National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

Here's four storylines you might not have thought of, at least in the way presented here, for the NBNO track action Saturday and Sunday

1. Can Olivia Baker win 5 golds?

For those who’ve followed the sport nationally in recent years, especially our NBN meets and the Penn Relays, Olivia Baker – both individually and as part of Columbia, NJ’s amazing relays – has become one of the iconic student-athletes of the current era.  No, she’s not a perfect, mega-talent that wins every single race.  But she’s typically an extreme clutch performer with the stick, the ultimate teammate and leader, and someone you never want to bet against.  Over her career, she’s won two individual golds and six with relays (plus many more high placings).

In her final NBN meet for Coach Lisa Morgan’s program, Baker’s listed in five races in two days – the 4x4, 4x8 and 1600 sprint medley relays, plus the individual 400 and 800.  She and her teammates are defending champs in four of those: The SMR, 4x8, the 400 and 4x4.  The SMR and 4x8 are both Saturday, at 1:05pm and 7:10pm, and Columbia is a solid favorite in the former (not quite as fast as 2013) and overwhelming favorite in the latter (much faster than 2013).  Sunday will be much more challenging, with the 800, 400 and 4x400 in that order over about 90 minutes.  Some doubt she will stick in both the 800 and 400, opting for one or the other.

Based on her individual races, you wouldn’t really consider Baker an 800 favorite – being a 2:08 performer in a field with some girls who have run between 2:03 (Raevyn Rogers in 2013) and 2:07.  Fellow New Jersey runner Corinne Myers has the best mark this year among entries at 2:05.80.  But there’s that historic 2:02 Penn Relays anchor in her resume that proves how fast she can really run when she has to.  It should help that this is her first race of Sunday. 

In the 400, she has the fastest PR in the field at 52.71, but that was in 2013 and she has a 53.50 best this year – ranked #4 among entrants behind Zola Golden NY 52.82, Kendell Ellis FL 52.95 and Anna Jefferson MI 53.50.  But Golden and Ellis both ran their best times a month or more ago, and who is actually ready to run at least 53-low is a big question mark.  In the 4x400, Columbia has the best outdoor time, at 3:43.36 – though their times haven’t been quite as strong all year long as in 2013.  Motor City TC (Oak Park HS, MI) – which beat Columbia at NBNI – has run 3:46 without their star Jefferson.  They will be hard to beat.

2. Will it be Friday’s day on Sunday?

He goes to school and competes for Cherryville, about a 2-hour drive down I-85 and beyond Charlotte from Aggie Stadium here.  He’s not competing here or anywhere else Saturday due to graduation ceremonies.  On Sunday, however, Trentavis Friday will be here at NBNO to run the 200 meters and fans here and around the country are looking for big things.

Friday knows how to deliver on Sunday; witness the results at NBNI back in March.  The powerful speedster started off that day with a thrilling 6.64 victory in the 60-meter dash final, then became prep history’s second-fastest ever indoors with a 20.97 blinder over 200.  Through the bulk of the outdoor season, however, Friday didn’t get a lot of competition and his times were a bit muted by the lack of wind gauges and good sprinting conditions.  At his 1A state meet, he faced stiff headwinds in winning with still-great 10.59 and 20.95 marks.

But then came the North Carolina Champions Tuneup two weeks ago in Kernersville.  With gauges and fair winds in place, Friday blasted to 10.17 and 20.33 times, becoming #6 and #7, respectively, in prep outdoor history.  Suddenly, his outdoor resume had the same cache as his indoor resume and he’ll now come into Greensboro as the premier boys’ sprinter in the meet.  On Sunday, Friday will have in his sights a very attainable meet record of 20.62 – set by another North Carolina runner, Sean McLean in 2011, and he may even chase a 29-year-old national record that at 20.13 might not be entirely out of reach.

And while Friday has the best entry PR by nearly half a second, don’t discount the idea that he could be pushed our challenged.  To wit: Terrell Smith (Vicksburg, MS senior) won Great Southwest last weekend at 20.82w, super soph Noah Lyles (T.C. Williams, VA) is a 20.89 performer with a Youth Olympic Trials win and 2013 World Youth Champs credentials, and Leon Powell is a well-coached Texan (Kennedale senior) with 20.90 creds.  Four others have run 21.10 or better, meaning a very, very good final could be at hand.  Still, it’s very likely to be Friday on Sunday!

3. Which superfrosh girl will shine the brightest?

Would you believe we could have 9th-graders winning the championship girls’ 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles AND 400-meter hurdles here at New Balance Nationals Outdoor this weekend!  Having freshmen winning girls’ events at NBNO isn’t entirely unusual.  For example, there was Kendall Williams taking both hurdles in 2010.  But all four of these would be a little mind-boggling.  However, NBNO hasn’t seen too many talents like Candace Hill and Sydney McLaughlin.

Hill, a frosh at Rockdale County HS in Conyers, GA, was well known to Junior Olympic track fans in recent summers, but has exploded to true national class among preps in her first spring at this level.  She attracted attention from around the country when she took down fine 100 and 200 fields at the Mobile Challenge of Champions in early April, running legal 11.69 and 23.81 times.  Then at her state meet a month later, she blazed a then-nation-leading 23.21 (still US#2) and an 11.44 that was just a tenth of a second off the national lead.  Suddenly she was at the top.

Meanwhile, Sydney McLaughlin (Union Catholic, NJ) first grabbed the country’s attention with a freshman class record 38.55 for 300 indoors way back in December.  Nothing else she did indoors quite lived up to that, but this spring her best event has proven to be the 400 hurdles, where she stunned in May with a 59.03, then by last week at the NJ Meet of Champs improved to a jaw-dropping US#1 56.91 – another 9th-grade record and #7 all-time overall.  Her 100H has dropped nearly as impressively, going from the low 14s, to high 13s and then US#4 13.47 at NJ MOC. 

So can Hill and McLaughlin take home a pair of titles each?  Who is their top competition?  Well, for Hill, she’ll have to watch for Diamond Spaulding, the St. Thomas Aquinas, FL junior who last weekend hit 23.00w to win Great Southwest and has also run 11.62.  Another freshman, Jayla Kirkland of Alabama, is nearly as good with 11.47w and 23.65 bests (she was 2nd and 4th in the Mobile races).  Brandee’ Johnson of Suffolk, VA and Katlin Sherman from N.C. power Parkland will be tough to beat in the 200, too.  McLaughlin, meanwhile, is a huge favorite in the 400H, but in the 100H she’ll be contending with sub-13.40 performers Alexis Duncan of Texas and Ashley Miller of Colorado.

4. Could Penn distance champions sweep here at NBNO?

The folks who run the Penn Relays would love to think their meet is a bellwether for who are and will be the best individuals and relay teams in the country in prep and collegiate track and field.  We’ve certainly seen Penn champs go on to be NBNO champs (as well as NBNI champs progressing to winning at Penn).  This year, however, all four individual distance champs from the late April action at Franklin Field – Amelia Paladino, Hannah Debalsi, Luke Gavigan and Andrew Hunter – are strong contenders, if not favorites to win.

In the girls’ mile, Paladino (University HS, WV senior) has come on tremendously this year with her runner-up finish in the NBNI mile at 4:43.84 (behind Alexa Efraimson) and subsequent Penn triumph in 4:45.34 being landmark performances.  Later on, she ran 10-flat for 3,200 and is unbeaten outdoors.  This will be her first major test since Penn, however, she has come a long way since running 5:01 in the mile here last June.  It will hardly be a cakewalk for her, though, as at least 10 other girls can run 4:50 or better.  NBN veteran Maddy Berkson (Classical, RI senior) with a 4:26.88 1,500, Rachel Coleman with a 4:45.76 1,500, and Josette Norris (Tenafly, NJ senior) with a 4:47.01 1,600 are top contenders.  Norris actually ran 4:41 for 1,600 last year and was 2nd in the NBNO mile to Wesley Frazier.

In the girls’ 3k, Debalsi had a late fall in the NBNI 2-mile in March and wound up 4th.  At Penn, though, she was dominating, running away and hiding from the field en route to a 9:34.57 3k win.  She was also 3rd in this meet last year with a frosh class USR for the full deuce.  However, she’ll have the toughest road to victory of any of the Penn champs, having to contend with Arcadia 3,200 runner-up Allie Ostrander (Kenai Central, AK junior) with a 10:03.66; and Annie Heffernan (St. Ursula, OH junior), the runner-up here in 2013 and 3rd in March’s NBNI 2M (in both ahead of Debalsi); among several others.

Gavigan in the boys’ mile first made a serious national impression with his Millrose Mile victory in February at 4:08.96, which held up for the national lead all winter.  He was 2nd to Grant Fisher at NBNI, then in his outdoor debut kicked to the Penn Relays victory in 4:13.35.  Then came a rough patch at the Loucks Games, but by the state meet last weekend he was as good as ever with a 4:07.82.  Looking at the field, there’s not any other clear favorite, but certainly several other good contenders that could win on a given day.  The best of those include Patrick Gregory (Louisville Butler, KY senior), who broke through with a huge 4:07.81 PR for 3rd in the Nike Festival of Miles last week; Zach Brehm (Carlisle Area, PA junior), who ran 4:09.27 for a mile as a soph last year and has a 3:51.04 1,500 and 4:11 1,600 best this year.  But really, there are more than a dozen guys who could win in a very evenly matched field.

Then Hunter is one of the stunning stories of the year, having burst on the national scene with his soph class HSR 8:16.31 3,000 meters to win the Penn Relays - #2 in meet history.  The Loudon Valley, VA rising star hardly been pushed since and has won as he’s pleased, sharpening his 1,600 skills as well.  So he’s the man to beat, but hardly the only sub-9 type in the field.  Another shocker in distance events this spring has come when Thomas Pollard (Gilbert, IA junior) ran US#2 8:50.43 to win the Iowa state 3,200, his first time under 9 and instantly making him a national title contender.  And this race will feature the amazing Northport, NY distance trio of Mikey Brannigan and twins Tim and Jack McGowan.  All ran between 8:53 and 9:01 for 3,200 at the Loucks Games – the latest of many great distance achievements for them this year – and could make prep history Friday with three sub-9s from the same school in the same race.