Nauman Pull Out A Little 'Hayward Magic' To Pull Out Victory; Lily Alder Wins Girls Mile

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Becky Holbrook photos

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS 

EUGENE — Quentin Nauman already had the formula. He followed it to a tee at the HOKA Festival of Miles, where he earned his first win on the national stage with a 3:58.65 performance, the best time in the nation this outdoor season.

The formula? Three simple words: Sit And Kick.

On Sunday, he gave it another test, and it worked again. With two laps to go, the Western Dubuque IA junior was in 14th place, well behind Evan Noonan and the leaders, but he didn’t panic. Rather, he made a decision. As he saw a gap start to form, he told himself, “I can’t let that happen.”

In the third lap, he moved up to fifth place, subtly putting himself in a position to make a critical move at the bell.

Still, with about 300 meters left, it looked much like Noonan’s race. The Dana Hills CA senior pulled away from Corbin Coombs, who didn’t have much gas left after racing three times earlier in the weekend, and saw nothing but open track.

As if on cue, though, Nauman found a gear that only he could reach. With a 56-second last lap, he just barely beat Noonan for the national title, crossing the line one hundredth of a second ahead. It was Nauman 4:00.52, Noonan 4:00.53.

Coombs finished third in 4:03.86, followed by Juan Gonzalez (Fremont NE) in 4:05.08.

For Nauman, an Oregon commit, winning a national title on his future track was “surreal.”

“It means so much,” Nauman said. “I’m excited to be out here in general. This is just beautiful. I’m happy I committed here… this isn’t my last time of Hayward Magic.”

With two national-level wins under his belt this year, Nauman will be one of the most highly watched athletes in the country next year. One of his goals for his senior campaign, he said, is to break Alan Webb’s national record in the mile, which has stood at 3:53.43 since 2001.

He’s already looking well beyond his high school career, though. With every passing day, Nauman is growing more excited about being able to call Hayward Field his home.

“As I keep inching closer and closer, I’m getting more and more excited about this,” Nauman said. “This track, and these coaches, and this community… UO is something special, man, and I love it.”

Lily Alder Keeps Title In Timpview

Heading into the weekend, the girls mile seemed like an open-and-shut case. Jane Hedengren, after all, was entered.

After her national record run in the 3,000 meters, though, she scratched from the mile, satisfied with a stellar end to her high school career. That left the field without a clear-cut favorite.

Lily Alder, Hedengren’s teammate, sezied the opportunity. The Timpview junior pulled away in the last lap to win by over two seconds, breaking the tape in 4:39.20. Ironically, Hedengren still influenced the race — she gave Alder a piece of advice that would shape her title-winning run.

“She said, ‘Make it hard,’” Alder said. “I definitely did that, and I felt the pain, but it was good.”

After coming through three laps in 3:34, Alder delivered a blistering 65-second final quarter, showcasing some of the speed that’s made her one of the best 800-meter runners in the country, as well as one of the best milers.

“When I started to see those lights leave,” Alder said, referring to the pace lights that were far out in front of the pack with a lap to go, “I really just had to make a decision right then and there if I was gonna take it or wait, and I just decided, ‘I’m gonna go.’”

Like Nauman, Alder has emerged as one of the best distance runners in the country with a year to go in her career. One of the most important lessons she’s taking into her senior year is to stay patient in terms of her workload and the pressure she puts on herself to succeed. That can be difficult with a constant front-row seat to Hedengren’s heroics, she said, but the knowledge that she’s been there alongside her, training with her, makes her all the more confident that she’ll peak when it counts.

Alexa Matora (Lake Washington WA) finished second behind Alder on Sunday in a time of 4:41.97, followed by Sophia Bendet (Universal City Randolph TX) in 4:42.23.

Yevhin Zhmailo, Etoro Bassey Spectacular In Jumps

Yevhin Zhmailo had to make a difficult decision this week. About a month ago, the Lake Washington junior broke his left arm playing basketball — “not a smart choice before the state meet,” he said. 

His doctor had instructed him not to remove his cast before July, and he wouldn’t have been able to compete at Nike Outdoor Nationals had he followed those instructions.

This meet was too meaningful for Zhmailo to miss, though, so he disregarded those instructions and showed up to compete on Sunday.

To avoid another injury, Zhmailo tried to land on his uninjured right arm, and that strategy proved successful. Not only did he keep his left arm intact, he dominated his competition and jumped farther than any high schooler this season, achieving a mark of 52 feet and three quarters of an inch (15.87m). It's an all-time Washington state best.

“The jump was so good,” Zhmailo said of his winning leap, which actually took him by surprise. “I felt like I jumped 51 feet… not 52, though. I reacted so crazy when it was 52. It was wonderful.”

Zhmailo hopes to compete at the AAU Junior Olympics later this summer, but he’s not playing it safe until then.

“The cast is gone,” Zhmailo said.

Etoro Bassey produced one of the loudest moments of the day from the Hayward crowd with his clearance of 7-4.25 in the boys high jump. After enjoying a relatively clean field series through his first several heights, he found himself facing his first elimination attempt at that height, but he came through on his last chance, earning the win and US#2 status.

Bryson Jacobs (Drexel MO) won the boys javelin throw by just one inch, tossing a personal best 220-3 (67.13m) on his last attempt to oust Nolan Carey (Corry Area PA) from the lead.

Zane Commins won the last boys field event of the day, throwing 197-0 (60.05m) to take home a gold medal in the boys hammer throw.

Deja vu in women’s high jump

On Friday, Zoey Brinker won the women’s high jump at the USATF U20 Championships, clearing 5-9.25 (1.76m) and prevailing on misses to break a six-way tie. Brinker didn’t miss a single bar before attempting 5-10.50.

On Sunday, the exact same thing happened. Six different women cleared 5-9.25, and Brinker didn’t miss a single bar before earning the win. The only difference between her two performances was that she attempted 5-10.25 instead of 5-10.50 after clearing 5-9.25. Still, she missed all three attempts just the same.

Elise Schroeder won the girls pole vault, which was postponed from Saturday due to rain. In much better weather (around 70 degrees and no rain), Schroeder cleared 13-8.50 for the win.

Ava Kitchings (Greater Atlanta GA) won the girls long jump, taking home her second gold medal of the weekend with a mark of 20-4.50 (6.21m). On Friday, Kitchings jumped 20-0.25 (6.10m) to win the long jump at the USATF U20 Championships.

Taylor Wiseman (Childress OK) , Naijah Harris (Vallejo CA) and Kimberly Beard (King’s WA) won the girls discus, javelin and hammer throw, respectively. Wiseman threw 168-10 (51.47m); Harris threw 153-10 (46.90m); and Beard threw 196-0 (59.76m).

Jasmine Robinson, Andrew Jones Move Up A Spot From U20s

Jasmine Robinson (North Cobb GA) and Andrew Jones (Klein Collins TX) both took home silver medals in the 400 meter hurdles at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships on Friday. On Sunday, they each improved their standing at Nike Outdoor Nationals, winning the girls and boys 400 meter hurdles. 

Jones ran 50.66, a personal best, to take the win over Ewan Curtis (Liberty Christian TX), while Robinson ran 57.63 to beat Reese Kasper (Niwot CO). Robinson also won the girls 100-meter hurdles on Saturday.

Arrowhead TC WI and Bartlett TC TN won the boys and girls 4x100 meter relays, respectively, running 41.55 and 46.41, respectively.

To cap off the meet, Cedar Falls TC IA and Miami Northwestern TC FL won the boys and girls 4x400 meter relays, running 3:15.15 and 3:43.73, respectively.