals when she ran 23.49 seconds for the win. She’s lowered her time to 23.04, No. 5 all-time for indoor, this season and is on the cusp of becoming the fifth girl in high school history to run a sub-23-second effort for the indoor 200 meters.

Cooper is also scheduled to race in the 60 meters, where she will take on West Warwick RI’s Laye, Bullis’ Payne and Montverde’s Reed. Those three will then join Cooper in the 200 meters.

Mile City 2.0?

The University of Washington and the city of Seattle has staked a claim as “Mile City” over the last few years. So, what does that make Boston then?

“Titletown” is what most refer to it as, but Boston has been the home to some of the fastest high school miles ever during this indoor season, including three sub-four-minute runs by Mercer Island WA’s Owen Powell (3:56.66, HS NR) and Crater OR’s Tostenson (3:57.47) and Kitchen (3:59.61).

Granted, those who were all run the Boston University track, but there’s something about the city that has these high school kids running insanely fast times.

Soheib Dissa (Newtown CT), Juan Gonzalez (Fremont NE) and Robin Lefebvre (Montreal QC) are just some of the few entered in this year’s boys championship field that are seconds away of breaking four minutes.

Brennan McEwen (Franklin OR), Aiden Monistere (Parkview Baptist LA), Tayshaun Ogomo (Herriman UT), Braden Lofquest (Gretna East NE), Zachary Youngblood (Chattanooga Christian TN) and Noah Strohman (Holliday TX) are a handful of others in the championship field looking to get closer to that four-minute barrier.

Chasing Sub-8

It took a personal best time of 8.11 seconds for Taylor Cox to win last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor title in the girls 60-meter hurdles.

The Union Catholic NJ senior is already well ahead of where she was at as a junior, having run 8.10 in her 60 hurdles season debut on Jan. 17 at The VA Showcase, which was almost two months ago before competing at New Balance Nationals Indoor this coming weekend.

Cox has pushed herself this indoor season to stay consistent, including two races against professional competition. At the Millrose Games, she finished fifth in 8.21. At USATF Indoors, she finished sixth in the final in 8.15 but ran 8.13 in the preliminary round.

The national record time of 8.02 set by Tonea Marshall in the girls 60-meter hurdles has stood since 2016. That was also run at New Balance Nationals Indoor when it was held at The Armory.

Jumpers Up To Something

Three of the nation’s top five long jumpers are expected to meet in Boston: Quincy Isaac (US#1), Aiden Bryant (US#2) and Michael Ahoua (US#4).

Isaac, a senior form Canton MI, brings in his US#1 mark of 25-1.75, which he jumped recently on March 9 at the Michigan Indoor State Championships. He is also the only returning All-American from last year’s competition, when he was fourth with a mark of 23-6.75.

Bryant, a junior from Midlakes NY, trails Isaac by just three inches, jumping 24-10.75 at the Jack Reed High School Showcase on Jan. 11. He has yet to come close to that mark since but did jump a personal best in the triple jump in 50-8.50 on Feb. 28 at his state qualifier.

Ahoua, a senior from Torrington CT, has arguably the biggest win this season of the three, winning the Millrose Games high school competition with a mark of 24-4.50. He recently came close to jumping that mark again at the New England Indoor Championships on March 1, jumping 24-0.

Heavy Weight Matchup

In terms of best competition, no other event will be more intense than the girls weight throw.

Eight of the nation’s top 10 throwers are all slated to face each other, including familiar foes in Vanessa Jones (US#1), Gifty Bediako (US#2) and Meagan Ewers (US#3).

Jones of Toll Gate RI enters this weekend’s competition with the nation’s best mark of 59-2, which won her the Rhode Island indoor state title over Bediako of Classical, who threw 58-1.75.

Jones also faced Ewers of Medgar Evers College Prep NY at the Millrose Games, but lost by an inch after Ewers overtook her in the fifth round with a mark of 56-4.75. Ewers, who finished second at last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoors competition, improved her Millrose Games mark by almost nine inches at the PSAL City Champs on Feb. 22, throwing 57-1.5.

Mia Hoskins (US#4), Jenna Olsen (US#6), Amelia Bawcombe (US#7), Kimberly Beard (US#8) and Chloe Barber (US#10) are the other nationally ranked competitors entered in the field. Bawcombe finished fifth in last year’s championship final.

NXN Champions Chasing Relay Title

Three months after winning the program’s first Nike Cross Nationals team title, the Vista Nation girls (Mountain Vista CO) are embarking on another national title quest, but this time in the 4xMile relay.

All-American Keeghan Edwards will be joined by NXN teammates Peyton Adams, Juliet Frum and Brenna Jorde in the girls championship race, where they will race against Raleigh Catholic (Cardinal Gibbons NC), Bridgeland TX, Brentwood TN, Runners High (Romeo MI), Delmar Track Club (Bethlehem Central NY), Mounties (Roger AR), Cow Harbor Track Club (Northport NY), Purple Track Club (Ann Arbor Pioneer MI) and Carolina Cavaliers (Cuthbertson NC).

Carolina Cavaliers ran the national record at last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor, running 19:22.70. Josie Schihl is the lone holdover from that team running in this year’s championship race for Carolina Cavaliers. 

Relay Close Battle In Boys 4x800

St. John’s College DC played spoiler at the Millrose Games after overtaking the US#1 spot following their win over Saratoga Springs NY.

This weekend, they’ll be the ones hunted down in a clash of nationally ranked 4x800 meter relay teams.

Separated by less than seven seconds of each other, six of the top 10 4x800 teams in the country will make up a competitive field, led by St. John’s College in 7:42.45.

Saratoga Springs, who ran 7:46.33 at Millrose, are US#5, followed by Ridgefield CT (US#6), Xavier CT (US#8), Brookline MA (US#9) and Mentor OH (US#10).

Ridgefield, Xavier and Brookline finished within less than a second of each other at the New England Indoor Championships on March 1, where Ridgefield won in 7:48.08, Xavier in second in 7:48.44 and Brookline in third in 7:49.02.

Mentor won the Ohio Indoor State Championships in 7:49.32.