It will be a busy day up in Fort Wayne with the Indiana Runner Indoor Invitational. Hundreds of high school athletes will participate throughout the day at the Hilliard Gates Sports Center. MileSplit will be on site with race videos, interviews, and social media as well as results and a recap available after the competition. Check out some of the top things to look out for at this meet below.
Luke Himes Entered in the Shot Put
The top shot putter in the country from Heritage Christian is entered to throw this Saturday. Himes recently threw a US #1 throw at the Warsaw Tiger Showcase Meet with a 67' 5" effort. His throw was only 5 inches off his best mark from the outdoor season last year. It will be interesting to see if the Notre Dame commit can best his mark from last year to further expand his national lead. He leads the field's seed list by nearly 18 feet heading into the meet.
Can Kya Crooke take US #1 in the High Jump?
Also entering the meet from Heritage Christian is Kya Crooke. Kya opened up her season two weeks ago at the University of Michigan High School Invitational with a best jump of 5' 9". The Junior standout represented Team USA at the Pan American Games this past August where she would become a silver medalist. She is entered with a 5' 11" which would put her an inch over the current top high jumper in the nation. Crooke is also seeded as one of the top jumpers in the long jump and will also run in heat 7 (fastest) of the 60m dash.
Ava Jarrell and Company Searching for Sub 5 in the Mile
Ava Jarrell has the best seed time in the field with a 5:03. She ran this mark at the Indiana Runner Opener where she would finish just three seconds behind defending XC state champ Libby Dowty. The Junior owns a 4:57 1600m time from the Pike Regional last outdoor season and has yet to break 5 indoors according to the MileSplit database. Maddie Rocchio, Scout Newman, Kenya Leitch, Lexi Kollbaum, Catherine Holtrup, and Henriette Schminke all enter with seed times of 5:15 or faster.
Laila Smith looking to crack the national leaderboard for the 60m hurdles & 400m
The Warren Central standout will look to make some noise as she will be tripling in the 60m hurdles, 400m dash, and 200m dash. Her victories at the Warsaw Tiger Showcase last weekend in the 60m hurdles and 400m dash just narrowly missed the top 50 marks nationally. With another chance this weekend Smith could easily improve upon her previous marks with increased completion. She owns the fastest 60m hurdles seed time with the only sub 9 second entry and is one of three girls seeded under 60 seconds in the 400m
How many sub 7s will come from the boys 60m dash?
The boys 60m dash looks to be filled with great competition as there will be 11 heats taking place. In the fastest heat there are several quick times with a couple under the 7 second barrier listed including Cameron Mullens and Antonio Atkins. Right now Jaidyn Johnson (US #5) and Dominic Calhoun are the only athletes in the state to have been sub 7 this indoor season. After this weekend there could be some additions made.
How fast will the 400m go?
Between both genders there will be 21 heats of the two lap event. On the girls side there are three entering with a time under 60 seconds. They include Lucy Hauser, Laila Smith, and Omema Anyanwu. Right now it takes a 57.64 to crack the top 100 nationally. Laila went sub 60 last weekend at Warsaw with a 59.54. Lucy took 7th in the 200m with a 27.18 two weeks ago at the Indiana Runner Indoor Opener. Omema would take the win in the 400m event at that opener while also tripling in the 60m and 200m dash. On the boys side Cameron Mullens has the field's only seed time under 50 seconds with a 49.92. Right now freshman phenom Mason Schmitz is still the state's leader with his US #77 effort from his double down in Nashville in early January where he also ran to a current US #7 800m time.
Does Shane Conroy chase down a fast time in the 3200m?
Conroy placed 6th at the State Championships this past season in XC with a new PR of 15:15. At the outdoor state meet last spring he took 7th with a time of 9:06. That time was used as his seed for this race which is the best out of the field by 23 seconds. Shane ran a time of 9:44 last March at the Red Devil Last Chance indoor meet, with competition from the likes of Samuel Yarnelle and Corban McGaughey it is possible that a faster time could come out of this meet. As of publishing it will take a 9:30 or faster to make top 100 nationally which is not out of the question.