15th University of Kentucky
High School Invitational

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Nutter Fieldhouse, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY

DyeStat on-site with SteveU

Erik Kynard (left), boys 400 (right) with William Wynne beating Christian Taylor. Photos Andrew Blackhurst

Saturday's Highlights

• Quicksilver TC/Sandy Creek GA sr Christian Taylor got the meet off to a great start with a US#1 25.00.50 LJ, the first 25-footer of the year and =#9 all-time. He also jumped 24-11.25 in the series
• Toledo Rogers OH jr Erik Kynard jumped 7 feet or better for the fourth time this year, going 7-00 for the win. Michigan Accelerators/Livonia Stevenson sr Mitchell White was 2nd in 6-10.
• SWAT TC/Atlanta (Therrell HS) GA sr Brittany Long nipped New Horizon TC/Newnan GA soph Chalonda Goodman in the 60, with a US#1 7.36 to Goodman's #3 7.38
• After winning the 60H in US#2 7.73, Titans TC/McEachern GA sr William Wynne blazed a US#1 47.82 in the 400
• Knoxville West/Track Knoxville sr Jackie Coward backed up her USR from last week with an 8.25 victory, beating the soph record 8.38 of Jasmin Stowers, the Quick Striders/Pendleton SC soph.
• NTN Champ and Mountain Brook AL jr Madeline Morgan ran negative splits in a US#3 4:52.70 mile effort.
• Noblesville IN sr Tyler Hiatt 60-10.50 in the shot put
• Watertown WI sr Andrew Perkins US#3 1:53.32 800

PREVIEW

4 US#1s lead athletes from 15 states to Lexington
New USR-setter Jackie Coward, Christan Taylor, Erik Kynard, Andrew Perkins,
and William Wynne lead the way; athletes battle weather to compete

• Coward, Stowers and the hurdles – This was the peak of Coward’s season right here, as the Track Knoxville/Knoxville West sr ran 8.39 in the prelims, then destroyed her recent 8.29 record in the finals. Stowers’ 8.51 behind her got the 9th-grade mark, which she would lower by .01 later in the year. This will be Coward’s chance to prove she can run as fast at low altitude as she did in Idaho last week. She shouldn’t take the competition lightly either; Stowers, the Quick Striders/Pendleton SC soph, beat her in Knoxville in January by .01

Coward usually likes to make it a multiple-event workout, especially early in the season, and is entered in the 60 and 400, as well.

• Taylor, Wynne and the sprints/horizontal jumps – The two Georgia stars, racing for competing clubs, will also both potentially be getting heavy workloads Saturday, as each is entered in three events. Taylor and Wynne will each be in their “specialty,” then race twice in the long sprints. Taylor, the Quicksilver/Sandy Creek GA sr who stunned with his TJ gold at World Youths last summer, leads the US in both horizontals – 52-00 and 24-09.75. He’ll bypass the TJ here, but compete in the LJ (where he’ll be a big favorite), 200 and 400.

Wynne, meanwhile, is the favorite in the 60H, but is also entered in both long sprints. You probably remember the Titans TC/McEachern GA sr here last year – he was 2nd in the hurdles, but won the 400 – but Taylor TJ’d just 42 feet here last year and was more than a second behind Wynne in the 400.

• Another 7-footer for Kynard? – Why not? The Toledo Rogers jr has dominated the HJ this winter, with his nation-leading 7-03.75 and two other 7-footers. With the next entry at 6-8, it’s likely Kynard will have only the bar for competition.

• Perkins and the 800 – What a showdown this could have been; before he scratched a few days ago, East Forsyth NC sr Dylan Ferris was set to race in this event, pitting his 1:49/4:08 speed against Perkins’ 1:50.17/1:19.91 talents. But alas, now it may be Perkins against the clock. The Watertown WI sr has had a great start to 2008 with the 1:19.91 leading the country at 600 and a big 1000 meter win (2:28.64, former US#1) from The Amrory under his belt. Smith Station AL’s Spencer Ferguson has the best chance to challenge him. Ferguson was part of the US#1 4x800 at this meet last year.

• Some great girls sprinters … - There will be a lot more speed on the track from the girls than just the hurdlers. Where to start? In the 400, Hi-Velocity/Toledo (Oh.) Bowsher sr Meshawn Graham, last year’s top returnee (52.51 outdoors), is kicking off her season here. Besides Coward to push her, there will be Briana Nelson, the amazing Quick Striders/Mann SC soph who was 2nd at NON last year out of the 2nd section, and E.C. Sprinters MD sr Elan Hiliare.

Graham, Nelson, and Hilaire will also drop down to the 200, but the competition will be brutal with NON 1-2 finishers from 2007 Chalonda Goodman and Brittany Long leading the way. The New Horizon TC/Newnan GA soph Goodman took the 100/200 double at NON last year, then shone at World Youths with a 200 silver and gold in the medley relay. Long, a SWAT TC / Atlanta (Therrell HS) GA sr, was 3rd and 2nd in the 100/200 at NON, and anchored two relay wins there. Add LeKeisha Williams AL and you have a almost a potential national finals field right there. Long and Goodman also lead a strong, deep, 60 field.

• … And some great boys sprinters - Wynne has a great chance to defend his 400 title, but Taylor and Michigan Accelerators/Belleville MI sr Varick Tucker will give him a tough fight. Similarly, the 200 will feature the GA duo, plus Ken Gilstrap, the Titans/Miller Grove GA sr who was 3rd and 6th in the World Youth 100/200 last summer. Gilstrap also leads the 60 field.

• Ben Davies flexes his multis muscles – He may not be an individual event superstar, but the Kindersport/Brentwood Academy TN sr was #1 on the HS list in the decathlon last year (with HS implements) and is entered in the HJ, PV and hurdles here. His best event is the PV, where he has the top seed at 15-01, and he should also be in the mix in the hurdles final.

• Brittany Porter, LJ – The Triple Action/Towers GA jr has leapt a US#4 19-05.25 this winter and will be favored here.

• Morgan and Keveren lead distances – The girls NTN champ and the nation’s top returning boys 2-miler will highlight the longer races. Madeline Morgan led her Mountain Brook AL club team girls in Portland last fall by taking the individual title. Here, she will race the mile with White Station TN sr Virginia Hine. Mountain Brook’s girls also have the top two seeds in the 800 with Marie Demedicis and Catherine Diethelm.

Brentwood TC sr Sean Keveren, who ran 8:55.16 at NON last year, missed qualifying for Foot Locker last fall, but was otherwise unbeaten and won Great American. He will begin his attempt to rank with the nation’s elite distance runners here.