National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

BEST OF THE WEEK:  The HSR that wasn’t ....

Dior Hall blasts an 8.11 60H ... but wait ...

• How many fans saw the 8.11-second clocking given to Dior Hall (George Washington, Denver, CO) in the 60H results for the USATF Colorado meet from Saturday – when they were finally posted – and did a double take?  How many thought, Hey, wait, this is a national record!  Where are the headlines?  Where is the story?
• Unfortunately, the story was this:  While the meet had FAT timing, the timer missed the girls’ 60H start (1st race on schedule). The photo at the line was used to establish the order of finish, and then hand times were added in.  So an 8.11 rounds up to 8.2 and then a .24 hand conversion would give Hall an 8.44.  What’s most likely, however, is that had Hall gotten an auto-time during that race, it probably would have been at least 8.2-something and it’s fair to say that she is close to record form, if not already there.
• In any case, how Hall fares in 2014 should be one of the year’s better storylines.  She won silver last summer during the World Youth Champs 100H and made Team USA for World Juniors the year before as well.  She claimed New Balance Nationals Indoor gold over 60H in 2012 with her upset win over Trinity Wilson, then suffered a tough loss herself in 2013 when she stumbled while battling Sasha Wallace for the crown.  Her record last winter did include, however, an 8.17 for 60H that leaves her just .01 short of the HSR – owned by Jackie Coward (2008).  At least three national indoor and outdoor records could be hers by year’s end.

Big weekend for triple threat Holloway

• Super soph Grant Holloway (Grassfield, Chesapeake, VA) has proven more than once that he can do it all, running, jumping and hurdling.  Last weekend’s Southeastern Invitational at the Boo (Hampton, VA) provided another shining example as he achieved a very impressive triple.  Friday night he soared over 6-10 in the high jump, US#1 and equaling the facility record.  It was also just an inch off of his lifetime best of 6-11, set last spring outdoors.  During the same evening session, he hurdled a 7.52 prelim over the 55s, then a 7.39 final – again, just a bit off his PR, the US#1 7.32 he ran a few weeks ago.
• Then Saturday came a great 300 showdown with Mustaqeem Williams (Forest Park, Woodbridge, VA senior), himself the national leader in the 55 dash and long jump.  Soak it in a moment: Two Virginia athletes, national leaders in a combined four events, facing off in a 5th event.  A slightly better long sprinter, Holloway prevailed, 34.43-34.90.  In this case, it was a PR by .20 for the soph, yet the 300 is so good this year that while Holloway’s previous best of 34.63 had been a #1 at the time, this faster clocking stands at #5.
• Holloway mostly excelled in the NBN frosh and EE events last year: At NBNI, he went for freshman titles in the sprints, winning the 60 and 400, and also raced for the EE 60H title – false-starting the final.  At New Balance Nationals Outdoor (NBNO), he won the freshman LJ with 22-3.5w and was 6th in the 100 (and DQ in the 400).

Epic boys 400 at Hispanic Games

• Somewhat similar to the boys’ 300 at the Southeastern Invite in Virginia, the 400 at the Hispanic Games in New York last Saturday featured national leaders at three other distances.  In one lane was Kiambu Gall, the junior from Paul Robeson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who had sped an eye-popping 34.00 in the PSAL Holiday Classic a week before on this track.  In another lane, repping Boys&Girls from the same NYC borough was Richard Rose, also a junior, and with US#1 600 (1:19.20) and 800 (1:55.08) marks to his credit.
• But anyone focusing just on those two would miss the eventual winner, Izaiah Brown (Amsterdam, NY junior).  Owner of the US#3 300 coming in, Brown may not have had the hot, new national leaders coming in, but being both the defending state 300 and outdoor 400 state champ from his sophomore year meant that if he was ready, he might be the toughest force to reckon with.  Sure enough, he got good position and the lead, then held off Rose at the end – while Gall had to settle for 3rd. 
• The times for the top trio of 48.46, 48.62 and 48.76 moved to US#1-2-3.  In fact, there were 11 sub-50s in all for the meet, in two sections of the invite 400, plus the varsity 400.  Brown ran the 400 at NBNO last June, taking 9th with 47.69, second best of the year behind his state-winning 47.20.

Hot recruit Humphrey starts 2014 with two big marks

• The last time we saw Marlon Humphrey on the track, he was trying to fight through injury at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.  Chronic back pain was a persistent concern.  He had a chance to win gold in both the 110H (36”) and 400H (and possibly the relay) and came away with 110H silver and a strong 400H qualifier before having to withdraw due to the injury ... and this all after a season that saw him run US#1s in the 110H (39”), 300H and 400H – winning a NBNO title in the latter – and even claiming the NBNI pentathlon.
• So Humphrey immersed himself in his senior season of football at Hoover, where he has become the nation’s top cornerback prospect (by at least one recruiting service) and his state’s top overall prospect.  But as the countdown toward signing day in February continued, the senior returned to the track finally at the Icebreaker Invite (5A-6A) at the Birmingham Crossplex last weekend.  He competed in four individual events (winning three), hitting a US#1 for 60H at 7.92, a solid US#6 48.91 in the 400, and marks of 21-8.5 (2nd) and 45-10 in the long and triple jumps.
• How much Humphrey will be able to focus on track, and advance up the all-time lists in various hurdle events, remains to be seen.  Even this week, he was reported to have announced he was competing in an international track event in Iceland, altering previously announced recruiting visits, then cancelled those plans.

Vault season takes off at single-event competitions

• Many of the top vaulting marks each season, especially during indoor, take place in vault-only competitions held around various specialty facilities and hosted by training groups that use those facilities.  Such recent competitions in Texas, Arkansas and Ohio rewrote the top end of the early U.S. list – including the season’s first (boys) 17- and (girls) 13-footers.
• At Texas Elite’s 12/28 Expo Explosion V meet in Belton, TX, Kally Long (Wimberly, TX senior) and Desiree Freier (Justin NW, TX senior) hit the first two 13-footers of the season, clearing that mark exactly with Long winning on misses.  Then two more vaults exceeded 13’ last weekend: Competing against elites at the Akron PV Convention, Long and Bonnie Draxler (Wrightstown, WI senior) both went 13-0.25, placing 8th and 10th.  And at the Arkansas Vault Club’s Jack Frost meet (Black Springs), Lexi Weeks (Cabot, AR junior) cleared 13-0.75.  A total of seven girls went 12-6 or better in the two meets.  Freier was a 13-9 vaulter last spring (top returnee), also taking 3rd at NBNI, then making Team USA for the World Youths (she was 9th).  Draxler soared 13-7.25 in 2013 and was 2nd at Juniors, then 6th at Pan Am Juniors.
• For the boys, Noah Gilfillan (Corsicana, TX senior) became the season’s first 17-footer with a 17-1 in the Expo meet, a big improvement over his 16-5.5 PR that was 3rd at Great Southwest last year.  Gilfillan then cleared 16-5.5 for 13th overall vs. elites in the Akron meet.  Two others joined this winter’s 16-foot club last weekend as well (see Pole Vault section below).

Shepard adds 800 US#1 to 1k national leader

• Karina Shepard (Dracut, MA senior) joined the list of athletes leading the nation in more than one event when at last weekend’s Hispanic Games she blazed a US#1 2:10.68 over 800 – winning by nearly three seconds.  She was even more dominant when she clocked the nation’s best kilometer two weeks earlier at the MSTCA Small Schools, a PR 2:52.61.  Both performances are far and away the season’s best.  As if to round out her middle distance resume thus far, Shepard also won the mile at the Boston Holiday Challenge in a relatively modest 5:07.68.
• Shepard, a Stanford commit, ran her overall 800 PR last spring when her 2:08.05 was good for 2nd at the New Englands.  She later took 7th at the NBNO 800 with 2:09.54.  In March, she also ran NBNI and her 2:15.37 was 3rd in the 2nd of 4 sections and 19th overall.  Interestingly, that was a PR at the time for her, which shows you how rapidly Shepard improved last spring and gave herself a foundation for a great senior year ahead.

Chaminade NY nearly puts two boys’ 4x8s under 8:00

• If there was a track meet that held an 8x800 meter relay, the boys of Chaminade (Mineola, N.Y.) might be the first to enter.  At last weekend’s CHSAA Varsity meet at The Armory, they just about evenly split up their deep middle distance crew and came up with two quartets in the 4x800 that ran US#1 8:00.8h and #2 8:01.3h in the same heat!  The first team reportedly included Andre Dorritie, Michael Raver, William Ulrich and Sean Kelly (US#1 at 1k with 2:27.39), while the second included Thomas Slattery, Thomas Hayes, Joseph White and Gunnar Nolan. 
• Of course, this shouldn’t be too surprising considering that the school has a US#1 10:15.89 DMR already this winter, was 2nd in the NBNI 4x8 last March, and won the state outdoor 4x8 title last year with a US#2 7:40.68 – among a slew of other great relay creds from last year and recent history.  Still, it’s impressive.

More of last week's best ...

BOYS SPRINTS

• Two other events witnessed national leaders in the boys’ sprints last weekend besides the 400 (see above).  At the Hispanic Games, Izaiah Brown and his new 2-lap standard was joined by Trenten Barem (Arlington, LaGrangeville, NY senior) and his winning foray over half the distance: a 21.70.  Barem’s previous PR was a 21.83 from last summer.  Anton Porter (Mt. St. Michael, Bronx NY junior) was 2nd with a US#3 22.04. 
• The other US#1 boys sprint came in the 500, where Jamaree Murray (SE Raleigh, NC senior) became the first under 1:06 this winter with a 1:05.77 to win the Bulldog Invite (Liberty U., Lynchburg, VA) ahead of the US#5 1:06.49 by Kenneth Hagen (Blacksburg, VA senior).  Another Virginia athlete, Ricky Morgan (Forest Park, Woodbridge, VA senior), had also beaten the previous national leader the same day, running a 1:06.18 at the Southeastern meet. 
• In the short dashes, the week’s best came from Isaiah Harper (Grassfield, Chesapeake, VA senior) and Darryl Haraway (DeMatha Catholic, Hyattsville, MD junior).  Harper zipped a 6.36 PR for 55 at the Southeastern, =US#2 and just .02 off the national lead held by Mustaqeem Williams, while Haraway hit US#3 6.84 for 60 and the win way down at the Icebreaker meet in Birmingham. 

GIRLS SPRINTS

• New national leaders were achieved in three of the girls’ sprint events last weekend: The 60, 200 and 400.  As was the case for the boys, the Hispanic Games was the venue for the longest two marks.  Zola Golden (Arlington, LaGrangeville, NY junior) continued her impressive early campaign in the 200/300/400 with a US#1 56.49 in the Invite 400, topping the US#4 56.83 by Emma Gallagher (Garden City, NY junior).  The 2nd fastest 400 of the meet actually came from Toni Brown (Milford Mill, Gwynn Oak, MD senior), who missed the invite race due to a check-in time mixup and instead won the varsity section in a US#3 56.70.
• In the Hispanic 200, Melissa June (St. Anthony’s, Huntington, NY senior) broke out with a PR US#1 24.73 win, beating Symone Darius (New Rochelle, NY senior) US#2 24.87 and the above-mentioned Toni Brown US#5 24.94.  There were no new top-5s at 500 and 600, and the top new 300 mark was a US#4 39.70 by Shania Collins (Huntingtown, MD senior) to win the Southern Maryland Classic (PG Sportsplex, Landover).  Collins also won the 55 there with a US#6 7.11.
• But the other US#1 girls’ sprint mark came in the 60, where Caitland Smith (Pelham, AL senior) ripped a 7.51 to win the Icebreaker meet over frosh sensation Jayla Kirkland (Woodlawn, Birmingham, AL) 7.60.  Smith was on last spring’s Team NSAF for the Caribbean Scholastic Invite (CSI) and won the 100, and was also 3rd in the NBNI 60 and 6th in the NBNO 200 in 2013.

BOYS AND GIRLS HURDLES

• The action at the top end of the boys’ hurdle lists was relatively light outside of the above-mentioned accomplishments of Marlon Humphrey and Grant Holloway.  But in Michigan, Devin McKinney (East Kentwood, MI senior) sped a US#3 8.01 for 60H at the first U-M stop in the MITS series.  That cut almost a third of a second off his PR.
• After Hall, there was another top girls 60H performance and a few over the 55s.  Humphrey’s soph class sister, Brittley, also ran in the Icebreaker meet and clocked a US#2 8.83, a tenth off the PR she ran for 3rd in the NBNI Emerging Elite (EE) race last March.  In the shorter race, there were a pair of 8.10s that rank tied for US#2:  Ciara Leonard (Cheltenham, Wyncote, PA junior) hit that mark to win the Hispanic Games, while Shanel Burr (North Cobb, Kennesaw, GA senior repping The HEAT TC) got hers vs. elites at the Ed Temple meet in Tennessee (2nd).  Both made the semis at NBNI over 60H last winter and Burr went on to win the EE 400H and place 8th in the 100H at NBNO.

BOYS DISTANCES

• It was a big weekend for milers, as strong marks were achieved in both high and lower profile meets.  The Hispanic Games mile, a Millrose qualifier, saw a deep race with Mike Brannigan (Northport, NY junior) 4:17.04 beating Matthew Chisholm (Farmington, CT senior) 4:17.49 and James Burke (Port Jefferson, NY junior) 4:19.28.  Those are the season’s 2-3-4 times in HS-only competition, but at the Boston U. Mini-Meet #2, featuring all levels, Massachusetts runners Nick Carleo (Newburyport junior) and Garrett O’Toole (Middlesex, Concord, senior) ran actual US#2-3 4:15.8h and 4:16.1h in 5th and 6th. 
• O’Toole already has the national 3k lead, from an earlier BU Mini-Meet.  But in the same 3rd version of the series where he ran the 4:16, Michael Schlichting (Newton North, MA senior) was 8th in the 3k with a US#2 8:36.8h.
• Finally, while US #1 800 man Richard Rose was dropping down to 400 at the Hispanic Games, Jordan Burton (Warwick Valley, NY senior) came close to topping his mark but settled for a PR 1:55.30 – with two more under 1:57.  Burton’s also US#3 at 600.

GIRLS DISTANCES

• Karina Shepard’s 800 performance (see above) was just one of a great series of deep distance races across the board at the Hispanic Games.  National leaders from the meet also came in the mile and the 3k.  In the former, Bella Burda (Arlington, NY junior) won a fine battle with Laura Leff (West Genesee, Syracuse, NY, senior), US#1 4:58.46 to #3 4:59.22.  And in the latter, Maddy Berkson (Classical, Providence, RI senior) set a Rhode Island state record with her US#1 9:49.35, defeating a good #2 9:57.87 for Denise Branch (Benjamin Cardozo, Bayside, NY senior).  Berkson’s looking to conclude a great career which has included 3rd-place finishes in both NBN 800s last year, among many other accomplishments.  Burda was 11th in the NBNO 2M last spring.
• Another impressive US#1 was achieved by Caroline Alcorta (West Springfield, VA senior), who soloed a 10:32.4h 3,200 in a small Northern Region meet in VA.  Her resume includes top-5 finishes in both NBN 2-miles last year, an anchor in the winning NBNO DMR for her team, and of course the 3rd-place finish at Foot Locker Finals less than a month ago.
• Still more distance accomplishments last weekend:
  • A 5:00.08 1,600 by Rachel Coleman (Northville, MI senior), leading three under 5:02 at the MITS U-M meet
  • A US#1 4:42.5h 1,500 by Tiana Guevara (Miller Place, NY senior)
  • A US#2 2:13.42 for Jazmine Fray (Kellenberg, Uniondale, NY junior) in her runner-up finish behind Shepard in the Hispanic 800
  • A 5:40.90 1M steeple by Jennifer Gerland (Garden City, NY junior), the fastest in that infrequently-run, Armory-only event

BOYS JUMPS

• The previously mentioned Gilfillan pole vault and Holloway high jump were the biggest new stories in this category – but both events saw considerable development last week beyond those two.  The other latest additions to the 2013-14, 16-foot PV club include Devin King (Sumner, LA senior) and Luke Winder (Plainfield Central, IL senior).  King, who was US#3 outdoors last spring and the top returnee at 17-3, got on the board with a US#3 16-6 triumph in the Icebreaker meet.  Winder, who trailed only King among non-seniors last winter and has a 16-10 best, launched a US#4 16-4.75 at the First to the Finish Northern Champs (Bloomington).
• In the high jump, the number of athletes over 6-8 swelled from four to eight (including Holloway).  Clearing that particular barrier were Cameron Holden (Liberty Christian, Lynchburg VA senior) at the Bulldog meet, Bradley Jones (Oscar Smith, Chesapeake VA junior) at the Southeastern Invite (2nd behind Holloway), and Alex King (Massac County, Metropolis, IL senior) at the First to the Finish meet.
• The horizontals saw just a couple newcomers on the top 5s.  Michael Egotanda (Vestal, NY senior) long jumped 23-8.25 to win the Hispanic Games and tie Isaiah Moore for US#2, breaking an in/out PR that had stood almost a year.  In the triple, Issac Arriola (Oscar Smith, VA senior) spanned a huge PR 47-11.25 – improving more than a foot and a half.

GIRLS JUMPS

• While the pole vault saw the above-mentioned surge of 13-footers, and the long jump list was stagnant, there were marked improvements on the triple jump and high jump lists.  In the TJ, the number of 40-footers for the season improved to three.  Like fellow Georgian Shanel Burr in the hurdles, Tiffany Flynn (Miller Grove, Lithonia, senior) was a club athlete (New Horizon) competing against collegiate/open athletes in the Ed Temple meet and she triumphed with a 40-2.25 – just a quarter inch of the US#1.  She was 7th in the NBNO TJ last June and 9th in the LJ. 
• Also, Javonne Antoine (Elizabeth Seton, Bladensburg, MD senior), who has led the nation part of the season so far, went over 40 herself with a 40-0.75 for the Hispanic Games win.  She was 2nd for Team NSAF at CSI last June, as well as 4th at NBNI and 8th at NBNO.  And in Michigan, a state that doesn’t contest the TJ outdoors but only in its “club” indoor season, Shelby Allen (Berkley, senior) went US#4 38-3.5 – thought to be the 2nd longest indoor TJ ever by a Michigan athlete.
• In the high jump, there were a pair of 5-8 leaps that moved into a tie for US#2 behind Ellen DiPietro.  Rachel Rhodes (Williamsville, IL senior) did it at the First to the Finish meet and Nicie Grier-Spratley (Thomas Edison, Alexandria, VA junior) cleared it at the Southern Maryland meet.  It was a new PR for Grier-Spratley, while Rhodes tied her career best.

BOYS and GIRLS THROWS

• The most significant movement came with the boys’ shot.  In a small Section 6 Groups meet, Devon Patterson (Williamsville South, NY senior) moved back into US#2 and finally beat his PR from outdoor last year, with a 62-2.25.  Then at the UMES Invite (Maryland-Eastern Shore), Rashad Manning (Riverdale Baptist, Upper Marlboro, MD junior) joined the 60-foot club in a big way, hitting US#4 60-11 (the 4th over 60 this winter).  In the boys’ weight, Brock Eager (Tahoma, Covington WA senior) improved his US#2 indoors to 67-3.5.
• The girls weight throw saw Victoria Ebert (Exeter/West Greenwich, RI senior) move up to US#5 with a 50-8.5 throw, while Claudia Ababio’s (Clarksburg, MD senior) 43-5.5 to win Southern Maryland was the best new shot put of the week at US#6.

BOYS RELAYS

• It wasn’t only Chaminade threatening 8:00-flat last weekend.  St. Anthony’s NY finished 2nd behind the winners in that CHSAA meet with an 8:03.9h and in the NJCTC Relays (also at the Armory), Christian Brothers (Lincroft, NJ) hit 8:01.1h and St. Benedict’s (Newark, NJ) 8:03.9h. 
• In the sprint relays, Cheltenham (Wyncote, PA) took the fast Hispanic 4x200 with a US#2 1:29.07, while DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, MD) became the 3rd sub-1:30 team of the season with its 1:29.49 in the Icebreaker meet.  No surprise, the best 4x400s of the week also came from Hispanic with four teams – led by Paul Robeson’s US#4 3:23.66 – ran between 3:23 and 3:26.
• Union Catholic, already national leaders at 4x2 and 4x4, nearly ran two more US#1s at the above-mentioned NJCTC Relays.  In the 4x55 SHR (where, like the 4x2 and 4x4, they are defending NBNI champs), they clocked 30.9h and in the sprint med they hit 3:34.9h – just a tiny fraction inferior to Rahway’s 3:35.03 US leader.

GIRLS RELAYS

• As with the boys, the best girls’ 4x200s of the week came from Hispanic and Icebreaker.  New Rochelle NY improved its US#1 to 1:41.32 in the former, while in the latter, Elizabeth Seton MD beat Hoover AL, US#4 1:42.35 to #5 1:42.70.  The week’s best and US#2 4x400 time, however, was clocked by Columbia (Maplewood, NJ) at the Essex County Relays with 3:57.43.
• There were US#2s achieve in both the 4x800 and DMR last week, as Freehold Twp NJ took the Monmouth County Relays in 9:26.61 and Strath Haven (Wallingford, PA) claimed the third meet of the DVGTCA series with a 12:32.71.  The sprint medley list received a wholesale rewrite, topped by new leaders of 4:15.6h by Pope John XXIII (Sparta, NJ) from the NJCTC meet and St. Anthony’s NY 4:15.8h from the CHSAA meet.