Better Than Ever…

By Mike Byrnes

The NIKE INDOOR NATIONALS once again promises to be THE Premier indoor meet of the season. This has been the case for virtually every year the NSSF has administered this event. As many of you know, the meet originated in 1984 and was known as the Pathmark Invitational, Pathmark being a large-scale grocery chain on the East coast. This preview article will keep you apprised as to what Elite athletes have committed to the NIKE INDOOR NATIONALS. NO ELITE ATHLETE WILL BE LISTED WHO HAS NOT ENTERED THE MEET.

Code: An "A" after a performance means it was done at Altitude; an "F" indicates a Flat track; a "B", a banked track and an "O", an oversized facility. A "C" indicates a "converted time" usually from the 55m to a 60m version. An asterisk refers to a 2007 performance. USL refers to the United States Leader while #2-US, etc indicates the athlete's national rank.

THE SPRINTS: (60, 200, 400) -       MARCUS ROWLAND, Moore, SC tops the field at 6.29c. JOE MORRIS, Golden, CO, at 6.30a-c & 6.65A (60m) with several 6.32's, DEVON SMITH, White Plains, MD, JAMES JACKSON, Lansing, MI, and KEITH RICKS, Suffolk, VA in the group. CARLIN ISLES, Massillon, OH close behind, 6.33. The fastest kid in Canada, MIKE MARTENS, ON, 6.35 will also be in Landover. There are 18 entrants under 6.40 and anyone of them could win. JA-VELL, Hampton, VA has a 21.50f   and leads the entry list. JUAN STEWART, Enola, Pa, 21.67f, two sophomores, BLAKE HERIOT, Gahanna, OH, 21.69f and FUQUAWN GREENE, New Bern, NC, 21.72f will offer stiff competition as will the aforementioned Ricks, 21.74.   

The 400m field is lead by VARICK R. TUCKER, Belleville, MI, 48.02 with Bullard's , 48.30 close behind.   TARRANCE LIVINGSTON, Great Neck, NY, 48.65 b is no slouch.  

THE MIDDLE DISTANCES: (800, One Mile) Perhaps the nation's finest runner, ANDREW PERKINS, Watertown, WI comes in as the USL in 600mf, 1:19.91 as well as the #4-US rank in the 800fo, 1:53.32 and the #3-US spot over 1000b, 2:28.64. One should note Perkins has had little or no quality competition this season.   JOSEPH FRANKLILN, Tallahassee, FL 1:50.92* will provide quality competition. USL JARED HALL, Cleveland Heights, OH, 1:52.19f with RUSSELL DINKINS, Philadelphia, PA and LOGAN COLLINS, Orange, VA, 1:54.50c (from 1000m) lead the top six, all being under 1:55.

The Mile, always a great race at the NIN, already has Millrose champion KYLE MERBER, 4:12.42 with 2007 rtunnerup SINTAYEHU TAYE, Ashburn, MA, 4:15.30 giving chase.

THE DISTANCES: (2 Mile & 5000m) Loaded! Already, four of the best two milers in the nation are entered lead by SEAN KEVEREN, Brentwood, TN, 8:55.16 and COLBY LOWE, Southlake, TX, 8:59.00 . Lowe also ranks #2-US in the mile, 4:08.99b but behind 2007 third place finisher LUKE PUSKEDRA, Salt Lake City, UT, 8:59.00 with 4:08.77b credentials to back him up and BRIAN LEUNG, Plainsboro, 8:59.77, Two kids out of New Jersey round out that group, DOUG SMITH, Succasoona, 9:01.86 and BRANDON JARRETT, Hillsborough, 9:05.34 with WESLEY RICKMAN, Peyton, CO, 9:06a (converted) and PETER DORRELL, Blacksburg, VA, 9:06.30f rounding out this awesome field . That's SEVEN kids 9:06 or better! The notorious "MB Sleeper", BOBBY APRILL, Dexter, MI, who, running virtually alone, clocked a 9:10.1 early in the season.

The 5000m field is wide open and tough to list as none of the entrants has a verified performance.   These three appear to have an edge, JOHN LUTTRELL, Kettering, OH, DAKOTA PEACHEE, Clayton, NC and TOM BAKER, Louisa, VA.

THE HURDLES:   The nation's three USL,s WAYNE DAVIS, Raleigh, NC, 7.08 (55mH) and 7.63 (60mH), BOOKER NUNLEY, Garner, NC, 7.44 (55 mH-42") and MICHAEL HANCOCK, 7.98A, over the 60mH 42" barriers should vie for the national title along with Davis' teammate, KEARE SMITH, 7.30 a contender. Davis has missed the high school record in both the 55mH and the 60mH by .01! Both Davis and Hancock competed last year with Davis, third, 7.83 and Hancock, sixth, 7.89 (Ed. Note: These are the top four kids in the US.)

THE RELAYS: Since a great many relays will be made up and have not yet run as a team, I'm going to list only a few names of teams I know are top notch. TRENTON CENTRAL, USL, 1:28.35b, BETHEL, 3:19.70, #3-USb, NANSEMOND RIVER, USL CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 3:18.41b-o, and CAMDEN, 3:24.64f, #4-US in the short relays; NEW BERN, NC, the current USL in both the 4x800mR, 7:46.8b and the Sprint Medley, 3:31.66b; CHAMINADE, Mineola, NY has a loaded 4x800 squad, 7:47.3, #2-US along with Maryland's BLAZIN' RAIDERS, with the latter sending a great Sprint Medley team, HOOVER, AL and if the projected times in the 4x1Mile hold up, this will be a superb event with four teams all predicting times within three seconds of one another. They are CHAMINADE, ARCHBISHOP SPALDING, ST PETERS and MOUNTAIN VIEW. The SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY sees another loaded field. Watch out for CLEVELAND HEIGHTS . They project a 3:25.60, close to Muir hs's 3:24.69 hsr. In the DISTANCE MEDLEY a Virginia squad, WESTERN ABLEMARLE projects a 10:20 and they have the guns to do it.       

THE FIELD EVENTS:

HIGH JUMP: ERIK KYNARD, Toledo, OH heads the US at 7'03.75 and has four of the nation's top five jumps, all 7'0 or better.   Virginia state champ CHRIS COPELAND, Suffolk, VA , third in 2007, 6-08.75, is over at 7-0 with two 6-10'ers, MITCHELL WHITE, Livonia, MI and TONY BROWN, Lawrenceville, VA heading the field .

POLE VAULT:   Last year's bronze medalist COREY SHANK, Fort Wayne, IN topped 17'   last spring,    Michigan's JOE WESLEY, Marine City comes in with a 16-10.25 effort, #2-US although SCOTT HOUSTON, Greensboro, NC is a mere 0.75 back.

LONG JUMP:   TILDEN MATTHEWS, Poinciana, FL has a 25-11w on his resume and will be tough.   MARQUISE GOODWIN, Rowlett, TX popped a 24-7 and leads the rest of a strong field with 18 jumpers at 23-0 or better. LINCOLN CARR, Fayetteville, NC, 23-11, ADRIEN HILL, Grey, TN, 23-10. Canadian BRIAN RICHARDS, Toronto and JAMES TAYLOR, Chesapeake, VA are both at 23-8 with three others, 23-7.

TRIPLE JUMP: #2-US, OMAR CRADDOCK, Killeen, TX, 50-10.5a heads a strong field. Should he falter, two Virginians, OLU OLAMIGOKE, Suffolk and JEFFREY ARTIS, Chesapeake could steal the title, 48-09 and 48-08.25.

SHOT PUT: Another very strong field in a meet loaded with them, #2-US BRANDON POUNDS, Indianapolis, IN AT 64-09.5 leads with #3-US, MIKE ALLEMAN, Scotch Plains, NJ, 63-08.5 and MIKE BARBAS, Houston, TX at 63-01, #5-US along with DAN KWIATOWSKI, Erie, PA , 63-01, #6-US .

WEIGHT THROW: PATRICK ONYE, Providence, RI at 74-08.5, #2-US, MITCHELL GORMLEY, Snellville, GA, 66-08.5, #3-US, MICHAEL GAMA, Jr., Wakefield, RI, 66-10.25 and JAMES SCHWENDTNER, Ballston Lake, NY, 66-0 will provide a great competition.

ONE MILE RACE WALK: Ignored far too often, a gold medal here equals one in the 100m's, NSSF-administered meets have ALWAYS contested the event.   This year's field is one of the finest ever with the nation's top four competitors headed to NIKE. Two Texas brothers, RICARDO and ROBERTO VERGARA should cop top honors just as they did a year ago. Ricardo at 6:29.92 with bro Roberto, 6:37.17. #3-US, is a ninth grader from Lafayette, CA, TYLER SORENSON, 7:00.12 with soph MATTHEW FORGUES, Boothbay, ME only a few tenths back, 7:00.68.

THE PENTATHLON: Virtually every entrant's marks are projections so they will not be posted. Right now the top entries are GRAY HORN, Wapatoneka, OH, GREG KELLY, Toms River, NJ, RUSSELL GREEN, Herndon, VA and RYAN DEGNAN, Seaford, NY. ( unconfirmed Ed. Note: I think Ryan Degnan is the son of Rich Degnan, a 1:53.4 880 runner, one of the nation's top five at the time.)

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