Boys Elite Events
The 60 Hurdles is absolutely loaded, and the favorite will be Damion Thomas (Northeast FL), who is the #2 returner in the country in the 110 Hurdles. Rainey Anderson (Westlake GA) is the #4 returner, though, and won't go down without a fight. The current North Carolina leader in the 55H, Cedric McGriff (Providence), will also be there to keep the race competitive, and the prelims will feature several other athletes from NC, SC, Fl, and GA. North Carolina's best chance at an Elite race win comes in the 60 Dash, where J Johnson (Panther Creek) is the top seed and Avin Lane (Cox Mill) could also claim the gold. Shaun Shivers (Chaminade-Madonna FL) looks like the primary out-of-state challenger there. The best opportunity for us to see a US #1 time will be watching the 400, where Elija Godwin (Newton GA) is the heavy favorite. We won't see the expected three-way showdown we wanted, as Tyrese Cooper and Chantz Sawyers both withdrew from the meet, but Godwin ran 45.83 last spring (US #2 returner) and he is capable of exceeding the current national-leading time of 47.64.
The Mile might be the most exciting race of the afternoon, with a deep field that should settle into two groups of similar ability, and could totally rewrite the national and NC rankings. Brentwood (TN) teammates Brodey Hasty and Taylor Vroon will lead the way up front, with the goal of breaking 4:10, while three of NC's best - Noah Graham (Brevard), Andrew Brooke (Broughton), and Cameron Ponder (Mount Tabor) - try to stay close enough to break 4:20. Three more Tennessee runners are also shooting for that mark, trying to make NBNI qualifying: Ben Varghese (Daniel Boone), Conner Hawkins (Cookeville), and Scott Thompson (Brentwood). That makes a total of 5 from the Volunteer State, including one of the early favorites for the NXN title next fall in Hasty. How many can go under 4:20? Even those that fall just short of that goal will move up in the rankings.
The 800 isn't nearly as deep, but it should be intense up front with Sam Ellis (Decatur GA) leading the way - he is the #7 returner in the nation at this distance. Fellow Georgian Ryne Bevan (North Paulding GA) will give chase, as will John Rivera (Lakewood Ranch FL) and North Carolina's Christian Pigues (Rolesville). It will be particularly interesting to see how Pigues is progressing after moving to a new school for his senior year; early evidence is mixed, as his 1000 time is quite a bit ahead of last year's, but his 800 isn't there yet. Maybe this will be the race where he breaks out of the 800 plateau he got stuck in for most of last year.