(FRESNO, Ca.) -- Dream no more, California high schoolers, about competing in an elite level indoor track and field meet. "Run For The Dream" instead!
       Headlined by a dynamite collection of pole vaulters, milers and sprint relay teams, boys performances are expected to reach electric levels during the preps portion of this year's expanded "Run For The Dream" indoor meet, set for the Martin Luther King holiday.
       The super huge news of the meet centers around the anticipated unveiling of the new $900,000 all-weather track at Fresno State's Save-Mart Center, bringing a world-class indoor competition surface to the Central California region for the first time. The inaugural edition of the "Run For The Dream" meet in 2006 was contested on a tightly banked but wooden 160-yard oval.
       While the track dimensions for the meet will remain the same, the polyurethane surface is much more conducive to improved traction and energy return, resulting in better performance marks for the track athletes. The new surface is courtesy of a donation by longtime pole vault official Fred Arnold, who made the philanthropic gesture in memory of his loving life Madeleine, who passed away in 2006.
       "Fred's generous support of Fresno State and of the sport of track and field in general will have a lasting impact on thousands and thousands of athletes from around the world in the years to come through the "Run For The Dream" meet, a testament to the love that Fred has for both his wife and the great sport of track and field," said Fresno State coach Bob Fraley.
       With the fastest indoor facility in state history now in place, meet organizers have structured the high school portion of the meet in a "Dream Team" format that will be scored with all-star teams delineated by geographical region: the Southern, the Cental and the North. Event to be contested include the 55-meter dash and 55-meter hurdles for open speedsters, the 800-meter, mile and two-mile challenges for distance runners, ther 4x160-yard and 4x440-yard for relay units, and the long jump, shot put, high jump and pole vault for the field eventers.
       The preps will be showcased as the heart of a three-phase competition schedule, which kicks off with a collegiate quadrangular meet starting at 11 a.m. and features squads from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Stanislaus, the University of Hawai'i and host Fresno State. High schoolers from throughout the state will compete from 3 to 5:15 p.m., followed by the "USA vs. The World" competition headlined by top Olympic-level athletes from 13 nations and taking place from 7 to 8:45 p.m. The "USA vs. the World" portion, part of Visa Championship Series, will also be webcast live.
       Here's a quick look at the boys' high school portion of the meet:
       Pole Vault: The strongest event on the boys' side is unquestionably the vault, where 2007 IAAF World Youth Games gold medalist Nico Weiler (Los Gatos HS) tops a field that includes two of America's top vaulters and three of California's top four returnees from 2007. Weiler is the heavy favorite and not surprisingly the current national indoor leader after scaling 17-02 in his season debut two weekends ago in winning the National Vault Summit affair in Reno. A foreign exchange student from Germany a year ago, Weiler has since secured a visa to remain in the United States. Despite being ailed by back problems during December, Weiler impressed in Reno with several crisp efforts at early heights (he opened at 16-02) before one very fine attempt at a national indoor record 17-07 on his first attempt. Despite being of German descent, Weiler is eligible for the national high school record here as nationality is not a factor in identifying such marks. Also rated among the top half-dozen vaulters in America is Blair Wallingford (Roseville), who rocketed onto the elite radar with a clutch silver medal performance at last year's California state meet. A fine all-around athlete who most recently dabbled in soccer, Wallingford's 16-04 personal best ranks second in the state entering 2008. Josh Cusick, the fine all-around talent from tiny St. Lawrence Academy of the Central Coast Section, cleared a personal best 15-06 at last year's CCS Trials. A rising talent also in the decathlon, Cusick placed sixth at the 2007 California state meet in the pole vault. Atascadero's A.J. Teunissen and Dos Pueblos' Daniel Turvey are the remaining 15-footers in the field, with both clearing that height last spring.

        
Photos by Joe Hartman and Alexander Hill
Foothill of Bakersfield's Dayshan Ragans is the nation's top shot put returnee and Maurice Valentine
of Castro Valley is among America's best in the high jump heading into the 2008 season!

       Shot Put: Dayshan Ragans (Foothill, Bakersfield) enters the new season with a shot in one hand, a disc in the other, a silver medal around his neck and a big chip on his shoulder. The snarl which accompanies his senior year arrival centers on the fact that the nation's top returning putter failed to place at last year's California state meet, instead fouling on all three attempts in the final round. Ragan's best heave of 64-01, which came in a dual meet in early April of 2007, is only inches better than the personal bests achieved by the Tabor cousins from Oklahoma. His state meet silver medal came in the discus, with his midseason 193-03 mark last year looming as the #2 returning performer in the national for the coming outdoor season. Senior Nigel Davies (Loyola HS), who experienced dramatic improvement a year ago, has a personal best of 56-02.50 and Justin Cutler (Templeton HS) has also ventured into similar real estate with a 55-07.00 best.
       High Jump: The Golden State's top high jumpers will compare their early-season fitness and technique here, led by state meet silver medalist Maurice Valentine (Castro Valley), who elevated a lifetime-best 7-00.25 in 2007 to rank as the nation's #3 returnee and last year's top sophomore in the country. He will be challenged by several fine talents including bounding dynamo Kenny Phillips (Central HS) who cleared 6-10 being standing a foot shorter.

    
Photos by Kirby Lee, Image of Sport
Brad Surh of Carlmont emerged as among the hot new names in distance-rich California on the oval
last year while Foothill's Chris Schwartz made stunning improvement to win the Division I crown in
cross-country in the Fall. At right, Buchanan's Jonathan Sanchez is among Central California's best!

       Mile Run: Were this event not so early in the year, the entry names would make this a very intriguing clash! Nevertheless, national listers Mac Fleet (University City HS) and Brad Surh (Carlmont HS) provide California the best returning 1-2 punch in the country over four laps, with Fleet ranking as the top sophomore in the land last year (4:08.09, good for the silver medal at the state meet -- not to mention 3:50.48 for 1500 meters) and Surh profiled as the #7 returnee (4:08.97, converted) in the nation. Both Fleet and Surh were affected by injury within the last calendar year, with Fleet fresh off foot surgery that prematurely halted his cross-country campaign. Foothill of Bakersfield's Chris Schwartz, the California state Division I cross-country champion and among the nation's best juniors at 3200 meters, is also entered here. Troy's Jonathan Shawel, who won the Individual Sweepstakes cross-country race at the Mt. SAC Invitational, Matt Maldonado (Modesto HS), Raul Arcos (Corona HS), and Jonathan Sanchez (Buchanan HS) are also entered and rated among the state's top fifteen returnees in the event.
       55-meter high hurdles: A very fine field is assembled for the barriers challenge, with Granite Bay's Aaron Burney owning the fastest time in the field (14.43 legal, at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet). State high jump leader Maurice Valentine (14.56, windy) of Castro Valley, powerful Matt Brown of Mt. Pleasant and among the nation's top frosh of 2007 in Dale Morgan (14.68w) of Woodland Hills Taft are all very competitive on paper as well, with only four presumably being allowed to advance to the final (there are qualifying heats in both the 55-meter dash and the 55-meter hurdles).
       55-meter dash: Being unleashed to scamper over a distance roughly half the distance of a football field, gridiron stars Adam Long of St. Bernard and Chris Owusu of Oaks Christian are the top speedburners assembled here, with Hercules' Jeremy James and Long Beach Poly's Evant Orange also among the leading talents, with three of those four -- James being the exception -- emanating from the Southern end of the state. Long has the fastest time in the field, a wind-aided 10.53 effort at the Southern Section Finals that was punctuated by as very impressive extra gear over the last 40 meters. Owusu, the shorter and more explosive of the two -- and that couldbe an edge in the shorter dash distance here -- has a wind-legal 10.65 best.
       800-meter run: Six of the state's top half-milers are showcased here, paced by returning state leader Torion Bailey of Mayfair in the Southern Section. Bailey, who came from off the radar to earn elite status last spring, sped to a lifetime-best 1:52.38 at the Southern Section Finals in 2007. Steve Norton (La Sierra HS), the key two-lap performer on the nation's best distance medley squad a year ago, boasts a personal best 1:53.10 clocking from his section finals performance of a year ago and Oak Grove's Sebastian Sam churned out a 1:53.12 at the Junior Olympics last summer. Seniors Michael Andraszczyk (Aliso Niguel), Martin Mwangi (Newark Memorial) and Manny Rin (Deer Valley) are additional sub-1:56.75 performers entered here.

     
Photos by John Dye, Victor Sailer and Robert Lopez
The speed shall spill onto the track as record-setting relay teammates Evant Orange and Joey Hughes
of Long Beach Poly, teen world-class hurdler/speedster Reggie Wyatt of JW North and football standout
Chris Owusu of Oaks Christian are all expected to compete. Wyatt may only due relay duty at this meet.

       4x160-yard relay: The baton crews are a compilation of performers from various schools, with perhaps the most explosive lineup being the SoCal A team of football talents Chris Owusu (Oaks Christian) and Adam Long (St. Bernard) and Long Beach Poly's Evant Orange.
       Mile Relay: Initial reports were that runners from JW North HS would join forces here unattached, but final rosters could still change. If that early teaser rings true, keep in mind that the Huskies ran 3:11.73, with current junior Reggie Wyatt -- one of the world's top teenage hurdlers -- among those in the mix.
       Two-mile run: Although this event was advertised as a national-level endeavor when the meet was first announced months ago, no out-of-state athletes were attracted by meet management, with an eleventh-hour effort to secure the field resulting in several top local (within an hour's drive) runners decorating the entry list. Although none of the top 20 returnees in the state are entered, several promising and rising multi-lappers from the traditionally distance-strong Central Section are entered.
       Long Jump: This sizes up to be an exciting event on the local landscape with spring, with Los Gatos' Kevin Rutledge being among nine returning 23-foot-plus leapers within state lines. Rutledge extended 23-02.00 before hitting the sand a year ago, the #3 returning wind legal mark in California. Kenny Phillips, a 6-10 high jumper from Central HS, has a lega best 22-06.50.