New Balance Texas Athlete Entries And Heat Sheets

The New Balance Nationals Indoor track meet is this weekend. Annually, the top talent in the nation who have qualified take the trip to New York City, NY to compete against the rest of the nation's best.

This is say all be all of the indoor season and the last indoor high school meet for the 2018 season. Soon all eyes and attention will be on the outdoor season all across the nation.

In Texas, we have already moved on. However, there are some athletes who will be looking for that last ditch indoor effort and a chance to be a national champion.

Texans will compete in everything from the field events to the sprints and distances. The key for Texas athelets is always the transition. By now, Texas is always in either week three or four of the outdoor season. The athletes have gone from the indoor distances and no effect from the elements to the outdoor season with longer distances in the sprints and less laps and curves that aren't as tight as the indoor tracks. They will have to transition back to the indoor composites and make the necessary adjustments to perform at a national level.

On the girls side, Kelly Rowe and Alexis Brown will both compete in the sprints and both ladies have a good shot to make it to the finals. That will be the first step at having an opportunity at a national championship or placing to become an All-American.

Brown is the #1 ranked Texan in the 60m and Rowe is #2. With their last indoor meet coming at least a month ago, both ladies still rank #8 &17 nationally indoors heading into the meet.

In the Pole Vault, Olivia Buntin and Nastassja Campbell both had indoor bests of 12-2, which doesn't really tickle the fancy on the national level. However, in the last few weeks in the outdoor season, Campbell has vaulted 13-6 and Buntin 12-6 for the top two Texas spots. Those marks also give the girls good chances for All-American status and a possible national championship.

In the jumps, it is going to be on! Some of Texas' top jumpers will be in action. Brown, Koi Johnson, Jasmine Moore will all compete in the Long jump and Symone Washington will join them in the triple jump. All three of the ladies are state meet competitors and have all competed on the national level. 

Moore who set the national Junior Class indoor triple jump record earlier in the season has the best triple jump mark in the nation and the eighth best long jump mark of the indoor season.

On the boys side, he big push for All-American will come from the sprints, distance and field events.

Jais Smith,  Gregory Sholars and Keishawn Everly. All three guys are 6.91 and under 60m sprinters. Like the girls, they will have to make the transition back to indoors after competing outdoors for several weeks. The 60m is less forgiving for lack of execution than the outdoor 100m and 200m.

In the 800m, the man - the myth - the legend himself,  Jake Merrell will give it a go. Merrell, who hasn't even really trained specifically for track yet will be giving it a go with athletes who have been going hard in on running.

That didn't stop Merrell last month. He has one race under his belt with a 1:55.14 at the Air Force High School Indoor Open on February 2nd. He has been spending his time on the basketball court, but it won't take much for him to drop that time if he is in a race with competitors that want to take the race out.

In the mile, Sean Prendeville will give it a shot. He has an indoor best of 4:16.19 at the Vanderbilt HS Indoor Invitational.

When E.F. Hutton talks, you listen. Well, when Alex Maier runs, you pay attention. Even though, he isn't even on record to have ever run an indoor race. The kid can run cross country, outdoor track, indoor track, and probably well on Mars too if he had to. I would never count the guy out. He will compete in the 2mile and that is a distance he can easily hammer it down on.

Golden Eke has an elite indoor long jump on record. In fact, he has the fourth best indoor jump in the nation. That came way back in the second week of January. Since then, Eke has been traveling the country going on recruiting trips. He will now travel to New Balance for a business trip and attempt to bring home a national title.

The boys 60H has been one of the most talented heats in all of Texas during the indoor season. Four of the top Texas hurdlers will travel to New York to hopefully make the final and take it from there. 

The competition should not rattle these guys as every race in the state this year have been full of elite hurdlers. Leading the charge will be De'Vion Wilson and Eric Edwards. Wilson, is the UIL 5A state runner up and Edwards is the UIL 6A state champ. Both guys have successfully navigated the murky Texas hurdler waters. Wilson has the 11th best time in the nation and Edwards is #1. Edwards has been resting and rehabbing a hamstring injury for the last month or more. That may be the only thing that can hold him back from two big goals and realistic accomplishments. Edwards has not been shy about his desire to be #1 in the nation as well as breaking the national record. His 7.66 is just off of the 7.40 national record. If he has recovered, will the record go down?

Boys Championship

Boys 60m - Isaiah Teer, Gregory Sholars, Andrew Gilreath, Keishawn Everly, Jais Smith

Boys 200m - Gregory Sholars

Boys 400m - Tolu Badmus, Christopher Ford

Boys 800m - Jake Merrell

Boys 1 Mile - Sean Prendeville

Boys 2 Mile - Alex Maier

Boys 60H - Eric Edwards, Brandon Peterson, De'Vion Wilson, Daniel Rivera

Boys PV - Campbell Webb, Logan Fraley

Boys LJ - Golden Eke

Boys Emerging Elite

60m - Connor Holzkamper

HJ - Nicholas Prentiss

Boys Freshmen

400m - Jayden House

1 Mile - Caden Cunningham

8th Grade 1 mile - Luke Abad

HEAT SHETS