Noah Lyles of T.C. Williams, Va. enters the USATF Junior Nationals prepping for a rematch with Ryan Clark of Banneker, Ga. after the junior won both the 100m and 200m at New Balance Nationals Outdoor.
Boys 100m
There is a showdown waiting to happen this weekend between the two top guys in the country Ryan Clark and Noah Lyles. Its a match up we would have saw last weekend at New Balance Nationals Outdoor but Clark had a false start leaving Lyles the opened door to take the win! Currently Clark and Lyles are ranked first and second in the country with times of 10.18, and 10.21.
Boys 200m
This race is going to feature the three fastest high school 200m runners in the country, Michael Norman (20.30), Noah Lyles (20.48), and Ryan Clark (20.58). We saw the match up between Lyles and Clark last weekend at New Balance Nationals and Lyles came out with the win, but throw Norman in there and its a whole new race! Norman is also coming off some monster weeks of racing after setting both U.S. #1's in the 200m and 400m at the California State Meet, winning the Dream 100m, and cruising to victory in the 400m at the Brooks PR Invitational. Another guy to watch is Quintaveon Poole who's ran a 21.32 in the 200m.
Boys 400
Quintaveon Poole is the fastest high schooler in the field having run U.S. #5 46.15 just over three weeks ago at the Georgia Association Area C meet. He also ran the Brooks PR Invitational 400m just this past weekend finishing 4th running a 46.95. A guy who's run just off Poole's number five time William Allen from Kentucky. The junior ran a U.S.#10, 46.38 just this past weekend at New Balance Nationals Outdoor finishing second behind Josephus Lyles. Ian Mack will be another guy in the mix having run 47.03.
Boys 110m Hurdles
The 110m Hurdles is one of the most stacked events in the entire Jr. division. One of the headliners in the field is Chad Zallow, recent New Balance Nationals (NBN) Outdoor champion in this event. He ran the fastest all-conditions time this season with his 13.18 (+3.8 m/s wind). Zallow has the US #2 wind-legal mark with a 13.50 posted at the Arcadia Invite.
Other high school studs to look out for include Alex Billing. Despite having the US #6 time of 13.68 from his California State Championships win, Billing is coming off of a tough 5th place performance at Brooks PR. He’ll be looking to rebound from that this weekend, but will have to deal with Amere Lattin (2nd at Brooks PR) and Justin Collins (3rd at Brooks PR)
Although he is more of a 300m Hurdler (US #1 36.10), the Texan Norman Grimes can not be overlooked. He has run a US #9 13.71 at the Great Southwest in the beginning of June.
Lastly, except for Zallow perhaps, nobody will be more interesting to watch race than Grant Holloway. The Virginian who will be entering his senior year in the fall, won the 60m Hurdles at NBN Indoor Championships this year upsetting Chad Zallow by the slimmest of margins. They were both clocked in 7.59, which put Holloway as #2 all-time and the new junior national record holder. Since then, we haven’t seen much from the national champ in the 110m Hurdles. Most recently, Holloway false started at NBN Outdoor. He is sure to be excited for some redemption this weekend.
As loaded as this field is with high school standouts, look out for rising college sophomore Isaiah Moore who won the 110m Hurdles at 2014 NBN Outdoor, ’14 Brooks PR, and placed third here last year to finish out his high school career.
Boys 400m Hurdles
The star high school runner in the 400m Hurdles is US #3 (50.80) Norman Grimes. He also holds US #1 in the 300m Hurdles, 36.10. Justin Collins is the next fastest high school hurdler behind Grimes. Collins, the California State Champ has a 300m Hurdles personal record of US #7 36.67. Outside of those two, Oregon State Champ Julian Body (300mH best of 37.44) and fellow California hurdler Ibrahima Mobley (300mH best of 37.54) are the next best high schoolers in the field.
Sprints/Hurdles - Distance - Field
*Editor's Note: Seed times listed below are from the official USATF start list and are not representative of personal records or season-best times.