Joe Robinson of Potomac Senior enters the 60 meter dash with the nation\'s fastest time at 55 meters (6.26) in what looks to be a hotly contested event. The Group AAA state champion Robinson will figure to be challenged by two Texans in Willie Hordge and Ivory Williams who were members of the USA 4x100 meter relay team at the World Junior Championships, which broke the junior world record. J-Mee Samuels out of North Carolina has the second fastest time behind Robinson in the 55 meter dash at 6.29 and New York\'s Arel Gordon will be competing in Maryland with the nation\'s best for the 50 meter dash (5.77).
Two of Virginia\'s best distance stars in Thomas Dale senior Alex Tatu and Fork Union senior Kippy Keino will see how they stack up against the nation\'s best on Sunday. Tatu, last year\'s NIC runner-up in the mile will be facing off once again with two-time champion Bobby Curtis of Kentucky and a handful of others that are making this year\'s mile race appear to become the fastest ever in the meet\'s short history. The University of Virginia bound Tatu, who recently is coming off defending his 1600 meter indoor state title, comes in with the nation\'s 11th fastest time at the distance. Many of those ten individuals ahead of him will be at Nike. North Carolina\'s Matt Debole, who Tatu dealt a defeat earlier in the season at Virginia Tech in the 1000 meter run, was fourth in this race last year and won the Milrose Games mile this winter. Two of the West Coast\'s best in Oregon\'s Michael McGrath and Joaquin Chapa. McGrath, posted the nation\'s fastest time of 4:10.87 on a 300 meter oversized track at the University of Washington. Chapa finished second in that same race with a 4:12.43. With speedsters such as Curtis, Debole, McGrath, and Chapa, Tatu will be given plenty of competition on Sunday.
Keino, feeling satisfied with having the sixth best mile time in the nation at 4:12.97 for the season, is opting to try his luck in the two mile run this Sunday against the nation\'s elite. Keino, a Foot Locker All-American in cross country and a 9:05 3200 meter runner last spring, has only a 9:24.93 to show for himself for two miles this season, but is expected to come closer to where he was at in outdoors at the distance. Foot Locker cross country champion Chris Solinsky was a runner-up at the Nike Indoor Championships and adidas Outdoor Championships and has gone well under nine minutes for the two mile before. Bobby Mack of North Carolina is taking a similar approach into Nike as Keino as he already has a fast mile under his belt for the season (4:12.11). The current national leader at 3200 meters (9:01.92), Brian Dalpiaz of New York, will also be in strong contention. Fellow New Yorker Josh McDougal was a previous national leader, but at 3000 meters (8:14.10). The new leader at 3000 meters reigns from the West Coast as junior Galen Rup of Oregon bested McDougal this past weekend with a 8:12.30. Joining Rupp at Nike is familar rival, junior Alec Wall of Oregon, who finished second to Rupp in that same race last weekend at 8:14.77. With the clear favorite in Solinsky and a strong chase pack in the group of East and West coast distance stars, Keino can expect a fast time if he stays in the race.
While no sprint relays are expected to make any noise at Nike from Virginia, the exact opposite holds true for their distance counterparts as the 4x800 meter relay, distance medley relay, and 4xmile relay all have Virginia squads who have strong chances at coming away with top six All-American honors and possibly even national titles.
In the 4x800 meter relay, the Group AAA State Champions and record holders from West Springfield will expect to due battle with a Bobby Mack anchored-North Forsyth team out of North Carolina. West Springfield posted the second fastest time in the country at the AAA State Meet with their meet record breaking time of 7:51.96. Their time ranks them first in the nation actually for a non-banked track surface as the national leading time of 7:49.50 posted by North Forsyth was ran on the very fast banked track at Virginia Tech. If anyone has an anchor leg that can hold off and run with anchor leg Mack, who split a 1:54 earlier in the season, it is West Springfield\'s anchor Jeff Day, who also had a sub 1:55 split at the state meet. However, for West Springfield, it will be the second loaded relay they will have run in as many days with the same four relay members.
The first relay of which Wesst Springfield will be loading down at Nike is in the distance medley relay where they expect to have a team in contention for the win with a 4:16 1600 meter anchor leg in Day. Last year\'s winning time in the event was 10:34, while this year\'s distance meldey team from West Springfield shows full indication they will go well under that time with the lineup they will be stacking. Leading off for West Springfield will be 2:33 1000 meter runner John Cook on the 1200 meter leg and in the middle for the Spartans will be 1:08 500 meter runner Joe McMahon on the 400 meter leg and Tim Kwak on the 800 meter leg, which he has ran 1:59 open for.
Another Northern Region distance powerhouse is loading down their bests on the distance medley as cross country state champions Thomas Jefferson have a lineup that can match that of the Spartans. While West Springfield has one true star in Day, Thomas Jefferson has two in senior Keith Bechtol and junior Christo Landry. Bechtol and Landry finished 1-2 in the 3200 meter run at the state meet. While it is not known who is running either the 1600 or 1200 meter legs, what is known that both can run a fast split at each distance as Bechtol has ran a 4:24 1600 meter time this season and Landry, who is looking stronger every week since coming back from an early season injury, posted a 4:18 last spring.
After near misses at earn All-American honors in the 4xmile relay at last year\'s Nike Indoor Championships (7th) and adidas Outdoor Championships (8th), the Midlothian 4xmile relay squad is gunning to finally get that elusive honor this Saturday. Midlothian is bringing a strong group with them in two all-state 1600 meter runners in Ryan Witt (4:28 PR) and Billy Berlin (4:30 PR) as well as having Brandon Miles (4:30 PR) and Andrew Baker (4:27 PR) make up a formidable squad. Their biggest challenger appears to be Hillsboro from New Jersey who only lost one leg from their NIC runner-up squad last year (18:10). Both teams and a possible few other unknowns (since it is a rarely contested event) will push the winning time close to 18 minutes.
Two state champions will compete in the boys\' high jump with Adam Linkenauger of Lord Botetourt and Jerome Miller of Colonial Forge. The AA state champion and meet record holder, Linkenauger comes into the meet with nation\'s fourth best mark at seven feet and will have an outside shot at the win if favorite Mike Morrison of New Jersey, who is the nation leader at 7-3, and Scott Sellers of Texas (7-2), fail to perform up to standard. Along with Linkenauger, Morrison and Sellers are the only athletes in the field who have cleared seven feet this season. Miller, the AAA state champion, has a strong shot at coming away with All-American honors with his season best of 6-9.
While New Jersey\'s Morrison is also the favorite in the long jump, a trio of Virginians stand hopeful shots at snabbing All-American honors in Forest Park\'s Reynold Smith (23-1), AAA state champion John Bailey of Colonial Heights (22-11.75), and AAA state runner-up Dennis Boone of Thomas Dale (22-10.50).
While the high and long jump have a handful of Virginians standing strong chances at finishing in the top six to earn All-American honors, the triple jump and shot put has two Virginians who could win each event.
In the triple jump, William Fleming\'s Ryan McCoy is the national leader at 49-7 and has gone over 49 feet since then, while no one else in the nation has yet to break the mark yet this season. McCoy will need a similar performance as the one he had at Virginia Tech where he leaped to the nation\'s best. His biggest challenger expects to be Andre Tillman from North Carolina, who was the national champion last outdoor season at the adidas Outdoor Championships.
Another Virginian who comes into the meet as the national leader and obvious favorite to win is James Robinson\'s Steve Huntzinger. The College of William & Mary bound Huntzinger\'s season best of 63-7. Close behind Huntzinger though is Tyree Suber of Pennsylvania with a season best of 63-4.50. So a win will be no cakewalk for McCoy nor Huntzinger with the likes of Tillman and Suber ready to knock of the two national leaders reigining from Virginia.