Previewing Friday's Elites At Viking Invitational

The meet will kick off with the first-ever Viking Invitational Distance Medley. This weekend is the last opportunity for teams to qualify for the Penn Relays and both the George C. Marshall (12:26.54 season best) and Paint Branch (12:40.73) girls will be gunning for solid times to qualify for the Championship of America DMR.

On the guys side, Severna Park will be running an 'A' team that, while they may not be fast enough to get into the Championship of America, could still throw down a sub-10:40.

The girls' field for the 100 dash is led by Northwest freshman Taylor Wright, who finished second in the 4A state championships in the 55-meter dash indoors. The meet record of 12.07 was set back in 2009, but with a good race Wright could certainly take that down.

On the guys' side, fellow Northwest sprinter Davino Fraizer is the favorite. He'll try to become the first boy to run sub-11.00 (automatic timing) in meet history.

In the hurdles, Clarksburg's Alexus Pyles will be making her first return to the spotlight in the event since her unfortunate DQ at the 4A West indoor regionals this past season. Aside from the drama at the regional meet, Pyles has not lost a single hurdle event since the 2015 indoor season. Her 14.07 PR from last outdoor season would easily break the meet record.

Likewise on the boys side, Northwest's Shyheim Wright has a very good chance of setting the meet record; in fact, three boys enter with PRs better than the 14.89 meet record, including Andrew Daniels (Northwest) and Casimir Tawiah (Great Mills).

Sidwell's Megan Powell, the reigning DCSAA champion in the 400-meter dash, leads a solid field in the event that features five girls with sub-60 performances under their belt. Another girl to watch is Northwest's Cori Brown, who has yet to run the event so far this season but won the 4A indoor state title in the 300-meter dash. On the boys' side, Mount Hebron's Justin Johnson enters with the fastest PR of 51.17. Expect a very close finish in this race as most of the runners have PRs within a second of that.

The girls 3200 will be the race of the evening, featuring three of the top distance runners in Maryland. Oddly enough, the top two seeds, Maria Coffin (Annapolis) and Hayley Jackson (Patuxent) have never faced off in a 3200. Coffin had the faster time indoor, which included her 10:42 two mile at New Balance Nationals, but Jackson has the fastest overall PR of 10:37 which came back in her freshman year. Walter Johnson's Abigail Green also clocked a sub-11:00 indoors and will be a third runner to watch in this highly-anticipated race. The meet record for this event is 11:06.88, which probably won't be standing too much longer.

The boys field is very deep, but Dulaney's Eric Walz stands out a cut above the rest. His main challenger will probably be Andrew Forsyth of Severna Park, and if either one of them decides to push the pace, the 9:29.70 meet record also has a good shot of going down.

In the mile, Hayley Jackson will be coming off of the 3200, something she has shown that she can do in the past. Other big names include Paint Branch's Bethlehem Taye, who will be running her second mile of the day (DMR), Sidwell's Taylor Knibb, and Walter Johnson's Emily Murphy.

The boys' field is much smaller, highlighted by Rohann Asfaw of Richard Montgomery who will be competing in his first big race since running a ridiculous 9:11 two mile at New Balance Nationals. He'll be joined by Quince Orchard's Liam Walsh, whose last big race was an impressive win in the 4A indoor 800 state championship.

It's hard to get a feel for the 4x100 relays this early in the season, but one thing is for sure: if the battle between the Northwest and Springbrook boys is as intense as it was in the 4x200 this past indoor season, then we are in for a treat!

The elite sections of the field events will also be taking place Friday evening. Quince Orchard's Dylan Bikim holds the meet record of 6'4 in the boys high jump, but his teammate Gregory D'Elia will be right there with him: D'Elia out-jumped Bikim earlier this season at the Screaming Eagle Invitational.