Now it's the High Schoolers time in the spotlight!
And this year, as in recent years, the light shone brightest on the Women!
(If you think I just favor the girls, study the stats! They're all the proof you need!)
We'll begin with the Men, using the same format as I used in my Collegiate Wrap-Up.
(See previous post!)
There were NO High School Records broken during the 2015 OUTdoor season for the Men!
And 5 Class Records....sort of! (Read on!)
Noah Lyles got TWO of those Class records!
His 10.14 and 20.18 are the new Junior Class standards in the 100 and 200.
C Johnson ran the Mile in 4:12.21 as a Frosh!
And Mondo Duplantis raised the (PV) bar---literally!---MANY times, landing (pun intended!) finally at 17-4.50 for another Frosh Class standard!
The fifth?
Well, it's not exactly a Class Record!
You see, Ty Cooper's 200 of 20.94 is the fastest by an EIGHTH Grader!
And FASTER than the actual 9th Grade (Frosh Class) record!
Remember the story of Brianna Jackucewicz?
She ran 16:43.02 INdoors for 5000 in 2004---as a SEVENTH Grader!
But her time was faster than the Frosh Class (and then, even the HSR!!), so she was listed as both the Frosh Class (and HS) Record holder!
Same with Cooper. His time is faster than the actual Frosh Class record, so despite being "only" an 8th Grader, he gets the "Frosh Class" record!
(With an asterisk! LOL)
Onward!
The NBN meet, now considered the HS Championship meet, both INdoors and OUTdoors, saw ZERO Meet Records broken this year on the Men's side!
As for my DDD lists, here's the Men whose marks were made in 2015, event by event!
100 N Lyles (10.14, 5th), Ryan Clark (10.18, 8th, tied with 1 other)
200 N Lyles (20.18, 3rd), Michael Norman (20.24, 5th, tied with 1 other), Clark (20.46, 12th, tied with 1 other)
400 Norman (45.19, 6th, tied with 1 other), Josephus Lyles (45.46, 16th)
800 Donovan Brazier (1:47.55, 4th), Carlton Orange (1:47.67, 5th), John Lewis (1:48.33, 16th)
1500 Matthew Maton (3:42.54, 3rd), Grant Fisher (3:42.89, 5th)
1 Mile Maton & Fisher (3:59.38, 3rd, tied with each other), Andrew Hunter (4:02.36, 18th)
3000 Fisher (8:12.92, 22nd), Hunter (8:12.94, 23rd)
2 Mile Hunter (8:42.51, 7th), Fisher (8:43.57, 8th)
3000SC Jack Jibb (8:57.34, 5th), Aidan Tooker (9:06.57, 13th)
110H Kendall Sheffield (13.42, 18th, tied with 1 other)
400H Rai Benjamin (49.97, 8th), Norman Grimes (50.10, 13th), Taylor McLaughlin (50.20, 16th)
LJ Holloway (25-8.75, 23rd, tied with 1 other)
PV Pauli Benavides & Sean Collins (17-10.50, 10th, tied with 2 others, including each other), Deakin Volz (17-8, 17th, tied with 1 other)
SP Matt Katnik (72-3, 10th), Willie Morrison (70-2.50, 21st)
DT Carlos Davis (214-4, 12th)
JT Jeffery Ast (226-2, 15th)
HT Bobby Colantonio (243-7, 7th), Adam Kelly (243-1, 8th), Mosley (232-3, 17th), Jacob Beene (231-11, 18th, tied with 2 others), Owen Russell (230-5, 22nd)
Dec Corey Reid (7191, 6th), Olway (7009, 17th), Luke Littlefield (6906W, 22nd)
MIA's among the events with NO 2015 listings are the 5000, 10000, HJ, and the TJ.
Apologies for not having the full names of a few of the above athletes.
My fault--due to laziness and my method of keeping records in my T&F Record Book!!
If I find the missing names, I'll revise this post later!
The most active events on my DDD lists for 2015 were---
HT (5)
With 3 each were the 200, 800, 1 Mile, 400H, PV, and Decathlon.
Having 2 athletes listed are the 100, 400, 1500, 3000, 2 Mile, 3000SC, and the SP.
With 1 apiece are the 110H, LJ, DT, and JT.
As noted above, shut out were the 5000, 10000, HJ, and TJ.
I gave BOTH of Noah Lyles's leading marks, his 10.14 and 20.18, the Co-Performances of the Year!!
But not too far behind were the One Mile's of Matt Maton and Grant Fisher, with Fisher's 3:59.38 being given a slight edge, due to his being about 2 years younger than Maton!
Also getting points was Michael Norman for his 45.19 in the 400, and the highest of Mondo Duplantis's several Frosh Class records in the PV, that being his 17-4.50!
The 2015 Men's HS Athlete of the Year is NOAH LYLES!!
This guy is amazing!
And it would NOT shock me in the least if he goes Pro before graduating HS!!
Honorable Mentions go fairly equally to Grant Fisher, Matthew Maton, Michael Norman, Matt Katnik, and Mondo Duplantis.
Now it's on to the Women, who, as I noted at the beginning, were somewhat more productive than the Men!
The Women's Renaissance continues!!
There were an incredible SIX High School Records broken in the 2015 OUTdoor season for the Women!
Candace Hill ran 10.98 in the 100.
Vashti Cunningham HJ'ed 6-5.
Kate Hall Long Jumped 22-5.
Lexi Weeks PV'ed 14-7.50.
Madison Wiltrout threw the Javelin 185-8.
And the Rush Henrietta (NY) SMR team ran 3:47.65 for the 6th HSR!
(BTW, I will do the HS PRO division at the end of this post! Stay tuned!)
There were at least (!!) 8 Class Records set in 2015!
And maybe NINE!
(More about that in a minute!)
Hill got the Soph Class records in the 100 and 200, running 10.98 and 22.43.
Christine Aragon's 1 Mile of 4:37.91 is the Junior Class record!
Sydney McLaughlin's 55.28 over 400H is the Soph Class mark.
Cunningham's 6-5 HJ is the Junior Class record!
Hall's 22-5 gets her the Senior Class LJ record.
Wiltrout's JT of 185-8 is the Soph Class record.
Destiny Collins gets the Junior Class 2 Mile mark with her 10:00.93.
As for the "ninth" Class Record?
That MIGHT go to Alexis Duncan for her 12.95 in the 100H.
However, I'm STILL not certain if the hurdle height was the same for her as it was for Dior Hall's 12.92 or Candy Young's 12.95.
Meaning whether Duncan ran over the INTERNATIONAL height used by Professionals!!
There seems to be contradictory evidence as to whether the mark is "legit" for HS record and list purposes!
(There are separate lists for lower hurdle heights!!)
When I find out the FACTS---and that may not be until Jack Shepard's HS Track Annual comes out for 2016 (in December)--I'll let you know what's what!
Meanwhile, I'm including her mark---but with an asterisk!
Her 12.95 would TIE Young's Junior Class record!
The NBN in 2015 saw 5 new Meet Records.
McLaughlin ran the 400H in 55.87 there.
Hall got her 22-5 LJ there.
And 3 Relays saw new MR's
Rush Henrietta's SMR (See above!), Union Catholic's 4X400 of 3:35.90, and Northwestern (FL) ran 1:34.87 in the 4X200 Relay!
My DDD's saw these athletes with 2015 marks---
100 Hill (10.98, HSR, 1st), Khalifa St. Fort (11.19, 12th, tied with 1 other), Teahna Daniels (11.24, 17th, tied with 1 other), Zaria Francis (11.26, 19th, tied with 1 other)
200 Hill (22.43, 2nd), Lauren Rain Williams (22.90, 11th, tied with 1 other)
400 Lynna Irby (51.79, 11th)
800 Samantha Watson (2:02.54, 8th), Sarah Walker (2:03.70, 15th, tied with 1 other), Christine Aragon (2:04.00, 20th), Hannah Long (2:04.23, 22nd)
1500 Aragon (4:16.36, 5th), Kate Murphy (4:16.98, 10th), Ella Donaghu (4:20.83, 24th)
1 Mile Aragon (4:37.91, 5th), Ryen Frazier (4:38.59, 6th), Danielle Jones (4:39.82, 13th), Amanda Gehrich (4:40.25, 17th), Katie Rainsberger (4:40.92, 20th), Jordyn Colter (4:41.10, 21st), Lauren Gregory (4:41.11, 22nd), Julia Heymach (4:41.31, 24th)
3000 Collins (9:20.7, 17th), Fiona O'Keefe (9:21.3, 19th)
2 Mile Anna Rohrer (9:59.96, 4th), Collins (10:00.90, 5th), R Frazier (10:07.16, 12th), O'Keefe (10:11.87, 20th)
5000 R Frazier (16:20.72, 14th), Audrey Belf (16:29.68, 18th)
3000SC A Harris (10:31.79, 6th), Coonfield (10:52.92, 12th)
(NOTE: There are just 12 athletes on my 3000SC list!!)
100H (See what I said about Duncan's 12.95 above!) Jasmyne Graham (13.17, 6th), Mecca McGlaston (13.18, 7th), Anna Cockrell (13.21, 9th, tied with 1 other), Brittley Humphrey (13.22, 12th)
400H McLaughlin (55.28, 2nd), Cockrell (56.67, 5th), Reonna Collier (57.27, 14th), B Johnson (57.47, 17th)
HJ Cunningham (6-5, HSR, 1st), Nicole Greene (6-1.50, 18th, tied with 5 others)
LJ Hall (22-5, HSR, 1st), Tara Davis (21-0.50, 13th)
TJ Bria Matthews (43-5.50, 6th)
PV Lexi Weeks (14-7.50, HSR, 1st), Tori Weeks (14-1, 5th), Meagan Gray (13-9, 12th, tied with 3 others), Andrianna Jacobs (13-7.25, 20th), Marty (13-7, 21st, tied with 3 others)
SP Sophia Rivera (53-5.75, 8th) Elena Bruckner (53-5.50, 9th)
DT Bruckner (182-8, 10th)
JT Wiltrout (185-8, HSR, 1st), Rivera (175-10, 6th), Katie Gochenour (167-2, 13th, tied with 2 others), Tairyn Montgomery (164-4, 19th), Peyton Montgomery & Keiryn Swenson (162-5, 22nd, tied with each other)
HT Haley Showalter (194-1, 7th), Emelda Malm-Annan (181-0, 24th)
Hept Kaylee Hinton (5245, 18th)
The only event with NO 2015 marks was the 10000.
The events, and the number of 2015 marks in each---
1 Mile (8)
JT (6)
100H (5) NOTE: As noted above, this number MIGHT be "only" 4.
With 4 each were the 100, 800, 2 Mile, 400H, and the PV.
1500 (3)
With 2 each were the 200, 3000, 5000, HJ, LJ, SP, and HT.
With 1 each were the 400, TJ, DT, and the Heptathlon.
And, as already noted, the 10000 was once again shut out!
For the record, the Men totaled 41, while the Women had either 60 or 61. (That Duncan mark!!)
Picking the Top Performance of the Year was VERY tough, as happens when so many HSR's are broken in one year!
But I finally went with Candace Hill's 10.98.
It not only was a HSR, but it SHATTERED the previous best, Kayla Whitney's 11.10, set just one year earlier!
VERY close behind came Wiltrout's JT of 185-8, as she ALSO shattered the previous HSR!
Then followed Cunningham's 6-5 HJ, McLaughlin's 55.28, Lexi Weeks's 14-7.50 PV, and Hill's 22.43 in the 200.
Why did I put McLaughlin's NON-HSR ahead of Weeks's HSR?
Simple.
She came THIS close to the HSR in her SOPH year, while Weeks's record was as a Senior, and, let's face it, raising the record by a quarter-inch isn't as newsworthy in a year already dubbed the "Year of the Vault"!
My 2015 Women's Athlete of the Year is CANDACE HILL!!
With her 10.98 AND her 22.43, it was an easy choice!
But STRONG Honorable Mentions go to Cunningham, Weeks, Wiltrout, and Hall.
Now, as promised, here's my AOY's (and such!) for the High School PRO's!!
Being there were 3 of them, and they were in 3 VERY distinctive event categories, it came down to deciding off of multiple criteria, not just records and marks!
We had Alana Hadley NOT having her greatest year in the Half and Full Marathon!
In fact, I'm not sure she even HAD any marks to consider, due to illness and injury at the WRONG times!
One thing about Hadley's year.
Her HS career--whether as an amateur or Pro, ENDED on August 31st!
So even though she's entered as an ELITE in the NYC Marathon, that race comes while she's a student at North Carolina State!! (Though, like Mary Cain was at Portland this year, as a student ONLY!)
Alexa Efraimson had a GREAT year in two events, the 800 and 1500.
She PR'ed in both, running the fastest-ever HS time in the 1500, whether Pro or amateur, 4:03:39.
In the 800, 2015 saw her getting (I think!) THREE new PR's, 2:03.23, 2:01.13, and 2:01.11.
Her 1500 time came in the Pre Classic, but she failed to make the final at USATF in a slow heat!
Her 800's were all wins, but in relatively minor meets, with the best US runners mostly absent!
Kaylin Whitney's PR came in the 200, where she ran 22.47, to nip her 2014 best by 0.02.
The fact that Candace Hill, an amateur HS'er, one year YOUNGER than Whitney, actually ran 0.04 FASTER (22.43)--in her WEAKER event, took SOME of the luster off Whitney's achievement!
But she also ran an 11.01 100, albeit aided by a GALE-force wind of 5.4!!
(Worth, people say, about 11.27 in REAL time!)
However, her individual record was backed up by some GREAT relay legs!
Three times---at the Texas Relays on a 43.41 team, at the Pan Am Games in TeamUSA's 42.58 Gold medal winner, and in Monaco's DL, where she anchored yet another USA team to a fast time of 41.96!
Despite the fact Whitney did NOT get to run the 4X100 in Beijing--even though she was there, ready to rip it!!--I have to go with KAYLIN WHITNEY as my HS PRO Athlete of the Year over Efraimson!
Her Relay anchors---on GREAT teams (Allyson Felix & Jenna Prandini were on some of them, just to name two!) gave her the edge needed for the prize!
If Efraimson had made the Beijing team, AND if she just got into the final (like Mary Cain did in 2013!), things MIGHT have been different!
Almost forgot!
The HS PRO division Performance of the Year goes to Efraimson's 4:03.39.
Beating Cain's mark, and it coming in a FAST Pre Classic race, was the winning edge!
I considered Whitney's Relay anchors, but I have to give it to an INDIVIDUAL effort, not as part of a team!
Well, folks, that's a wrap on my Collegiate and HS Year-End Reviews (& AOY picks!).
But my next post SHOULD be soon!
There's been some BIG Cross Country action this weekend, and tomorrow is the Berlin Marathon!
Where Eliud Kipchoge is said to want the first half paced at 1:01:30----WR pace!!
And the Women are said to want sub-2:20:00 pace!!
See you soon!
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