Starting at roughly 2:45 on Saturday, there will be a "meet within a meet" at the David Oliver Classic. The Invitational "Elite" races, which were previously run during the Holiday Invitational, have been moved to this meet to allow more athletes to be in condition and ready for top performances. We recruited athletes from South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky to come compete against North Carolina's best, and though we didn't get everyone that we wanted, we did end up with some fantastic races!
60 Meter Hurdles
Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a single out-of-state athlete in the girls' hurdles. That's OK, though, because North Carolina has enough talent to stage its own Elite race in this one! It starts with Anna Cockrell (Providence Day), the national leader in this event and the current US #2 in the 55 Hurdles. Add in US #7 Ebony Williams (Parkland), co-US #11's Ariel Davis (Platinum Sports) and Gabriele Cunningham (Mallard Creek), as well as US #14 Kylie McMillan (Southern Guilford) and US #18 Breanna Bygrave (Wakefield) - that's a serious race right there. Although we ended up with only 8 athlete in this race, we will still let them run semifinals and finals so that they can benefit from having a "tune-up" run before the finals.
As for the boys, we came close to having the top 4 guys in the nation in this race! Unfortunately, US #1 Grant Holloway (Grassfield, VA) had an academic obligation - priorities, right? - and couldn't attend. That still leaves US #2 Marcus Krah (Hillside) to compete against US #3 Charles Graham (Phoebus, VA) and US #4 Emmanuel Jackson (Sanderson). Daniel Roberts (Hampton, GA) ran 13.84 last year for Luella High, while Braxton Canady (Paxon School, FL) travels up to JDL Fast Track to try to improve on his 7.57 from two weekends ago.
60 Meter Dash
Ryan Clark (Banneker, GA) is currently US #2 in this event, and he will be looking to reclaim the top spot in the national rankings. He should be plenty warmed up after running the 55's and the 300 earlier in the day! For the third time in two weekends he will race Nyheim Hines (Garner), whose first indoor race of the season was a US #6 6.32 in the 55 last weekend. In that same race, Daniel Estrada (Platinum Sports) ran a US #10 6.39, while Jonathan Avery (Cary Academy) is returning to JDL Fast Track to defend his US #12 6.41 win from before Christmas. Dartrez Thompson (Phoebus, VA) and a host of North Carolina's aspiring sprinters will duke it out in the semifinals for a coveted spot in the final.
What can you say about a race with 4 girls that have run under 7 seconds at some point in their careers? That's what we have on the girls' side, where current US leader Teahna Daniels (First Academy, FL) is looking to drop from 6.93 to the rarefied air of sub-6.90. Sydnei Murphy (Apex) is US #3 at 6.97 right now, while Carolyn Brown (Phoebus, VA) has a 7.02 - but she ran 6.99 last year, as did Charminiqu Hackney (Cary). Gabriele Cunningham is knocking on the door of the 7-second barrier with her current US #10 7.04, as well. And I didn't even mention 8 more of North Carolina's best sprinters! These two races are gonna be FAST.
400 Meter Dash
Although the national leader at 500 withdrew this week and US #6 Erin Morrison is out for the season, the girls' race is still absolutely loaded. US #2 McKinley McNeill (Parkland) may be the favorite, but she will be facing the #2 indoor 400 runner in state history in Layla White (Cary). Tia Robinson (Wakefield) ran 1:16.00 last weekend, moving up to US #9 in the process, and US #12 300 runner Charla Ward (Ragsdale) is a very interesting addition to this race.
Jake Dixon gets the award for the greatest distance traveled to get to this meet - he comes from Cheverus HS in Maine, and he brings a PR of 48.93 with him. That puts him right in the mix in this race, which has athletes with PR's from the low 48's to the low 49's. Jayon Woodard (Southeast Raleigh) has the state's top times in both the 300 and the 500 (he is ranked US #21 and US #6, respectively), but he hasn't raced since January 10th. Has he simply been training, knowing that his times were already good enough for the state meet, or has there been something else going on? Vincent Crisp (North Mecklenburg) is US #9 for 500 and US #7 for 1000, while T.J. Bleichner (Fuquay-Varina) moved up to US #13 in the 500 on Friday night.
One Mile Run
There's no doubt about it: the boys' mile is the highlight of a weekend filled with big events, and only the New Balance Grand Prix can claim to have a better field. Drew Hunter (Loudoun Valley, VA), fresh off his US #1 8:59.67 in the 3200 Friday night, has already run 4:13.53 this winter (US #8). Philip Hall (South View) sits at US #20 with a converted 4:17.67, with Matthew Novak (Deep Run, VA) right behind him at 4:17.94. Nick Linder (Providence Day) clocked 4:18.09 against college competition last weekend; if those four were the only ones up front, the race would be excellent. Then you can add in NXN Southeast champion Adam Barnard (Daniel Boone, TN), who has a PR of 4:10.23, and William Mulloy (St. Xavier, KY), whose best is 4:12.40. We had such a great response from out-of-state athletes in this event that we had to add a second section, and there are low-4:20's runners in that one! If someone gets out and pushes the pace, we could very well see multiple US top-10 times.
I've gotten to know Weini Kelati a little bit, and when I interviewed her Friday night after her US #7 3200, she told me that she has a PR of 4:23 in the 1500 (she was a competitive runner in Eritrea before she came to the US). That's 4:44 pace for a full mile! If she can push the pace early, there's a good chance we will see several girls in the 4:50's by the time this race is over. Nevada Mareno (Leesville Road) is probably the best bet to stay with Kelati, given how well she has run lately, but Blair Ramsey (Grimsley) and Lauren Berman (James W. Robinson, VA) are also capable of a big time. And definitely don't count out Emma Call (Maggie Walker, VA), who beat Malia Ellington in the 1000 at Virginia Tech last weekend. Morgan Ilse (Marist, GA) had to withdraw due to a nagging injury, but the race still has great depth with runners like Bonnie Angermeier (Blacksburg, VA) and a fleet of North Carolina's best in the race.