National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

Here's some of the statistical stories and context behind the 10 national records and 17 class records set the 2016 NBNI last week. Photos by Vic Sailer, Photorun.net and John Nepolitan (North Rockland photo).

  

Twin 55H/60H records for award-winners Marshall, Holloway

• 8.08 semifinal and 8.02 girls’ 60m hurdles final by Tonea Marshall (Arlington Seguin, TX sr), surpassing the 8.11 set by Dior Hall at the 2014 NBNI.  Marshall also broke Candy Young’s 55mH national mark from 1980 (7.50 converted) en route in the final with a 7.46 split.  She needed almost every hundredth of her 8.02 to defeat the greatest indoor prep hurdle field ever, as the next five all ran 8.24 or faster: Alexis Duncan (DeSoto, TX sr) at US#2 8.14 (#3 all-time), 2015 runner-up Anna Cockrell (Providence Day, NC sr) at 8.22, Brittley Humphrey (Hoover, AL sr) at =US#4 8.23 (=#8 a-t), Chanel Brissett (Cheltenham, PA jr) at =US#4 8.23 (=#8 a-t) and Brandee’ Johnson (Nansemond River, VA sr) at 8.24.  Cockrell had run a faster US#3 8.18 in her semifinal, #7 all-time, a time which Duncan also ran.  Marshall was named the NBNI Girls Athlete of the Meet for her efforts.
• 7.53 boys’ 60m hurdles by Grant Holloway (Grassfield, VA sr), defending his 2015 title and erasing the 7.57 set by Donavan Robertson in 2012.  Holloway’s 7.59 from last year had been #2 all-time.  He also split 7.00 at 55mH, clipping his own 2015 standard from NBNI (shared with Wayne Davis III from 2009).  Three others ran between 7.66 and 7.71: Braxton Canady (Paxon, FL sr) at US#2 7.66 (#8 a-t), Marcus Krah (Hillside, NC sr) at US#3 7.69 and Trey Cunningham (Winfield City, AL jr) at US#4 7.71.  Holloway, who also won the pentathlon with history’s #3 performance, was named the NBNI Boys Athlete of the Meet.

Four more fantastic individual marks: McLaughlin, Lyles, Kelati, Harris

• 51.84 girls’ 400m dash by Sydney McLaughlin (Union Catholic, NJ jr), topping the 51.93 set by Francena McCorory (200m flat track) at the 2006 NSAF indoor nationals (then Nike Indoor Nationals), and ruling by more than two seconds.  McLaughlin had won the 60mH title in 2015, but passed that up for the 400 this time.  She was followed by Victoria Tachinski (Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN) at 53.97, Sterling Lester (Marietta, GA fr) at 54.12 and Lauryn Ghee (Grassfield, VA jr) at US#3 54.20.  Lester actually ran slightly faster, US#2 54.11, in her prelim.  McLaughlin’s 52.77 in her own prelim had moved her temporarily to #4 all-time.  She would also go on to anchor (51.65) the winning 4x4 Sunday to history’s #2 time, 3:40.28.  All eight finishers in the 400 final ran 54.64 or faster. 
• 20.63 boys’ 200m dash by Noah Lyles (T.C. Williams, VA sr), defending his 2015 title and shooting past Xavier Carter’s 20.69 from the 2004 NSIC on this track.  Lyles 20.83 winner from last year had been #2 all-time.  He was followed by Maxwell Willis (Archbishop Carroll, DC sr) at US#5 21.32 and Khance Meyers (East Kentwood, MI jr) at 21.59.  Tyrese Cooper (American, FL fr) had run a freshman class nat’l record 21.22 in his prelim (see below), qualifying 2nd overall, but was DQ’d in the final for running out of his lane.  Lyles’ qualifier was 21.10 (then US#1) and Willis had another 21.32.  With Lyles running the 2nd leg and brother (and 60m dash champ) Josephus anchoring, T.C. Williams also ran history’s #2 4x200 at 1:26.21.
• 16:08.83 girls’ 5,000m run by Weini Kelati (Leesburg Heritage, VA jr), breaking the 16:10.79 set by Anna Rohrer at NBNI in 2015 and winning by nearly 20 seconds.  The Eritrean native tore through the first kilometer in the lead at 3:03 and held 3:10-15 the rest of the way, improving from 7th in 2015.  It was the 6th straight year the 5,000m national record has been broken at NBNI.  Five others ran between 16:28-16:40 (US#2-#6 this year), including Maryjeanne Gilbert (Peoria Notre Dame, IL sr) at 16:28.74 (US#6 all-time), Shona McCulloch (Nepean, Ontario, Canada) at 16:31.22, former NBNO 2-mile champ Hannah Debalsi (Staples, CT sr) at 16:32.26 (#9 a-t), Stephanie Jenks (Linn-Mar, IA sr) at 16:40.38 and Libby Davidson (E.C. Glass, VA jr) at 16:40.97.  Jenks was 3rd last year and 2nd in 2014.
• 6:57.36 girls’ 1-mile race walk by Lauren Harris, topping the 7:00.33 recorded at 2015 NBNI by Ashleigh Resch and becoming the first girl under 7:00.  Harris won by more than 13 seconds over Anali Cisneros (Elgin, IL sr) at 7:11.14 (#9 all-time), with Maria Garcia (North Rockland, NY sr) at 7:15.38 and Amelia Cuomo (Brewster, NY jr) at 7:17.39 also under 7:20 (US#2-3-4 this year).  Harris was 4th in 2015.

Medley madness: North Rockland girls, Chantilly boys hit the top

• 11:34.85 girls’ distance medley relay by the North Rockland, NY team of jr Alexandra Harris (3:28.51 1,200m), sr Camille Cameron (57.61 400m), sr Sydney March (2:15.29 800m) and 8th-grader Katelyn Tuohy (4:53.44 1,600m), beating the 11:35.43 set on this track by Mountain View, UT at the 2004 NSIC.  A record four additional teams broke 11:45 and nine were under 12:00.  Lake Braddock, VA, with Kate Murphy anchoring in 4:43.95, came from way down for 2nd place in US#2 11:39.10 (=#6 all-time), with Lincoln-Sudbury, MA 3rd at 11:42.03, Kinetic RC/Saratoga Springs, NY 4th at 11:42.04 and Newton Centre Athletics/Newton South, MA 5th at 11:43.96 (US#3-4-5 this year).  North Rockland was 3rd in 2015 with three returning legs.
• 3:24.02 boys’ sprint medley relay by the XBC Track IV/Chantilly, VA team of sr Michael Scopellite, sr Justin Loh (combined 45.63 first 400), sr Titus Jeffries (48.86 400m) and Brandon McGorty (1:49.53 800m), breaking the 3:24.16 established by Dayton Dunbar, OH at the 2015 NBNI.  Three other teams broke 3:30, including Motor City TC/Oak Park, MI at 3:25.96 (#10 all-time) – with Cameron Cooper anchoring in 1:51.16 – then John Curtis Christian, LA at 3:28.88 and Wachusett, MA at 3:29.90 (US#2-3-4 this year).  Chantilly had been 10th in 2015 with two of the same legs.

Seven others set national class records on the track

• Senior class record, meet record and US#1 4:36.61 girls’ 1-mile run (#3 all-time) by Katie Rainsberger (Air Academy, CO sr) in her NBN debut, beating both the 1978 senior class mark of 4:39.0 by Lynn Jennings and the 2013 meet record by Elise Cranny of 4:40.62.  Rainsberger passed early leader Linn-Mar, IA sr Stephanie Jenks (Linn-Mar, IA sr) and held off the charge of Kate Murphy (Lake Braddock, VA jr).  Murphy was 2nd in US#3 4:39.47 (#6 a-t) and Jenks held on for 3rd in 4:44.94.  Rainsberger’s 1,500m split of 4:17.68 was also US#1, #3 all-time and a senior class record.  A record 11 girls ran 4:48 or faster (15 under 4:52).
• Junior class record, meet record and US#1 23.23 girls’ 200m dash (#5 all-time) by LaurenRain Williams (Oaks Christian, CA jr), defending her title and surpassing the 23.26 junior class mark set by Bianca Knight in 2006 and her own 23.46 meet standard from last year.  Williams was also just .01 off the Armory record held by Ashton Purvis and Sanya Richards.  She also holds the soph class nat’l record at 23.39.  Five broke 24 seconds, with Anna Cockrell (Providence Day, NC sr) 2nd at US#2 23.47 (#8 all-time) and Lanae-Tava Thomas (Rush-Henrietta, NY soph) 3rd at US#3 23.66 in the next two spots.
• Junior class record and US#1 6:15.77 boys’ 1-mile race walk by Cameron Haught (Greenon, OH jr), defending his title and beating the 6:17.96 set by Zachary Pollinger back in 2003.  Haught, who won his 3rd NBN title total (2 indoors, 1 out), also moved to #5 all-time overall – 12 seconds back of Trevor Barron’s HSR 6:03.48.  Haught dominated the race, with AJ Gruttadauro (Brockport, NY sr) at 6:39.88, Juan Moscoso (Lake Brantley, FL fr) at 6:43.53, and Spencer Dunn (Edward Little, ME sr) at 6:48.34 taking the next three spots.
• Freshman class record and US#2 21.22 boys’ 200m dash by Tyrese Cooper (American HS, FL fr), beating his own mark of 21.54 set back in the Arkansas Invite in January.  It was the 3rd time the record has been broken this year, twice by Cooper and once by Brian Herron, after Michael Grant’s 20.95 from 2001 had lasted 15 years.  Cooper’s 21.22 won his prelim heat Saturday and qualified 2nd overall behind Noah Lyles’ 21.10, but he was DQ’d in the final for running out of his lane.  Coming into NBNI with the 60, 200 and 400 class records, Cooper just missed his own 60 standard of 6.78 as he took 4th in the final with 6.80.
• Freshman class record 47.97 boys’ 400m dash by Brian Herron (Lakeside, GA fr), tying the standard set this year by Tyrese Cooper and winning the Emerging Elite division by nearly half a second.  Herron had tied William Reed’s 1985 9th-grade standard in January with a 48.76, before Cooper broke it with his sub-48 two weeks later.  Herron has also run 47.39 on an oversized track, the fastest all-conditions frosh 400 ever indoors.  Here at NBNI, he was also 2nd in the EE 200, running a regulation-track PR 21.77 behind (senior) Kelly Brown’s 21.64.  Herron also set the 200 nat’l frosh mark at 21.84 in January, which Cooper also broke (twice).
• Freshman class record 8.35 girls’ 60m hurdles by Tia Jones (Walton, GA fr), breaking the 8.44 set by Trinity Wilson in 2009.  Jones also passed the 55mH split in 7.77, beating Kendell Williams’ 7.91 standard from 2010.  The 8.35 came in the prelims, where Jones was 2nd in heat 4 and qualified 5th into the semifinals – but she did not compete Sunday.  Jones first made her mark in NBN competition when she was the surprise winner of the 2015 NBNO 100m hurdles in 13.08w as an 8th-grader.
• Freshman class record and US#5 7.37 girls’ 60m dash by Thelma Davies (Girard College, PA fr), topping the 7.47 shared by herself (PTFCA state championship from Feb. 28) and by Hannah Cunliffe in 2011.  Davies’ mark made her a very close 4th in the final, just .07 behind winner Zaria Francis and the two other Californians who had authored a Golden State sweep.
• NOTE: Individual national record-setters McLaughlin, Lyles, Kelati and Harris also set national class records for their respective classes (Junior, Senior, Junior and Junior, respectively).