2015 Vanderbilt High School Indoor Meet Preview

2015 Vanderbilt High School Indoor

This Saturday we get to experience the second annual Vanderbilt Indoor High School track meet. As you would expect, athletes from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Mississippi will be coming to this meet. But that's only half of the list. Add to the mix several athletes coming from Illinois, Texas, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Florida and Colorado! Every event is full. Tennessee isn't really noted for being a mecca for Indoor Track, however, with a facility as nice as the Vanderbilt indoor track, it's not a surprise these athletes are here to compete. Of course, the folks at the Knoxville Youth Athletics (KYA) have a pretty good reputation for running some nice meets and adding to the draw!

Those of you that came to this meet last year (its inaugural year) will attest to the fact that these athletes weren't your newbies or back of the packers. You needed a few sets of hands if you wanted to count out the number of nationally ranked marks set at this meet. When I left the facility last year, I had a feeling we would see a huge increase in participation for this year. That increase, well, is an understatement. The talent pulling into Vanderbilt on Saturday is nothing less than spectacular! In some events, what won last year might just barely get you into the field this year with the type of athletes scheduled to compete.

And speaking of the athletes, I looked through some of their profiles and it is very clear it'll be a fun day on the track for sure! A lot of these athletes are gearing up for their own State's indoor championship and looking to get strong qualifying times. And for the local TN athletes, getting into the KYA's Indoor Championship would be a great line to put on a resume too! So timing, facility, organization... it's all here at this indoor meet. Looking through the entry list, I can see there are several athletes coming out to try and qualify for this year's TN Indoor State championships... I started counting, but let's just say, it's a lot and this is the facility to get a very good mark.

My fingers are going to be worn out if I tried to write about all these talented athletes! So I'm going to touch on as many as I can. If I miss someone or make a mistake on where they are from, I'm sorry, it is absolutely not because that athlete isn't talented! But a good way to avoid not missing anything is to come and watch or look at the videos and pictures after the meet. Or if you're an athlete and not in the mix this year, be sure to try and get in next year -- but that's going to be a lot easier said than done based on the entries I've seen.

Last year I watched the girls 400 and I remember remarking when I saw the times pop up on the big screen on how fast that field was with all those 56's up there. That was impressive! This year though, the field is stacked even more and the odds are very high to see times that are even better than last year! The girls 400M top entry, Brittny Ellis, is coming down here from Illinois with a pretty impressive track resume. Brittny has run all over... literally -- she competed at the World Youth Olympics this past August at Wutaishan Stadium in China and placed sixth in the 400 there. Also on the entry list for this fast 400 is Serenity Douglas from Georgia. Serenity is the 400M champ for the 15-16 year age group at the USATF Junior Olympic championships this past July in Texas. Another top seeded athlete to keep a look for is Paris Perkins, this Arkansas sophomore is ranked #2 sophomore and also a top 20 national rank. And another top challenger would be Makenzie Dunmore (who also is the top seed for the 200, mentioned later) and Chelsea Zoller of the Gazelle Track club -- an appropriate name for this sprinter!

Sprints are fun to watch -- if you're a coach, there isn't a lot of anxiety or worry about how the athlete does -- it's over too fast! Like all the other events, this is a stacked field too. Janel Pate -- USATF Jr Olympic Nationals -- runner up in 17-18 yrs. old at Humble TX in July and TN State runner up in the 100 and 200 is one of the top runners in the 200M at this meet. I watched Janel run during the state and regional USATF meets this summer and she looked strong out of the blocks and even stronger at the finish! No doubt, that strength out of the blocks is going to help her in the 60M dash where she is one of the favorites to win. She is going to have to push herself in the 200 dash with the likes of MaKenzie Dunmore in the field. MaKenzie won the Georgia USATF Junior Olympic meet this summer clocking a sub 24 time there. MaKenzie is the Georgia 6A state runner up in the 200 and the Champion in the 400 so she is going to be a powerful runner to watch at this meet.

The boy's sprints have a strong field as well. In the 200, there are more than a half dozen athletes that have broken the 22 second mark and with this track being as fast as it is, we could see some surprising times on Saturday. Some top sprinters coming out include DaVante Payne, runner up in the 200 at the TN State championships. Marquise Cooper and Jalen Virgil, both a couple of top Georgia sprinters. Lorenzen Burton (who I believe ran 3rd in the Mississippi 200M at their state championships) and Chris Davis, a member of the Memphis Mustangs club that took top honors and a national ranked mark in the 4x400 last year at this meet. Bailey Overbay is in the 60M field and currently holds the TN top ranked spot for that sprint event.

And to change direction just a second. The throws events last year had some spectacular performances and set the stage to make this years' events high on the competition scale. There is one group, the Throw 1 Deep club that is bringing a pretty powerful group of boys and girls throwers. Last year this team had 13 in the top five for both the boys and girl's weight & shot -- out of twenty spots! They practically owned the boys weight throw last year as they captured the top nine spots in that event! However, another throwing team, the Steel Throwers, have a top national candidate in Brett Neelly and look to be bringing a strong group too. It's sometimes difficult to get a focus on the throwing events but seeing teams dedicated to the sport and competing at such a high level is great for the sport of Field & Track!!

Also among the top throwers coming to Vanderbilt will be Leena Morris, the Georgia 6A state champion in the shot, state runner up in the discus and a New Balance preseason All-American in the weight and shot. The TN state AAA Discus champ, Dominique Banks doing both the weight and shot Saturday. And of course, Tamia Crocket who is the reigning TN AAA state champion in the discus and runner up for the shot. I would also keep an eye on Isaiah Rogers, Sam Sikon and Charles Whitener to be among the leaders in the boys throws on Saturday.

Changing pace again to the middle distance 800 event. The top ranked indoor 800 runner is Terrell Jackson of Memphis and he looks to lead a solid pack of runners in this event. You practically had to break the 2 minute barrier just to qualify for this race this year. A couple of top local athletes will be competing here too - Dylan Groos who was third at this race last year, Matthew Rainey who was fourth here last year and has improved considerably over the last year or so in this event. There are also several other athletes that you may want to watch as they could easily find their way to the front of the pack in this event. Dustan Davidson, a junior from Missouri who happens to have the 3rd fastest time in the state's history is certainly one that's capable of getting to the front.

And on the girl's side, Atlanta's Caitie Faust is the likely leader in this pack of highly talented middle distance runners. Caitie was third at the Georgia state cross country meet, first in the 800 at the George state outdoor meet last season, and certainly looks poised to drop her times down even further before she graduates! This race has a large group of girls capable (and have) of breaking under the 2:20 mark. Some of those that have already done so, include Virginia Hutton, Marielle Lewis, Emily Lord, Hailey Hendry, Celine Rone, Morgan Ilse, Rosie Lobelson, Shian Mallory, and Hannah Caldwell. The fast heat here is definitely going to live up to its name and be just that -- fast!

Walter Pate of CBHS is #22 nationally in the 60Hh with an 8.19 and will be challenged by St. Louis athlete Elijah McNairy and Georgia senior Robert Dunning. And in the mix is undoubtedly going to be the #3 overall returning Decathlon in the nation, George Patrick. George will use this meet to help him train for several upcoming national meets where he is sure to add another TN athlete to the top of the Decathlon rankings for sure! Considering the drive George has and the fact that he is just a junior, well, this could be a huge springboard for his season. Denzel Harper, another top Georgia hurdler is also in the field -- Denzel was a top 4 finisher in the state championships for the 110H's in George this past season.

In the distance events, which are sometimes a real test of both physical and mental abilities, will be showcasing a few top talents too. In the 2 mile, Luke Meade is one of a handful of athletes at this meet that are running in the 9:30 and under range. Luke just ran a 9:30 at the KYA indoor a short while ago and so is training hard and right on target for this meet. Reilly Friedman, the Georgia distance athlete (1600 champ at the Class A Area 3 private championships in 2014) looks to take that speed into the 2 mile on this 300M oval. And a couple other top athletes round the top seeds and are most likely to be battling for first over the line -- Zachary Capello is a Louisiana senior that has some major credentials with a win last year in the 1600 for LHSAA Class 2A-1A and Johnathan Chavez is a top five state finalist in the 3200 and will likely be one of the top finishers in the 2 mile.

Just to touch a bit on some of the field events. Competing in the boy's high jump will be a few Tennessee competitors in Isaiah Kyle, Jordan Scott, and Christian Stumpf all looking to get over the highest bar. Also in the mix is Georgia athlete Robert Dunning who is a consistent 6-6 to 6-8 jumper and will look to give the TN group some competition. Sometimes the pole vault can have a wide range of heights entered. This meet though has a large group over the 12' mark and so should be interesting and exciting to watch.

On the girls vaulting side, there could be a very interesting match-up in the works Saturday. Carson Dingler, of Macon Georgia and Becky Arbiv from Sandy Springs Georgia. From what I heard, these girls are good friends and have competed against each other since the 7th Grade. Both are 10th graders and have PR's of 12-7 (Becky) and 13-0 (Carson). As if the pole vault wasn't exciting enough to watch! But I wouldn't leave out Nicolette Gordon of Chattanooga who has a PR right up there at 12-8 that she just cleared at the National Pole Vault Summit in January.

And if you're wondering what nationally ranked Decathletes do during the winter... well, they run this meet for one thing. A couple of top Decathletes, George Patrick (6649, Tennessee) and Christian Friis (6196, Florida) are competing at this meet. I already mentioned George is in the hurdles and he's also in the high jump as well. Christian is competing in the shot, long and hurdles with an indoor clocked time just behind George. This should be an interesting side to stay tuned to -- both athletes are juniors and really looking to improve into the outdoor season.

A local point of interest is there are currently 20 athletes ranked #1 for indoor in TN that will be competing at this meet. Several right behind them will be looking to jump in front or at a minimum, get into the top 8 for the state so they can qualify for the TN State Indoor Championships coming up at the end of February. Good luck to those athletes! And good luck to all the athletes coming to this meet, it will be a competitive meet and as always with the indoor ones, perfect weather!!

See you on the Track,

Coach Ted