T&F Roundup (through 12/15/13)

Dec 18, 2013 by Steve Underwood

BEST OF THE WEEK*: Holloway blazing early

VA hurdler ties soph class 55H record

Grant Holloway (Grassfield, Chesapeake VA), who established himself as one of the nation’s top young hurdling/sprinting/jumping talents as a freshman, is already better than ever as a soph. At last weekend’s Christopher Newport U. (CNU) Winter Frolic, Holloway tied the soph class 55H HSR with a 7.32, putting himself on a par with former greats Wayne Davis II and Johnny Dutch, who would both go on to capture numerous national titles and records.
If that wasn’t enough, he also ran a nation-leading 34.63 in the 300. Few sophs besides William Reed have ever run that fast.
As a frosh, Holloway set the 55H class mark with 7.35. At New Balance Nationals Indoor (NBNI) this past March, he went for freshman titles in the sprints, winning the 60 and 400 indoors. Holloway also went for the EE 60H title, but false-started the final. At New Balance Nationals Outdoor (NBNO), he won the freshman LJ with 22-3.5w. Then he also had a 6-11 HJ best outdoors, at his Eastern Region champs. There’s little doubt he’ll be force to watch all winter.

Moore shines in hurdles, LJ

The junior year of Isaiah Moore (Hugh Cummings, Burlington, NC sr) came to an incredible conclusion last July as he won long jump bronze in the World Youth Champs and was 6th in the 110H, then upset Tony Brown in the USATF JO 110H with a big PR. So far this young winter, he’s picked right back up where he left off. He’s cracked US-leading times of 7.96 for 60H (JDL All-Comers in November) and 7.37 for 55H (Liberty VA Christmas Invite on 12/7) – the latter getting bumped to #2 last weekend by Grant Holloway (see above).
In the same Liberty Invite, he also leapt a US#1 23-8.25. Each of these three seasonal bests are off his PRs, but he’s certainly well ahead of last year at this point. Moore was 3rd in the NBNI 60H in March, then at NBNO was 4th in the 110H and 3rd in the LJ. He also won the LJ and was 2nd in the 110H for Team NSAF at the Caribbean Scholastic Invite before making Team USA for Worlds.

Bonhurst booms over 62 twice

In a year with no shot put returnees who threw as far as 62 feet in 2012-13, Ben Bonhurst (Smithtown West, NY sr) has made a big early statement. He measured 62-0.5 in his first meet, a Section 11 crossover, then last weekend at the Jim Mitchell Invite at The NYC Armory got it out to a big 62-8. His previous overall best was 61-11 from his outdoor state meet win last June. Bonhurst was 7th at both NBNO and NBNI as a junior.

Early sub-2:30 kilo for Holdsworth

There aren’t traditionally a lot of great indoor track distance times run in early-mid December, so the 2:29.62 that Derek Holdsworth (Lafayette, Williamsburg VA sr) cracked in the 1000 at the CNU meet was a bit of an eye-opener. So was the depth of the race, which included a 2:30.54 from Matt Novak (Deep Run, Glen Allen, VA jr) in 2nd and went down to 2:32.25 in 5th (all from Virginia).
Holdsworth’s range includes 23.52 for 200 meters and 16:47 at the state 3A XC meet this fall.

* - in this case, the first few weeks of the season.

BOYS SPRINTS

Jahmaal Daniel (Terry Sanford, Fayetteville, NC sr) dashed 6.36 at the JDL Fast Track Kickoff in NC and Vincent Lowe (Grassfield, Chesapeake, VA sr) 6.39 at the CNU Winter Frolic in VA to become the first sub-6.40 boys over 55 meters of the season. Daniel was 7th in the NBNO 100 this past June and Lowe set the NBNI Emerging Elite 60 record in 2012.
Three have ducked under 7.00 at 60 meters so far, led by the 1-2 of Jaalen Jones (Thompson, Alabaster, AL sr) and Jaquavious Hunt (Auburn, AL soph) with 6.87 and 6.96 at the Holiday Invite at the Birmingham AL Crossplex. Jones placed 3rd and 2nd in the 100 and 200 for Team NSAF at the CSI last spring.
Action’s been pretty light at 200 thus far, with a 22.71 by Hayden Graham (Stratford Academy, Macon, GA) at the Birmingham Southern Panther Ice Breaker college/open meet the top mark.
Holloway hasn’t been the only fast performer at 300 in the early going. Jamaree Murray (Southeast Raleigh, NC sr) ripped a 35.02 at the JDL meet, while 35.21s were recorded by Justin Marsh (Howard, Ellicott City MD sr) at the Howard County Winter Track Fest at the PG Sportsplex, Marcus Taylor (Highland Springs, VA jr) at the Real Deal Classic in VA and by Richard Rose (Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, NY jr) at the PSAL Jim McKay Invite at the NYC Armory. Rose has great range; he led the nation at 600 last winter with 1:19.41 and is currently in the same spot this season with his 1:21.36 from the 12/1 PSAL Pilgrim Games at The Armory. He was 5th in the NBNI 400 in March.
Speaking of the longer sprints, in the 600 after Rose, Matt Murray (Norwich, NY sr) ran 1:20.61 last year and is the #3 returnee. He zipped a 1:22.43 on a slow track at Ithaca College to currently rank #2. Andrew Bolze (Hingham, MA sr) and Zac Petrie (Valor Christian, Highlands Ranch CO sr) have early national leads in the 400 and 500. Bolze, last winter’s New England 300 champ, paces the quarter by more than a second with his 48.81 from the Harvard Open on 12/7, while Petrie ran 1:06.45 at the Air Force Holiday Open.

GIRLS SPRINTS

Alabama runners have the top two 60 times this winter so far, with freshman Jayla Kirkland (Woodlawn, Birmingham) at 7.57 from the Holiday Invite leading senior Caitland Smith (Pelham) with 7.63 from the Magic City Invite on the same track the week before. Kirkland had false-started in the Magic City final (Smith did not run the Holiday). Smith was on last spring’s NSAF Caribbean Scholastic Invite (CSI) team and won the 100. At 55, it’s Carolyn Brown (Phoebus, Hampton, VA jr) at the top early with 7.08 from the Real Deal meet.
The first two sub-40 300 times of the season were notched at the Jim Mitchell Invite at The Armory last weekend, as New Yorkers Zola Golden (Arlington, LaGrangeville, jr.) and Symone Darius (New Rochelle soph) ran 39.34 and 39.92. At 400, the above-mentioned Andrew Bolze’s Hingham MA teammate Sierra Irvin, a junior, has the girls’ leader as well with 56.84 from that same Harvard Open.
Cary NC jr Layla White holds the early 500 lead after her 1:16.93 at the JDL meet. At a JDL all-comers meet in November, she also clocked a US#2 57.36 400 – an event where she was 3rd in the NBNI 400 this past March. Sharon Dorsey (Western Tech, Baltimore, MD sr) ran 1:17.46 at the Howard County meet. Chelsea Ogindo (Peerskill, NY soph) tops the 600 list with her 1:37.58 from the Section I Kickoff at the Armory from 12/7, while Kirsten Kaminski (Colonie, NY jr) was nearly as fast with 1:37.60 from winning the Jim Mitchell a week later.

BOYS HURDLES

The big stories have obviously been Holloway and Moore. The other runner under 7.50 in the 55H so far this winter is Charles Graham (Phoebus, Hampton, VA) with a 7.49 from the Gloucester Pre-Holiday Invite. He was 6th in the NBNI 60H. No one is close to Moore on the 60H list, with Harvey Kendall (Grandview, MO sr) currently #2 at 8.31.

GIRLS HURDLES

Western Branch (Chesapeake, VA) has #1 and #3 55H girls so far after senior Irielle Little went 8.11 and junior Funlayo Oluwole 8.16 in the Real Deal meet. At #2 is Jacklyn Howell (Southeast Raleigh), who won the JDL Fast Track meet at 8.15. Two girls are under 9.00 in the 60H so far: Ciera Leonard (Cheltenham, PA) with 8.94 at the first DVGTCA series meet in PA, and Ariel Davis (Northern Guilford, Greensboro, NC jr) with an 8.98 from a JDL mid-week meet.

BOYS DISTANCES

In addition to the fast, deep 1k race at CNU, another Virginia meet the same weekend – the Liberty Elite – had a good mark at the same distance as Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg, VA sr) ran 2:30.46. With many distance runners just finishing XC, the distance marks have otherwise been modest. Leaders include Sam Plaska (Zeeland West, MI jr) with 1:59.03 at 800, Nathanial Hall (Atlee, Mechanicsville, VA sr) with 4:22.15 at 1,600 and 9:35.30 at 3,200, and Bailey Roth (Coronado, Colorado Springs, CO sr) with 4:28.46 at a mile. Roth was the NBNO champ at the 2k ST last spring and made the World Youth final, moving to #2 all-time.
The Ram Invite at James Robinson HS in VA is part of the indoor circuit, but run on an outdoor track. Alex Corbett (Lake Braddock, Burke jr) won a fast 3,200 in 9:22.54.

GIRLS DISTANCES

As is the case with the boys, there was a good early 1k performance at the Liberty Elite as Ellison Grove (Battlefield, Haymarket, VA sr) clocked 2:56.13. Some other early leaders include Veronica Lyle (Hewitt-Trussville, AL sr) with 2:15.40 for 800, Chelsea Ogindo (Peekskill, NY soph; also 600 leader) with 4:45.1h for 1,500, Mary Grace Strozier (Pelham, AL soph) with 5:01.81 for 1,600 (Lyle is #2) and Allie Klimkiewicz (Oakton, Vienna, VA jr) with 10:53.64 for 3,200. Klimkiewicz was 8th in the NBNI 2M.
In the 1500 RW, Katie Michta (Sachem North, NY sr) tops the early list with a 7:03.01. She was 4th in the NBNI 1M RW last winter, but led the nation outdoors at 3k, 5k and 10k.

BOYS JUMPS

In the long jump, Moore is the only athlete beyond 23 feet so far this winter. Requan Harley (E.C. Glass, Lynchburg, VA sr) is #2 with 22-9 from his Liberty Elite win.
Connor Turnage (Highlands Ranch, CO sr) is the overwhelming triple jump leader so far with his 48-2.25 at the Air Force meet. He was 2nd at Great Southwest last June. Kimani Hoffman (Knightdale, NC sr) is next at 47-2 from the JDL Kickoff. Hoffman was 2nd in both horizontals for Team NSAF at CSI last June, and at NBNO he was 9th in the TJ and 4th in the EE LJ.
No one has really emerged yet in the pole vault and high jump, with five at 15-0 and three at 6-6 in the respective events.

GIRLS JUMPS

Javonne Antoine (Elizabeth Seton, Bladensburg, MD sr) has the mid-December lead in the triple jump with her 39-2.5 from the Real Deal meet, nearly a foot and a half beyond anyone else. She was 2nd for Team NSAF at CSI last June, as well as 4th at NBNI and 8th at NBNO. Tops in the long jump is Niamani Morrisson (Archbishop Molloy, Jamaica NY sr) with her 18-9.25 from the CHSAA Relay Carnival.
In the pole vault, only Hannah Meador (Fluvanna County, Palmyra, VA sr) has gone over 12 feet, with her 12-3 from the Real Deal meet. Three others have done 11-6. There’s also a trio at 5-6 in the HJ.

BOYS THROWS

Just one other putter has thrown 60 feet so far this winter besides Bonhurst (see above): Fellow New Yorker Devon Patterson (Williamsville South sr), who hit 60-3 in his Section 6 group meet on 12/6. That’s just off his 60-4.75 PR from last winter.

GIRLS THROWS

At the Ithaca Bomber Invite, Jaskiran Dhaliwall (Grand Island, NY sr) and McKenzie Kuehlewind (Lancaster, NY sr) threw the shot 44-5 and 43-5 for the #1-3 marks to date, while Tara Belinski (Manhasset, NY sr) had a 43-7.5 in a NY Section 8 crossover. All three threw in the NBNI SP last winter, with Belinski the best in 4th.
In the weight throw, Haley Showalter (Valor Christian, Highlands Ranch, CO jr) threw 51-4.25 in the Holiday Open at Air Force.

BOYS RELAYS

Some of the top early sprint relays have come from the Southeast, where Hoover AL has a 1:31.28 4x200 from the Holiday Invite at the Crossplex and Southeast Raleigh NC a 3:25.75 4x400 from the JDL Kickoff.
But in the 4x800, Fordham Prep NY has a 8:07.0h from the CHSAA Relay Carnival, while the traditional 4x1 Mile at the Jim Mitchell Invite went to Kingston NY at 18:26.29.

GIRLS RELAYS

In the Jim Mitchell, the girls do a rare 4x1500 and Bronxville NY rolled to a 19:41.10 that might not get headed this winter. The best DMR so far belongs to Sacred Heart NY with their 12:50.2h from the CHSAA meet, while 4x800 honors belong to Strath Haven PA with a 9:39.5 from the first DVGTCA meet in PA.
Yet another national leader from Jim Mitchell came in the 4x200, where New Rochelle NY blitzed a 1:42.79 that leads by more than a second. No sub-4:00s in the 4x400 yet, but Cary NC clocked 4:02.43 in the JDL Kickoff.