Ian West is one of multiple headliners in the pole vault, which in turn is one of the premier events of the season's first big high school invitational.
The third edition of the NCRunners Holiday Invitational kicks off at 10 AM Saturday morning, with a new format but the same high level of talent. The Elite sections have been moved to the David Oliver Invitational, which is scheduled at a time in the season where it should be easier to recruit the top talent from the surrounding states as well as our own. The level of competition will still be extremely high, as North Carolina's best are coming out to take on some each other and also some out-of-state competition. Despite the big names that are entered, though, this is the first major invitational of the indoor season, so you should take some things with a grain of salt - a lot of athletes are entered at their all-time PR's, and they are NOT in that kind of shape right now. One exception to this rule is listed below!
While all of the events have excellent talent, here are the boys' events that stand out as "must-watch" tomorrow:
Pole Vault
What's that, you say? It's not enough to get North Carolina's top three returning vaulters together on the same day? Fear not! In addition to Ian West (Fike) and the Apex duo of Drew Pederson and Michael Utecht, fans of flight time will get to see David Bell (Bishop Kenny, FL) as well! West cleared 16' 1" over the summer, putting him among the top 10 returners in the nation, while Pederson and Bell share identical 15' 6" PR's (Utecht is right behind at 15' 2.5"). There is also the possibility that 14-footers Marshall Shank (East Rowan) or Tristan Shaver (Ledford) will get into the mix, too.
Long Jump
Jamie Brown (Knightdale) appears to have made a huge leap forward in the long jump, from the 22-foot range last spring to 24' 0.5" in his first polar bear this winter. To make that legit (due to the possibility of wind aiding the jump), he needs to replicate it indoors - and battling the top two returners in the state in Jeremy Davis (Ben L. Smith) and Marcus Krah (Hillside) should help. Both of them jumped 23' 6" last spring, and should move into the top of the rankings after Saturday's meet. Roman Barnette (Gastonia Jaguars) is looking for his first 23-foot jump, having posted a 22' 7.25" mark in the past.
55 Hurdles
Elliott Graves (Reidsville) has the state's top indoor time at 7.62, closely followed by Brent Carroll (Phillip O. Berry) at 7.63. Caleb Walker (Independence) has run 7.75 indoors and 7.1 outdoors; if he gets closer to that hand time, he will be tough to beat. Speaking of outdoor times, the top returner in this event, Krah, will be making his indoor debut this weekend, but he has clocked 7.44 under FAT outdoors (very close to his best time from last winter, 7.43). That's just ahead of the 7.48 that Emmanuel Sanders (Sanderson) ran indoors in 2014. Behind those 5, there should be a wide-open competition for the remaining 3 spots in the final.
4x200 Relay
Don't buy into the seed times - there's a world of difference between running this race on an outdoor track and on a flat 200 meter oval indoors. That's exactly what should make this race very exciting - nobody knows which team will handle the tight curves and crowded handoffs the best. The current state leader indoors has only run 1:34, which doesn't even qualify for the 4A state meet, so it's very likely that the winner of this race will be the new state leader. There will be no shortage of candidates, either, with regular sprint powers like Forest Hills, Phillip O. Berry, and Z. B. Vance, among others.
1000 Meter Run
Philip Hall (South View) is running the 1000 this weekend against the current state leader, Vincent Crisp (North Mecklenburg). Hall's PR is 2:34, and he ran 1:05.4 for the 500 earlier this month; Crisp has a best time of 2:32.49, and he posted a 1:05.0 this week. What more could you want? Well, how about Elijah Inuwa (Central Academy of Technology) lurking in 13th place (and let's all hope that he makes the fastest heat!). If that's not enough for you, how about a great second pack that could include Nolan Patrick (Southwest Guilford), Chris "Mondragon" Perez (West Johnston), Christian Pigues (Trinity Academy), and Michael Staples (South View)?