David Oliver Classic Elite Events Preview

Two-time Foot Locker Finalist (Davidson) vs. two-time NXN Finalist (Henes), for the second time in two weeks, with three more potential sub-5 girls?  Yes, please.

Like the Camel City Elite, the David Oliver Classic has a meet-within-a-meet concept: as the regular schedule of high school events winds down on Saturday afternoon, there will be 5 Elite events.  Athletes could only be entered by invitation, and we recruited top talent from 8 states while filling the fields.  Each year, the range of the meet gets bigger and the quality of these Elite races get better, as you can see below!  What a great way to cap off the indoor regular season for North Carolina and head into the postseason with enthusiasm.

60 Hurdles

What could be better than a match-up of the top 2 hurdlers in the nation?  Anna Cockrell (Providence Day NC) took back US #1 last weekend with an 8.24 in the Camel City Elite Invitational. surpassing the 8.28 that Tonea Marshall (Arlington Seguin TX) ran on January 16th.  The wild card is Breanne Bygrave (Wakefield NC), who clocked 7.86 in the 55H at Virginia Tech to put herself in striking range of the top two (Cockrell also leads that event nationally with a 7.70).

For the boys it's not #1 vs #2, but it's close - Braxton Canady (Paxon School FL) and Marcus Krah (Hillside NC) squared off in the 55H last weekend at UNC, producing US #2 and #3 times, respectively.  Canady is also US #2 in the 60H with his 7.80 from early January.  Two other hurdlers could get into the hunt for the top 2: Brent Carroll (Berry Academy) holds the 7th spot in the national 60H rankings, while Elliott Graves (Reidsville NC) is currently US #7 in the 55H.

60 Dash

This could be the most interesting event of the afternoon, for two reasons: there is no clear favorite in either race, and the finals will likely include at least 4 out-of-state athletes.  Charminiqu Hackney (Southeast Raleigh) leads the NC competitors with a season-best time of 7.08 US #12, followed closely by Cambrea Sturgis (A.L. Brown).  Hackney broke 7 seconds last year, and Tamara Clark (High Point Central) has an all-time PR of 7.06, so that already makes for a tight front group.  Throw in Daloria Boone (Baldwin GA), who ran 11.67 in the 100 last spring, and you have a serious challenge for the FAT operator!  The competition to make the girls' final will be intense among the deep group of NC sprinters.

Daniel Estrada (Northwest Guilford) set a US #5 mark of 6.29 in the 55 back in December, and if you saw that race you know that he didn't put it all together then.  If that happens Saturday, he could threaten for the national lead!  Cravont Charleston (Mallard Creek) is right behind at US #6 after a big time last weekend, and Jawan Miller (Hopewell) is also in the top 10.  Estrada and Miller are US #3 and #4 in the 60 Dash right now, too.  The top out-of-state contender appears to be Jeffrey Uzzell (Eagles Landing Christian GA), who has a 100 PR of 10.50.

400 Dash

McKinley McNeill is the best ever from North Carolina - at least, that's true in the 500.  The Parkland senior set the all-time state record or 1:13.02 last weekend, putting her at US #2 this season.  If she can go under 54 in this race, she has an excellent chance to add another record and extend her claim to "best ever."  Her all-time PR is 53.40, so it's within the realm of possibility, and it could set the stage for a run at becoming only the 2nd NC girl ever to go under 51 outdoors (and the first since 1997)  It will help if she can have a great push from Karimah Davis (Palm Beach Central FL), who has run under 55 in the past.  Then again, it could be home-state rival Kleo Torres (Southeast Raleigh) that provides the most competition after clocking a US #5 1:14.59 last weekend.  South Carolina's Arlicia Bush has a PR of 54.06, although she typically doesn't get it really rolling until the weather warms up.  This race is loaded with 55- and 56-second North Carolina girls, and that should make both heats intensely competitive.

The out-of-state athlete with the best chance to drive home with gold is Brandon Cachon (Barron Collier FL), who is the only athlete in the boys' race to have broken 47.  Chantz Sawyers (High Point Christian NC) may not have a sub-48 time on his resume, but you can't count him out after the winter season he has had.  Sawyers is currently US #1 in the 500 with his 1:04.25 (from a flat 200, no less), and he is showing all the signs of a guy who can run low 47's or faster this spring.  Finally, don't be surprised if Olin Ravenel (Fort Dorchester SC) also gets into the mix. (Note: Ky-Mani Dula was originally entered but had to withdraw.)

800 Run

Taken top to bottom, the girls' 800 might be the best of the Elite races.  It starts with superstar Daesha Rogers (North Miami FL), who has an all-time PR of 2:07.65 (although that was set back in 2012, and she did not break 2:10 last spring).  Laurie Barton (Daniel SC) should be right on her heels, as she has run 2:08.93 - and both have 55-second 400 speed to rely on. G'Jasmyne Butler (Leesville Road NC) has an excellent chance this spring to become one of a select few NC runners to have broken 2:10 (currently there are only 3), and winning this race would be an excellent confidence-booster.  Those three are followed by 6 more girls that have all run very comparable times, ranging from 2:13 to 2:17, which should keep the pack close and the action interesting!

The boys race lacks the top-heavy firepower that the girls have, but it could be even more competitive because the top seeds are so close to each other.  Jayquan WIlliams (Green Hope NC) has the best 800 PR and current 1000 time in the field, at 1:54.84 and US #12 2:31.75.  Behind him are no less than 4 guys with 1:55 credentials: Sean Doyle (Polk County), Danny Shaughnessy (Hilton Head SC), Christian Pigues (Trinity Academy NC), and Ryan Buscaglia (Maggie Walker VA).  This won will come down to which of those 5 guys is in the best form, which can be a dicey proposition this early in a track season.

Mile Run

Foot Locker Finalist Libby Davidson (E.C. Glass) missed out on this event last year due to a rescheduled postseason meet, but the weather held this time and she (and her teammates) made the trip to Winston!  She brings a 4:53 PR for the full mile, although she is still searching for her 1st sub-5 of the current season.  That puts her right on par with Blair Ramsey (Grimsley), Emma Call (Maggie Walker VA), and Hannah Brookover (Calvary Christian FL).  In addition to Ramsey and Davidson, the only other girl in the field that has broken 5 is Elly Henes (Green Hope), who has recently put up huge 1000 and 3200 times but needs to post a state-qualifying 1600. Henes and Davidson had an EPIC 3200 last weekend, and now it's back on for the mile! 

Everyone is beatable under the right conditions, but in this race it's going to be awfully hard to finish in front of Frank Pittman (Marist GA).  He ran 4:13.20 US #11 last weekend in Alabama, which has him 5 seconds ahead of the next contender when considering current season bests.  The only runner in the field with a PR close to that is Kenny Kneisel (Mount Tabor), who ran 4:15.96 last spring; he posted a 4:19 on Monday running with a pack of teammates for much of the race.  Henry Pehr (Green Hope) is the current state leader in the 1600 at 4:18.60, run on a banked track last weekend.  Watch out for Connor Peeples (Cardinal Gibbons) and Mitchell Resor (Weddington): both posted huge 1000 times at Virginia Tech, but neither has run an indoor 1600 this season.  Resor's teammate Matthew Conner is also capable of getting into the top 3 here with a big race.  Therefore, despite the potential for Pittman to break away, the race for second should be intense!