2015 NBNI Previews: B/G Hurdles – Great showdowns await in both races

by Steve Underwood
NBNI Previews, Part 3 of 11

This is the third in a series of previews for the championship events at the 2015 New Balance Nationals Indoor and will be followed by Boys/Girls Multis, Boys Distances, Girls Distances, Boys Relays, Girls Relays, Girls Jumps, Boys Jumps and Boys/Girls Throws.  Here are the link for Boys Sprints and Girls Sprints.


BOYS/GIRLS HURDLES

Overview

You can’t ask for much more than competitive, potentially razor-close races with national records possibly on the line – and that’s what you’ll have in both boys’ and girls’ 60-meter hurdle races at NBNI.  Chad Zallow, Grant Holloway, Sydney McLaughlin and Alexis Duncan all offer compelling backstories and are certainly four of the meet’s outstanding athletes overall.  Holloway is a do-everything sprinter/hurdler/jumper who is nationally ranked in more events than anyone in the country, while McLaughlin nearly as multi-faceted while on her way to being possibly the best long hurdler in prep history.  Add some great depth in each field and NBNI will be a hurdle fan’s dream.


Boys 60m hurdles: Doesn’t get much better than this – Zallow vs. Holloway

Indoor track can be a little annoying with all of the different/similar events run in different states and parts of the country (like 55 or 60, 300 or 400 or 500, etc.) – at least for statisticians.  But it also gives you situations like this: An undefeated national-leader at the 55-meter hurdles vs. an undefeated national-leader at the 60-meter hurdles.  That should entice any track fan.  Now, truth be told, what Chad Zallow (J.F. Kennedy, OH senior) with his US#1 7.62 60H (#3 all-time) is a tad more impressive than what Grant Holloway (Grassfield, VA junior) has done at US#1 7.19 (#19 all-time).  Zallow has to be pretty motivated, too – he was tearing it up in Ohio last winter, too, before injury ended his nationals hopes.  He’s run under 7.80 four times and is just .05 off the HSR.

Holloway, 2nd in the 60H last year, will likely have to make up about a 10th to run with Zallow, but don’t doubt this amazing athlete.  He’s ranked in the US top 7 at 55m, 300m, 500m, 55H, the high jump and long jump.  The HJ is his only other individual event in this meet, where he also has a great chance to win with his 7-0 best.  Others with a chance to win (or at least pick up the bronze) include fellow Virginian Charles Graham (Phoebus senior) and North Carolina star Marcus Krah (Hillside junior), both close behind Holloway on the 55H list at 7.24 and 7.25 (Krah has also run US#2 7.81 for 60H and Graham US#5 7.89); Zallow’s Ohio rival Caleb Wilt (Miami Trace senior) has run 7.83, while Texas sensation Norman Grimes (Canyon junior) has hit 7.82.

Stats and facts

HSR: 7.57, Donovan Robertson, OH, 2012
MR: 7.60, Wayne Davis II, NC, 2009

60m hurdles recent champs
2014: Isaiah Moore, NC, 7.79
2013: Freddie Crittenden, MI, 7.72
2012: Donovan Roberson, OH, 7.70

60m hurdles 2014 top 3-plus (non-returnees italicized)
1. Isaiah Moore, NC, 7.79
2. Grant Holloway, VA, 7.93
3. D’Ante Yarborough, VA, 7.95

8. Charles Graham, VA, 9.09 (7.97sf)
14(sf). Mason Weh, PA, 8.17

Top entries by current U.S. 60mH rank
1. Chad Zallow, OH, 7.62
2. Marcus Krah, NC, 7.81
3. Norman Grimes, TX, 7.82
4. Caleb Wilt, OH, 7.83
5. Charles Graham, VA, 7.89

Top U.S. 55mH performers entered in 60H (by 55mH rank)
1. Grant Holloway, VA, 7.19
2. Marcus Krah, NC, 7.24
3. Charles Graham, VA, 7.25
4. Shyheim White, MD, 7.27
5. Sidney Gibbons, NY, 7.32


Girls 60m hurdles:  2014 NBNO 100H 1-2 get a rematch here

As a frosh last winter, he best thing Sydney McLaughlin might have done was her first race, a 38.55 300m.  At NBNI, she ran a then-PR 8.62 60H – good, but not enough to make the final.  Of course, then the 2014 outdoor season happened, and McLaughlin went from being a very good freshman to prep history’s #2 400m hurdler.  She was “too young” to make the World Junior team, but was the 2nd best in the world under-20.  This winter, she started with a near-identical 300 time to the previous December, but then improved to US#1 37.49 (#2 all-time) and US#1 7.66 for 55H (#5 all-time). 

It also happens that while McLaughlin was improving fast at 100H last spring, as well, she was nipped in an epic NBNO final by one Alexis Duncan – a super soph talent at DeSoto, TX.  Duncan had also been 3rd in that NBNI 60H last winter behind Dior Hall and Quenee Dale.  Now a junior, she wants to move to the top of the medal stand, too, and prove that she – like so many others – hasn’t been left behind by McLaughlin’s meteoric rise. 

Three others from last year’s NBNI girls’ 60H final return.  Ciara Leonard (Cheltenham, PA senior) was 5th at 8.43 and Anna Cockrell (Providence Day, NC junior) 8th at 8.48 – and both are great candidates to run 8.40 or better and finish in the top 3-6 this time.  Brittley Humphrey (Hoover, AL junior) – 6th last year in 8.43 – has run only 8.73 this year, but typically does better here than in Alabama’s early-ending indoor season.  Two others from N.C., Ebony Williams (Parkland senior) at US#2 7.81 55H/8.57 60H and Gabrielle Cunningham at 7.87/8.57 – and Leonard’s Pennsylvania rival Sierra Brabham-Lawrence (Harrisburg senior) at US#3 8.40 60H – should also contend.

Stats and facts

HSR: Dior Hall, CO, 8.11, 2014
MR: Dior Hall, CO, 8.11, 2014

60m hurdles recent champs
2014: Dior Hall, CO, 8.11
2013: Sasha Wallace, CA, 8.17
2012: Dior Hall, CO, 8.19

60m hurdles 2014 top 3-plus (non-returnees italicized)
1. Dior Hall, CO, 8.11
2. Quenee’ Dale, MI, 8.35

3. Alexis Duncan, TX, 8.37

5. Ciara Leonard, PA, 8.40
6. Brittley Humphrey, AL, 8.43
8. Anna Cockrell, 8.48

Top entries by current U.S. 60mH rank
1. Ciara Leonard, PA, 8.39
3.Sierra Brabham-Lawrence, PA, 8.40
5. Anna Cockrell, NC, 8.42
6. Emily Sloan, CO, 8.57
7. Gabrielle Cunningham, NC, 8.57

Top U.S. 55mH performers entered in 60H (by 55mH rank)
1. Sydney McLaughlin, NJ, 7.66
2. Ebony Williams, NC, 7.81
3. Gabrielle Cunningham, NC, 7.87
4. Anna Cockrell, NC, 7.88
5. Ciara Leonard, PA, 7.89

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