Distance
Mile: Niki Narayani (Webb)
Niki Narayani is awfully familiar with Vanderbilt. That's where she'll spend her collegiate running career starting next fall.
But for now, she's still got one more track season left. And there's an excellent chance she'll start her indoor season off with a win on Saturday. The Webb senior is the top overall seed in a competitive mile field. She'll be looking to break five minutes, and the US Top 20 for the first time with a good race.
800: Ellie Bachmann (Hardin Valley) & Jake Renfree (Knoxville Catholic)
Knoxville will be very well-represented in the half-mile.
Two of the area's best runners will toe the line for the first time at this distance in 2019. Bachmann is seeded fourth in a really quick field of 800 meter runners. The top section features six athletes who have times that would place them in the top ten nationally. One of those athletes is HVA junior Ellie Bachmann.
She comes in at 2:12.53, just three-hundredths behind the next fastest runner. Her teammate Kensi Gray is seeded eighth. They'll have the opportunity to race together and help one another. In a field that fast, they could both have a big day.
Renfree has been quite busy this winter. He raced in Scotland for Team USA, and just last weekend he ran the fastest mile in America in Virginia. But this weekend will be the first time he's raced an 800 all indoor season. His 1:53 puts him as the top seed, but barely. St Louis junior Martin Strong is also seeded at 1:53.69, just half-a-second behind the Notre Dame commit. That should be one of the best races of the weekend. Watch out for Hardin Valley senior Miguel Parrilla too.