Mar 13, 2014

Trentavis Friday (Cherryville) has been working toward this weekend all season, as all three of these guys will race in New York.

NOTE: only the athletes and teams participating in the Championship events are previewed below. Emerging Elite events will be covered as the meet goes on, but are not listed here.

NC Boys Preview

Sprints/Hurdles:

No less than 5 NC boys are entered into the 60 this weekend, headlined by Trentavis Friday and Jahmaal Daniel. Friday (Cherryville) is currently US #2 in the 55 Dash and the national leader in the 60 Dash with his time of 6.70, while Daniel's 6.35 in the 55 is US #8 and he is US #6 at 6.81 in the 60. Quashawn Cunningham (Mallard Creek, US #10 in the 55), Daniel Estrada (Platinum Sports, US #11 in the 55) both have a fighter's chance of making the final, while Khairee Lewis (Sanderson) looks to continue his steep improvement over last year.
Friday also leads the 200 contingent from our state, entering the meet as the 7th-fastest in the country. Cunningham is US #24 in the 300, and he obviously has the speed to make an impact here. The wildly improved Wayne Patterson (Mount Tabor) and Jalen Buxton (Wakefield) are also in the field.
The 400 might be North Carolina's best boys' event, and we are sending two legitimate contenders to the Armory this weekend in Jamaree Murray (Southeast Raleigh) and Marquavious Johnson (Knightdale). Johnson is US #3 in the 500 with his 1:04.05, with Murray right behind at 1:04.36 and US #4. Both have the potential to go way under 48, which is what it will take to try to crack the top 6 and earn All-American status. Johnson's teammate Henry Kiedy, who sometimes gets overlooked, is also in the race, and deservedly so: he is US #20 in the 500.
Before the indoor season started, if you had to pick one North Carolina athlete to be in line to win a national championship, you most likely would have gone with Isaiah Moore (Cummings). Now, one day from the final meet of the winter, you still can. Moore is tied for US #1 in the 55H (7.28) and is currently US #8 in the 60H (7.96). He will have to run an all-time PR to win, and he did seem to falter a bit toward the end of the North Carolina indoor season, but I'm betting that was hard training causing some fatigue in his legs. Marcus Krah (Hillside) is US #8 in the 55H (7.43) and improved measurably over the course of the winter.

Distance:

Ian Milder's 4:12.75 for a full mile puts the Mount Tabor senior at 7th in the country going into this race, giving him a legitimate chance of centending for a title. Providence Day's Nick Linder is US #36 and improving rapidly, so this meet is just another opportunity for him to move up the rankings.
Using only their indoor times, it doesn't look like William Roberson (Broughton) and Patrick Sheehan (Lake Norman) belong in the Championship Two Mile, but that's a false impression. Roberson ran 9:09.82 back in the fall, and Sheehan clocked 9:16.70 in the same race. Considering their complete resumes, both of these guys will be competitive, and you can expect big times from them.
Sheehan is also in the 5000, for which distance he has run 15:02 this winter (and 14:54 for cross country)., and he should be a contender there. So should Ben Huffman (Providence Day), who has already run 4:18 for the full mile this winter. The Foot Locker Finalist has been running with great confidence all school year, and that bodes well for him this weekend.

Field Events:

Joe Devries (Apex, 15' 6" ) and Corey Ginley (East Henderson, 15' 1") will get the chance to compete against a number of 16-foot-plus vaulters this weekend, and that kind of experience can inspire major improvements. Clearing 15' 8" or higher would get either jumper into the top 3 in state history, though the top two spots may be out of reach right now.
Everything we said about Isaiah Moore in the hurdles applies to the long jump as well, where the Cummings senior is US #4. He is still searching for his first 24-foot jump of this season, and if he can find it this weekend, it could bring him a national title. Marcus Krah (Hillside) will compete in the triple jump, where his performance at the state meet moved him up to 23rd in the nation.
One disappointing thing about this weekend, at least for NCRunners, is that most of our top throwers (a real area of strength for the state) will be missing the meet. Two of them, Ryan Davis (Pine Forest) and Elijah Mallory (Wakefield), will certainly represent us well, but several more opted to stay home.

Relays:

Once again, Southeast Raleigh and Knightdale take their 4x400 rivalry to the national stage. The Knights are currently US #8, while the Bulldogs come in at 16. Wakefield will compete in the 4x200, while Sanderson tackles the Shuttle Hurdles.

NC Girls Preview

Sprints/Hurdles:

Charminique Hackney (Cary) finished the regular season ranked US #5 in the 55 Dash, putting her in good position to challenge for a spot in the finals. Factor in Ama-Selina Tchume (Wakefield), who is US #18 in the 55, and NC will be well-represented in the shortest sprint. Lauren White (Leesville Road/unattached) is also in the 60.
Parkland has loaded up in the 200, with 4 runners entered: Erin Morrison, Ebony Williams, Myshale Spigner, and Katlyn Sherman. Sherman started off the outdoor season by going under 12.10 in the 100, showing that she has the straight-line speed to contend here; she is also US #20 in the 300, an indicator of the stamina needed to finish hard. Williams enters the meet ranked US #17 in the 300, so she could also be a factor.
Layla White (Cary) is the headliner here, given her history with this meet (she ran in the 54's here last year). White, who is US #4 in the 500 right now, will be joined in the event by Tia Robinson (Wakefield), who is US #9, and Jaleesa Smoot (Salisbury).
Jacklyn Howell (Southeast Raleigh) grabbed most of the headlines in the hurdles this winter, running a US #2 7.95 in the 55H and US #10 8.58 in the 60H. Now that Anna Cockrell (Providence Day) has gotten back to full training (she missed the month of December with an injury), she is also a national contender - she sits at US #9 with her 8.04 in the 55H. Kylie McMillan (Southern Guilford) inserted herself into the conversation with her breakout 8.03 (US #7) at the state meet. Jasmine Moore (Wakefield) and Ebony Williams (Parkland) round out the entries for NC, reflecting the depth and strength our state has in the girls' hurdles.

Distance:

Blake Dodge (West Carteret) had the 13th-best returning 800 time in the 2013 outdoor season, and she ran faster this winter in the 1000 than she did last year. She hasn't really had the chance to cut loose for a single race against topo competition, which will definitely be the case this weekend. Casey Greenwalt (T.C. Roberson) started her meteoric rise last spring, and continued it with a US #22 mark of 2:56.27 in the 1000, as well as a US #28 2:14.59 for the 800 this winter. Lakeisha Warner (Cary) has a PR of 2:10 in the 800 and has excellent 400 speed; she is ranked 20th in the nation in the 500 this winter.
Malia Ellington (Community School of Davidson) was simultaneously a top-flight returner and the breakout star of the winter: we knew she would be good, but we didn't know she would be that good. Her 4:52.87 for the full mile one month ago ranks her 12th in the nation, and in the time since then she has competed successfully at the Junior North American Championships for triathlon, finishing 10th. Ellington is also in the Two Mile, where she will be accompanied by freshman Sara Platek of Ragsdale; Ellington has a US #16 mark of 10:38, while Platek is US #37.
Ryen Frazier (Ravenscroft), who holds a US #17 ranking in the 3200, is stepping up to the 5000 for this meet. She ran 17:36 at this meet last year, finishing 12th overall, and judging by her times in the late winter season she is back into fitness after a layoff from competition in the fall/early winter. Mary Grace Doggett (Cardinal Gibbons) and Kayla Montgomery (Mount Tabor) will join Frazier in the fastest section. Montgomery, the state's best during cross country season, has never run the 5K on the track, while Doggett ran it at both both indoor and outdoor nationals last year (hitting 17:45 in June). Lily Anderson (T. C. Roberson) will also be in the fast section; she ran 17:53 for the 5K outdoors and then bested that during cross country, which could indicate that she is ready to run even faster this weekend. Allie Castro (North Lincoln) rounds out the NC entries in this event.

Field Events:

Anna Eaton (Apex) is the state's best vaulter this year, and she takes her US #18 PR of 12' 6" to the Armory. Mikaela Siebert (Cuthbertson) is currently US #20 in the triple jump, despite battling through an injury during the winter; if she's healthy, she will have a good shot to break the 39-foot mark for the first time.
North Carolina has a strong contingent of throwers traveling to New York, led by super Soph Alycia Springs (Mallard Creek). Springs enters the meet with a US #20 mark of 44' 3.25 in the shot put, where she will be joined by Bryanna Hames (Myers Park), Hasana Clark (Southeast Raleigh), and Alexis Dickerson (Western Alamance). In the weight throw, all-time state record holder Mohogany Baker (Phillip O. Berry/Higher Power Track Club) will face a tough field. Though she is US #6 in the event, you can expect all of the nation's best to show up, as they don't get as many opportunities for high-level competition as other events do.

Relays:

Wakefield and Parkland will square off in two sprint relays, as the Wolverines try to maintain their dominance of the past four years against the rising Mustangs. In the 4x200, Parkland has a US #4 1:40.42 (they ran 1:38 outdoors this past Saturday) to Wakefield's US #8 1:41.53. The roles reverse in the 4x400, where Wakefield holds the US #6 time of 3:53.02 against Parkland's US #8 3:53.93.
While the Cary girls could have been right in the mix for the 4x400, they have opted to put their energy into the 4x800 instead, where they expect to challenge this year's breakout team, Leesville Road. The Pride sits at US #32 right now, but Cary has two powerhouse legs to try to close the gap and make a splash this weekend.
Green Hope has put their girls into the 4x1 Mile and the DMR, indicating a focus on the longest distance relays.