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Can Whitfield make winning happen at the Dempsey?
Boys 60 Meter Dash:
Breakdown:
The men's 60 meter dash promises to be an exciting and close race to watch with the field for this one as tight as it is. These athletes PR's are so close there is really no obvious front runner unlike many national level events of this caliber. Although Levonte Whitfield would be the stand out pick given his success in the 100 meter dash last season and his blazing 55 meter time already this season, there are a few guys that could easily give him a run for his money. Whitfield has already gone 6.32 in the 55 meter dash at The Jimmy Carnes Indoor Youth Meet a few weeks ago setting a new PR in that event. He is your defending champion at this meet running a 6.71 in the 60 meter dash last year. His main competition is Mr. Tatum Taylor from Seattle, WA, who has also run a 6.71 last year at Brook,s but lost to Whitfield by nearly a thousandth of a second. Like most of the other runners in the field Taylor has yet to hit the track, his last meet being the Washington State meet where he went 10.68 in the 100 meter dash and 22.06 in the 200 meter dash placing 1st and 3rd respectively. Keep in mind even though these two runners have the best 60 meter PR s by over a second, there are several other competitors that have flying 55 and 100 PR s that are right with these guys. As I stated earlier most have yet to run a single race since late last Spring.
Devon Allen is an ace over the hurdles.
Boys 60 Meter Hurdles:
Breakdown:
The men's 60 meter hurdle race should run much like the men's 60. There are two dominant athletes in this field with PR's that are 2 milliseconds faster than the rest of the field. You've got Devon Allen from AZ, who recently signed to Oregon this winter, and ran his personal best of 7.80 approximately one year ago at this meet. Then there is Marlon Humphrey, who is listed as a junior from MO, also having a PR of a 7.80 which he just ran a couple weeks ago at the Alabama Indoor State meet. They are without a doubt the top two favorites in the field. The closest behind these two the closest guys, time wise, is Davon Anderson, a junior from SC. Davon has already been on the track multiple times this indoor season, more than many of the guys at meet. He has been running a mixture of events indoor including; 55 Hurdles, 60 Hurdles, where he just set his PR a few weeks ago at KYA of 7.88. Also he has competed in the 60 meter dash and 500 meter dash both during this indoor season and is the SC state champ in the 200. On the hurdles side of things placed 3rd in 110 hurdles at state last year with a 14.68. Davon later that season went up to the New Balance Outdoor Nations and ran 21.75 there so you could say being a junior he is already adapting to National type meets. This race is a tough one to call but if it gets off clean, the chances are pretty high that the winner will have the top 60MH time in the country.
Ceolamer Ways is lightning fast but is Foster faster?
Boy's 400 Meter Dash:
Breakdown:
From what I have gathered about this event it looks to be the closest race at the meet. With most of the athletes PRs in the 400 within .6 seconds of each other this is by far the most unpredictable field at Brooks. At the top of the PR list you have Ceolamer Ways from FL who has gone 47.27 at his outdoor region meet late last spring. Ways has already run 6.47 in the 55 and 21.63 in the 200 at Jimmy Carnes Indoor a few weeks back. Ways recently signed to UNC but has not run an indoor 400 yet. Theodore Foster will be at Brooks hoping to blow away the field as he currently holds the fastest indoor 400 time in the country right now of 47.85. So far he is the only runner in the nation to go under 48 in an indoor 400. Other then Foster every runner in the Field has they re 400 PR outdoor instead of Indoor, so Foster definitley has a significant edge there. This race should still have plenty of fireworks in store for you and still hold the potential to be one of the closest races at this meet to watch.
Can Tretez leave 'em in the dust like he did here going sub-1:50 at the KY state meet?
Boys 800 Meter Run:
Breakdown:
With most of the competitors in this field in the 1:51 range, the men s 800 should be a heck of a race to see. Tretez Kinnaird, the leader going into this race (time wise), has already put up an indoor top national time of 1:51.83 which he ran at the Hoosier Hill Invite a couple weeks back. Tretez holds the KY state record for the 800 and won states last year by over 6 seconds. Last outdoor season he competed at the Music City Distance Festival in Nashville TN where he ran his PR of 1:49.31 which earned him the 3rd best U.S. 800 time as of last year. Kinnaird also competed at New Balance Outdoor Nationals later that season as well, however that race didn t go to well. Tretez also signed to Indiana University this winter and hopes to win this race with a bang. Accompanying him will be Andres Arroyo, the SR from Orlando, Florida who recently signed to the University of Florida along with Donnie Lee Jr, who will also be competing in this race. Andres set his 800 PR of 1:51.04 a while back at the Pepsi Florida Relays where he placed 1st by a very slight margin. In all of Andres s high school years of running he has not made one appearance indoor yet. This is in fact his first race indoor so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the tactics and of course the track. Andres does not just compete in the 800 although that is his specialty, he is also the 2012 Golden South Mile champion where he set his PR in the mile of 4:11.70. Unlike most of these 800 guys Andres competes in cross country as well, he went to Footlocker South in hopes of qualifying for Footlocker Nats but missed out on getting in by a few spots. Don t forget Donnie Lee Jr and Amos Bartelsmeyer are also coming off some pretty fast indoor times as Amos is ranked 6th in the Nation for the indoor mile which he set back at the Arkansas High School Invite beating the field by almost 4 seconds running 4:13.26. He doubled back at that same meet running 1:52.56 missing out on back to back victories by .02 seconds. Amos signed to George Town university where he will compete with there power house middle distance team. Donnie Lee Jr on the other hand recently won the Alabama Indoor State Championships with a 1:54.22 and ran 49.48 placing 2nd in the 400 to Marlon Humphrey, who will be competing in the 400 this weekend at Brooks. Lee comes into this race saying, he wouldn t be surprised to see Robby Andrews national record fall. He states that the win is a lot more important than the time in big national meets like this but he would like to go under 1:50. With these top 4 athletes and plenty more heavy hitters all in lined up on one of the biggest stages of high school running together, you have to wonder how fast this one really will be.
Burcham getting oh-so-close last year to Dickson.
Boys Mile:
Breakdown:
The Boy s Mile will be a pretty good showing with many of the competitors already running significantly fast indoor mile times at smaller type meets. We should see a good bit of personal best come out of this field. Jacob Burcham is your Brooks PR runner up to the meet record holder, Marcus Dickson last year. Burcham is indeed the favorite going into this one seeing as how last year he ran 4:07.20 losing to Dickson by .02 seconds. Later that same season, outdoor Jacob went on to place 2nd in the high school boys mile with a 4:09.49. He won the 800, 1600, and 3200 all at the WV states championships last year, winning each racing by large margins. Jacob holds the states records in all three events. Once post season came around he was invited to run the Dream mile at the Adidas Grand Prix where he went 4:02.73 placing 2nd and pulled almost a 5 second personal best. At the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, Jacob finally got his victory on a large scale national stage where he cruised in a 4:08.80 winning by a comfortable margin. Burcham has ran one indoor race so far this season going 1:56.40 at the UK High School Invite placing 5th. He recently signed to the University of Oklahoma just before the indoor season started. This Sunday will be his 2013 season mile debut and he is expected to pull out a pretty good opener to impress his new coaches. Other than Burcham the rest of the field is pretty tight, most in the 4:10-4:15 range. Brooks is obviously known for PR s and break out times so there is a very good chance of some big upsets going down.
Will the Deuce be Leingang-style at the Dempsey?!
Boys 2 Mile:
Breakdown:
Wow! This will be a race to watch as Brooks has chosen many of the 2012 Footlocker finalists to compete in this one. This race is so stacked it is hard enough just to pick out a top three. Bernie Montoya enters this one as the crowd favorite as he blew away the national fields of high school distance running last year. Montoya ran Arcadia Invite and posted a time of 8:48.25 which put him in second. Late that same season he went on to triple at the AZ state meet running 800, 1600, and 3200 winning each event. Montoya is mostly known for his incredible performance in the Dream Mile, at the Adidas Grand Prix where he turned a 4:01.32 passing 6 people in the last 300 meters. It is no question whether Montoya has the foot speed to stay in this one toward the end, the question is how will he react at the beginning? Yes, Montoya has the best 2 mile going into this one by about 7 seconds but he has never competed indoor and has only run under 9 once. Guys like Jake Leingang, Zack Perrin and Jacob Thomson are without a doubt going to capitalize on this. Leingang, the soon to be Oregon Duck, placed second exactly one year ago in this same race to Daniel Vertiz, the meet record holder with an 8:59.15. Coming off a 3rd place at Footlocker Nationals it is no question Leingang is hungry for a victory here. Find out who will take home the first in this insanely fast 2 mile Brooks has in store.