High School Kids go INSANE!

Even after two GREAT HS Miles at Pre and Adidas, I knew the New Balance Nationals (Considered by most to be THE High School Championships, just like the NCAA is for Collegiates!) would "end" their season with some spectacular marks.
That may be the UNDERstatement of the Century!!

But this Record-breaking spree wasn't limited to the NBN.
This year's Brooks PR meet blasted into the HS mainstream in a HUGE way, making this past few days some of the WILDEST in HS history!!

Candace Hill's 10.98 HSR in the 100 led the way in Seattle.
This was soon followed by the great leap forward (Pun VERY intended!!  LOL) by Kate Hall in the Long Jump, her HSR of 22-5 breaking a 39 year old Record!
Here's the details.

At the Adidas Dream 100, Hill (Just a 16 year old Soph!  Born February 11, 1999.) faced a negative wind of 1.7, yet ran the fastest 100 of 2015, an 11.21.
In the Brooks meet, she would face Lauren Rain Williams, among several other 2015 greats.

They didn't stand a chance, folks!
She BLASTED from the blocks, strode strongly into an early lead, then disappeared!!
At the tape, she was 0.28 seconds ahead of 2nd place!
And THAT girl--Zaria Francis--ran 11.26, which moves her from 23rd A-T HS, tied with 2 others, to 18th, tied with 1 other.
The wind was the max allowable--2.0.

Besides the HSR, Hill also gets the Soph Class Record!
And the Age 16 Record.
(In my T&F Record Book, in my Individual Year Age Records section, I don't have an Age 16 Record.  I begin my lists with the designation "0-17", meaning that Record is the best by someone up to and including Age 17.  I do a similar thing with my Age 40 listing.  That's listed as "40 and over", so could be by someone Age 40 to Age Infinity!!)
Given what I just wrote, Hill's time is listed in my Book as the Age 0-17 Record holder!
She'll have until February 10, 2017 to break that Record!

She moves from 12th A-T HS, tied with 1 other, into 1st.
If she was in College, her mark would rate as 7th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
Finally, she just misses the A-T United States list--by 0.06 seconds!!

Moving across the country to Greensboro, North Carolina, Miss Kate Hall also EXPLODED into instant celebrity with her LJ of 22-5, which FINALLY surpassed the iconic Kathy McMillan's 1976 mark of 22-3.

This leap came on the final jump of the event, making for a thrilling finish.
In a battle with Frosh Class Record holder Courtney Corrin--who was having a pretty good series--heres what happened.

Hall fouled her 1st jump, but then used a 2.8 wind to jump 20-7.75 to take the lead.
After 2 jumps in the 19's, Corrin inched her way towards Hall, going from 20-2.75 in the 3rd round to 20-5.75 in the 4th, to 20-7 in the 5th.
Jumping immediately after Corrin, Hall then took the lead in that 5th round with a good 20-11.25 into a minus 0.2 wind.
But Corrin responded well, hitting what WOULD have been a PR, but for a wind of 2.1, with a 21-5.50.
So Hall, from the Great State of Maine, took off into space, hitting the sand 22-5 further out!

Besides the HSR, she also gets Carol Lewis's Senior Class Record, dating from 1981.
And the NBN Meet Record.
She moves from 17th A-T HS (Her 5th round jump!) into 1st!
If she was a Collegian, her mark would rank 7th A-T Collegiate, tied with 1 other.
(Exactly like with Hill's mark!)
And she misses the US A-T list by just 0.75 inches!!

Moved OFF my list were 3 A-T Greats!
JJK---aka Jackie Joyner-Kersee--is GONE, her mark dating from 1980.
Also gone is Wendy Brown--who was maybe better known as one of the first great TJ'ers--her mark being from 1984.
A much more modern icon is also outta here--Kendell Williams, the Heptathlete, her mark dating from 2013.

Is that IT??
Hardly.

Ryen Frazier, as did her sister Wesley in the 2013 NBN, tripled, winning the 5000, Two Mile, and One Mile on consecutive days.
Her 16:20.72 in the 5K makes her 14th A-T HS.
She followed that with a 10:07.16 Deuce, making her 12th A-T HS.
Finally, she won the Mile in 4:45+.
But Wesley's times in 2013 add up to about a 26 second "victory" over her kid sister!
They'll be teammates at NC State this fall!

Speaking of 2 Mile races (NOT 3200's!!), let's skip back west to see what happened in Shoreline (NEAR Seattle!!) WA.

Anna Rohrer, Destiny Collins, and Hannah DiBalsi battled it out for several laps, before it settled into a two-woman race, Rohrer with a slight edge over Collins.
Negative splitting it (5:06 and 4:53 for the winner), Rohrer sprinted ahead, JUST dipping into the 9's with her 9:59.96.
That makes her 4th A-T HS.
(Remember, I don't list 3200 times, or times converted FROM 3200's!!)
She also makes the A-T US list!!
She's now 20th on that list!

Collins finished in 10:00.90, her 2 Mile PR.
(See note above!)
She's now 5th A-T HS.
She's also 21st A-T US.
And she gets the Junior Class Record!

After that great 3200 race with Collins in the California State meet, Fiona O'Keefe ran 10:11.87 for the full 2 Miles here, rating her 19th A-T HS.

The Brooks Men's race produced a bit of a shock.
Grant Fisher, newly-minted sub-4:00 HS'er, faced Andrew Hunter, whose 8:16.31 3000 is the Soph Class Record.
And Fisher LOST!!
He was out-kicked!
Hunter's 8:42.51 is 7th A-T HS.

Fisher's 8:43.57 is 8th A-T HS!!

The NBN 400H races produced some good marks.
BOTH of them!

In the Men's race, Rai Benjamin---coming in with a 50.45 PR--broke 50, finishing in 49.97.
He moves from 18th to 8th on the A-T HS list.

Not far behind him came Taylor McLaughlin, whose 50.20 ranks him 15th A-T HS.

The latter fellow is the elder brother of Soph Sydney McLaughlin, who destroyed the Women's field with a time of 55.87.
Not quite a PR--She ran 55.63 last year in the World Junior meet, finishing 2nd to future NCAA Champion Shamier Little!!--her time nonetheless is the new NBN Meet Record.
It's also the Soph Class Record.
(The Junior Class Record is also the HSR, that being 55.20 by Leslie Maxie, dating from 1984.)

But the McLaughlin's didn't limit themselves to just the 400H.

Taylor anchored at least one Relay, somewhere in the 45's!

Sydney's anchor of 51.2 in the 4X400 Relay brought her Union Catholic team the NBN Meet Record of 3:35.90.
She also anchored a "Swedish Relay" (What's that??) in 51.28!!

Second in the Women's 400H was Brandee Johnson.
Her time of 57.63 rates her 18th A-T HS.

Third was Anna Cockrell, her time of 57.70 ranking her 21st A-T HS.

Another NBN Meet Record was set by the Women's 4X200 Relay team from Northwestern in Florida.
Their time was 1:34.87.

In 3rd in that Men's 400 at NBN was Tyrese Cooper.
This dude just happens to be a 14 year old 8th Grader  (or just finished his 8th Grade year!).
His time of 46.44 broke the Age 14 Record belonging to one Mr Kirani James!!
You read that right!!

The Women's 400 was won by Sharrika Barnett, whose time of 52.25 is now ranked 24th A-T HS, tied with 1 other.

A great 200 race took place in North Carolina.
Noah Lyles just edged Ryan Clark--perhaps 2015's hottest Male sprinter!--20.54 to 20.58.
Lyles's time wasn't a PR, but Clark's was.
He's now ranked 21st A-T HS, tied with 3 others.
The race was run INTO a 1.0 wind!!

Lyles also won the 100, PR'ing in 10.21
He's now 13th A-T HS, tied with 4 others.

(Noah's brother Josephus won the 400 in 45.99.)

The bi-coastal 800's produced some quality marks.

In Seattle (Sorry, Shoreline!!), Adidas Mile winner Christine Aragon PR'ed in 2:04.00, which rates her 18th A-T HS.

In Greensboro, John Lewis ran 1:48.33, rating him 15th A-T HS.
He beat favored Myles Marshall, who also ran sub-1:49, but didn't PR.

But the best HS 800 came from the Brooks affair.
Donavan Brazier, who had run a 1:48.07 this year, completely dominated the race,  improving to 1:47.55.
He moves from 8th to 4th on the A-T HS list!

Another HSR was broken at NBN.
Rush Henrietta HS broke the Women's Sprint Medley Relay Record, timing out in 3:47.65.
Soph Sammy Watson ran a great 800 anchor, time of 2:03.08!

Think all the good marks were on the Track?
Nope!
Here's the Field events that were popping!

Sophia Rivera won the NBN Shot Put with a throw of 53-1.
This makes her 10th A-T HS.

Willie Morris pushed (putted??!!) past the 70 foot barrier, hitting 70-2.50.
He's now 21st A-T HS.

Adam Kelly threw the Hammer 241-7, moving him from 13th to 9th on the A-T HS list!

And Nicole Green stayed consistent over 6 feet, winning the NBN High Jump with a 6-1.50.
She missed her 3 attempts at tying Amy Acuff's Meet Record of 6-2, dating from 1993.
(Keep in mind that Acuff, nearing 40 years of age, is vying for a spot on the WC team to Beijing.  Her 2015 best--so far!-- is 6-2!)
Anyway, Greene's winning mark ranks her 17th A-T HS, tied with 5 others.

Moving away from those two HS-only meets, I have 4 other marks to report.

Back to the HS category for a moment---but, as noted, NOT in either Shoreline (Sic!) or Greensboro--Jack Jibb ran a fast 3000SC, his time of 8:57.34 ranking him 5th A-T HS!
Though the name isn't widely known, Jibb's entrance ON my DDD caused a mark from 1967 to be axed FROM my list!
That's right, I said 1967!!

BTW, Jibb DID run at NBN, but in the 2000SC, which he won in 5:51+.
I don't keep lists or records for the 2K Steeple.

It turns out Arkansas's Men's 4X100 Relay time at NCAA's was a School Record!
Their 38.47 is a PR, but they remain 7th A-T School.

A BIG Discus Throw mark came out of Cuba!
Dania Caballero threw the plate 231-10!!
This is the Age 25 Record!
It makes her 21st A-T World--and not too far removed from Sandra Perkovic's PR of 233-2!.
But she just misses the National Record of Cuba--by 8 inches!!

Finally, Angelica Bengtsson PR'ed in the Pole Vault, her 15-1 breaking her own National Record of Sweden.

Oh yes, speaking of the PV, I might mention that Tori and Lexi Weeks both jumped 13-7.25 at NBN, but failed in their attempts at a Meet Record of 13-9.
Tori won, with fewer misses.

And Pauli Benavides beat Brandon Bray at NBN, but didn't get over 17-9, ending his run at 17-6.

What's next?
HUGE stuff!!

In just 4 days, the USATF meets, both Senior and Junior versions, begin in Eugene.
Beginning June 30th, in Lisle, Illinois, will be the World Youth Trials for the US.
The WYC is scheduled for Cali, Colombia, starting July 15th!

BIG questions are coming from these meets, maybe especially the US portions.
WHO will compete for spots on the WYC team?
And WHICH HSR's--if any!--will be broken in the process?

At USATF (Senior meet!), HS fans will be looking to see how the 2 HS Professionals fare.
Alexa Efraimson is in the 1500.
Kaylin Whitney will double in the 100 and 200.

This blog will have a Preview post for both the Senior and Junior USATF meets--sometime before the meets begin!!
They should be VERY interesting---with perhaps added "tension" being produced by the heavy presence of the NOP gang!
Only Mo Farah, who is British, won't be running there.
And rumors have it that embattled NOP Chief Alberto Salazar will also NOT be there.
At least not where the media can SEE him!!

See you soon!!
And please feel free to comment in the spaces below my posts---any time, on any subject!!