Five Races We Can't Wait To See Next Week At State - Boys

Ben Thompson

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Can't make it to Murfreesboro next week? MileSplit has you covered with Live-Streaming of the event for Pro Account users starting at 4:00PM each day of the competition. 

Five Races To Watch

Division I Class AAA - Boys 4x400m Relay


Of the four relay state records, this event is now the longest standing as it was set by Memphis University School at 3:16.15 at Eastern Relays in 2014. The State Meet Record is not far behind at 3:16.21 held by Cordova. Both marks have a chance to go down next Thursday as four teams enter the competition with Top 10 All-Time marks and they are as follows: 

Tennessee Boys All-Time 4x400m Rankings

The final race of the state competition is going to be a good one with the possibility team championships could be on the line as well. 

Division I Class AA - Boys 400m Dash


In the last two years, Covington's San'darius Coleman's only loss in the 400m run was at last year's state meet where he finished 4th. He is currently undefeated through eight races this year with marks under 50 for the last five of them. He's set to square off against fellow senior Alden Wetzel of Union County (above) who is the only other runner in the division under fifty seconds as well this season. Wetzel will have the 100m dash prior to this race and Coleman will not have another so we'll get both athletes entering the event on full rest. 

Division I Class A - Boys 4x200m Relay


Last year, you may remember this race from the Human Highlight Reel comeback by Barion Brown and though he has graduated, this race intrigues me for other reasons with the main being it's representation of schools from a wide range of areas from the state. Even with three teams from Memphis and two from Nashville the remaining school check off a lot of the rest of the map. Tyner (above) is out of Chattanooga, York Institute is in the Upper Cumberland, and Chuckey-Doak (also above) is out of the Greeneville area. All teams enter the race with qualifying times within two seconds of each other. Should be a nail-biter to the very end. 

Division II Class AA - Boys 1600m Run


I've probably mentioned the fact that 4:20 did not qualify for the state meet in Division II Class AA boys and with so many athletes from that field returning this year, I expected it would be equally as difficult this year but it's still hard to fathom that 4:16.35 didn't qualify this year in this event. And get this... nine of the top twelve qualifying times will be returning even next year! The East Region led the way with five qualifiers with Keegan Smith winning with 4:11.37. He was followed closely by Jack Bowen (above from McCallie Invitational), Christopher Knight, and Zachary Youngblood (also above) who all finished in 4:13 with Hugh Carlson grabbing the next qualifying spot. They'll be joined by Brentwood Academy Teammates Luke Thompson and Carter Johnson and West Winner Joe Edwards. I'll be surprised to see times this fast next week as racing to win differs strategically from racing to qualify with the at-large format but I still expect it to be faster top to bottom than all the other classifications. 

Division II Class A - Boys 300m Hurdles


Division II Class A athletes are sprinkled throughout the first page of the overall rankings but in most cases you'll have to scroll down to find them. That isn't the case for the 300m hurdles which is the only event where two athletes from this classification are ranked in the Top 10 overall across the state. Griffin Frankfather of Franklin Road Academy (above lane 4 from Nashville City Champs) comes in as the top seed at 38.82 (4th Overall in TN) and Liam Runkle of Silverdale is not far behind at 39.28 (8th overall). Both athletes have consistently run in the low 40's or under for most of the season with PRs at their qualifying meets.