Now, field events may not always play a big role in some elite meets, but this is an invite that has continually brought in great talent in the field. Pole vault looks to be an area of strength this time around with a couple of 16-footers on the boys’ side and a 12-footer leading the girls. Look for some strong performances in the girls’ long jump and high jump as well. 

 Last year’s edition of this meet, gave great hope to the possibilities of this year as standouts Emma Brink (Sacred Heart, KY) and Zach Willis (Mason, OH) both won close decisions over seniors in impressive fashion. Both have returned along with a slew of other talented entries making this group of distance races the deepest and most impressive that I have seen in several years. With some very strong meet records out there and some even more impressive names attached to them, there is a great chance that this meet will end with more than a few nationally-ranked performances.

Each year, some of the best high school athletes in the nation make their way to the Bluegrass State for the UK High School Invitational and this year is no different. The meet consistently yields some of the best performances in the nation as the oval in the University of Kentucky’s Nutter Fieldhouse is a friendly 290-meters, which means fewer curves in all the races 200 meters and up. Last year, Tavaris Tate (Starkville, MS) and Takeia Pinckney (Columbia, GA) both scored US #1 performances for the entire indoor season, with Tate running 47.06 for 400 meters and Pinckney running 7.33 for 60 meters. In all, there were close to 20 different performances that ranked in the top 10 in the nation for the entire indoor season during last year’s edition, continuing an impressive tradition that keeps the talent level high each year.While the meet has consistently brought in several athletes that were clearly the best in their event nationally (Wayne Davis, Chalonda Goodman, and Jacquelyn Coward to name a few), this year the entries don’t pack so much star power, but there is depth in almost every event that should make for nationally-ranked results in all but a few of the events on the day.

Marya Haegler of Winnebago Lutheran Academy signed an NLI today to University of Wisconsin-Parkside for cross country and track.  Marya is a the Gatorade girl cross country runner of the year for Wisconsin and the Wisconsin High School Coaches' Cross country female runner of the year.  She won the State D2 cross country championship, placed 49th at Nike Nationals and 29th at Footlocker Nationals in 2009.  Congratulations to Marya, her family, coaches, and to her new crew in Parkside!

 

Megan Goethals and Chelsey Sveinsson battle to the line, Lukas Verzbicas dominates front-to-back in the boys race.  Tons of coverage from our on-site team...

With her seventh place finish at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional, Winnebago Lutheran Academy senior Marya Haegler became the first female national qualifier from the state of Wisconsin since Jackie Mulrooney qualified for the Foot Locker finals in 2001. Haegler's biggest role model happens to be one of the all-time greats to ever come out of the state in Suzy Favor Hamilton, while her beginning in running started in grade school when her grandfather timed her in a loop around the block.