Florida Athletes are Center Stage at NIN this Weekend!

Mar 07, 2024

We have a full slate of outdoor meets on slate for the weekend, but both the Nike Indoor Nationals and the New Balance National Indoors take place this weekend and Florida runners and relays will have the spotlight on them.

NIN Heats and Results

Nike Indoor Nationals

Distance Medley Relay

On Friday at NIN, the Buchholz relay team, running as Dreamville TC-FL 'A' is entered in the DMR. The team is made up of Sr. Evan Flemming, Fr. Daniel Ouko-Omondi, Jr. Gino Palazzolo, and Sr. Riley Smith. Buchholz, led by Smith and Flemming was 2nd in the 2023 State 4A XC Championships. smith was the 4A State Champion running 15:05.50. Flemming was 7th in 15:38.30. Palazzolo was 10th in 15:45.10. Joining the distance runners is freshman Daniel Ouko-Omondi. It will be a big stage for Ouko-Omondi who will be running the 400m leg but he has already run a 52.49 indoors this season. Flemming and Palazzolo will handle the 800 and 1200 legs with Smith anchoring. The race should come down to the anchor leg where Smith has recently burst onto the National scene with a 4:05.05 Mile in winning the Milrose Games HS Boys Mile. Last weekend Smith ran a US #1 8:48.11in winning the 3200 at the Bolles Bulldog Classic.

Watch out for the Dillard girls in the championship heat of the DMR. The team of Sr. Raquel Edwards, Jr. Alexia Reid, 8th grader Shyna Collins, and Sr. Christiana Coleman should be one of the favorites to win. Reid has run sub-60 in the 400 and Edwards, Collins and Coleman are on the Dillard girl's 4x800 that ran a US #1 8:58.50 last weekend.

4x1 Mile Relay

The Buchholz boys will also be one of the teams to beat in the 4x1 Mile. In addition to Flemming, Palazzolo, and Smith, Jr. Calum Watson was the team's #5 runner in XC and has run a 4:29.68 1600.

4x800m Relay

All eyes will be on the Dillard girl's 4x800m on Saturday evening. The squad is composed of 7th grader Shynah Collins, Sr. Christiana Coleman, Fr. Abigail Richards and Sr. Raquel Edwards ran a US #1 8:58.50 and FL #1 All-time last weekend at Sam Burley. Joining the Dillard girls in the 4x800 championship are the girls from G. Homes Braddock running as the Miami Vice Project TC-FL. the Braddock girls are Jr. Kayla Feeney, Jr. Jasmine Trotz, Fr. Jada Garcia, and Sr. Anabella Cardona.

Girl's 60mH

In the girl's 60mH, Jr. Aleesha Samuel of Somerset Academy Pembroke Pines is arguably the nation's best HS hurdler. Her 6.26 leads the nation indoors and outdoors she is ranked US #3 with a 13.71 in the 100mH.

60m

In the girl's 60m, watch for Sr. Mackenzie Travis of Evangelical Christian. She was 2nd to Montverde's Adaejah Hodge at the Milroses Games. She has run 7.26 this indoor season and was ahead of Dodge through the 55m mark! She is tied for US #3 at this time. Joining Travis in the 60 are several other Florida standout sprinters. Sr. Rachel Uvieghara of Palm Harbor University HS is the State 4A 100 (11.38) and 200m (23.22) champion. Jr. Aleesa Samuel of Somerset Academy Pembroke Pines and So. Skyler Franklin of Montverde Academy.

In the boy's 60m, Jr. Tristen Washington of Oviedo is the 2024 VA Showcase champion with a 6.91 that is FL #2.

200m

Watch for Uvieghara and Travis in the girl's 200m. Uvieghara is the Sate 4A 200m champion (23.32). She has run a 24.43 indoors this season. Travis has an indoor PR of 23.76 that she ran as a Jr. in placing 6th at the 2023 NBIN.

Jr. Tristen Washington is also in the 200. He has a 21.32 outdoor PR.

800m

The girl's and boy's 800m Championships are on Saturday afternoon. In the girl's race 7th grader Shynah Collins of Dillard premiers on the national stage along with her teammate Sr. Raquel Edwards. Collins comes in with an Indoor PR of 2:14.29 but split a sub-2:10 last weekend in her lead-off leg on the Dillard girl's national leading 4x800m. Edwards has an 800m PR of 2:08.84 and is the 3A State champion in the 1600 and runner-up in the 800.

Sr. Jonah Kirspel of South Walton is the sole entry in the boy's 800m. He is #2 ranked indoors with a 1:54.81 and is the 2023 2A State 800m champion running 1:52.49. He has an outdoor PR of 1:50.55 that he ran in placing 2nd in the Running Lane Track Championships.

Girl's 400m

In the 400m Montverde So. Skyler Franklin is the sole girl's entry in the championship. Franklin has a PR of 53.81 that she ran this indoor season in the Florida HS Challenge. Last spring she was 3rd in the NBNO 400m with a 54.28.

5000m

Sr. Addison Dempsey of Cardinal Mooney is entered in the gir;s 5000m championship. Dempsey, one of the state's top girl's distance runners XC PR of 17:20.2 in the 5000. She was the 2A State runner-up in XC in 2022, and 3rd in 2023. On the track last spring she was 3rd in the 2A 3200 with a 10:44.7.

In the boy's 5000m, Sr. Matt Ryan of Nease and Sr. Patrick Koon of Leon are both in the championship heat. Ryan is headed to Duke. Koon to Stanford.

Ryan has had a standout HS career. He is the 4A state 3200m champion with a 9:07.41. In XC in 2023, he was 3rd in the 4A race in 15:39 and was 6th at the Footlocker South Region Championships in 14:56.0. In 2022, he was the 4A State XC champion. On the track, he is the 4A State 3200m champion running 9:07.41. Koon is one of the best ever in Florida. He is the Florida All-Time record holder in the 3200 with an 8:44.95. He is a 3X 3A State XC champion and a 2x 3200m State Champion. He has a 14L40.2 5000m PR. Last weekend he ran an early outdoor season US #2 8:50.31 3200m.

1 Mile

Always one of the highlights, it is headlined by Buchholz's Riley Smith. The soon-to-be Florida Gator has run a 4::04.05 9n the Florida HS Challenge and followed that up with the 1 Mile win in the Milrose Games HS division in 4:05.05. Joining Smith in the 1 Mile are his Buchholz teammate Sr. Evan Fleming (4:15.75), Sr. William Montanye of Gulfcoast (4:17.82), and Palmer Trinity Sr. Henry Stark (4:15.62).

So. Alyson Johnson of Creekside is in the Girl's championship. She is the 4A Girl's State XC Champion and won both the 1600 (4:54.37) and the 3200 (10:49.40) last spring on the track at the 4A State Championships. She has a 1 Mile PR of 4:52.51.

Note: Two girls that I was surprised to see in the Girls 1 Mile Emerging Elite Section of the Girl's Mile are Sr. Ashley Fitzgerald of American Heritage and Sr. Christiana Coleman of Dillard. Fitzgerald is a University. of Florida commit who has run a 4:59.47 indoors this season. She was 2nd in the 3A State XC Championships in both 2022 and 2023 and has a PR of 17:40. She also has PR's of 4:58.52 in the 1600 and 10:42.60 in the 3200. Coleman has run a 4:59.73 in the Mile this season. She is the 3A State XC champion running a 17:53.40 and leading the Dillard girls to the 3A Team Championship.

NIN Heats and Results