Defending New Balance Outdoor Nationals 100m champion Darryl Haraway, Jr. (DeMatha, MD) has his sights not just on defending his outdoor title, but winning his first indoor championship this season. The Florida State commitment boasts the nation’s top returning times for 55m (6.29), 60m (6.76) and 200m (21.15) and is also the top returner for each event from New Balance Indoor Nationals, where he was was runner-up for 200m and third place in the 55m. Not only is 21.15 blazing, but the time also ranks Harraway as US #9 All-Time. Can anyone dethrone the stag?
Virginia neighbor Marcus Taylor (Highland Springs) is the only other returner from the senior-dominated 60m dash finals field at NBN Indoors. Eighth overall last season (6.87), Taylor is the US #4 returner (6.87) behind Chris Ntreh (6.84) of Plano East, TX and Christian Brissett (6.86) of Cheltenham, PA.
Darryl Haraway, Jr. (second from the left) and Noah Lyles (third from the left) are the top returners from the New Balance Indoor Nationals 200m field.
Noah Lyles (T.C. Williams, VA) placed third in the 200m at NBN Indoors, blazing to a new sophomore class record of 21.5 and ranking as the #3 returner based on time. He was also the World Youth Olympics Champion for 200m this summer. Ranked just ahead of Lyles is Paul Lucas (Mountain Pointe, AZ), who ran 21.34 indoors to win the USATF Youth Zonal Indoor Track & Field Championship. The five-time Arizona State Champion bypassed NBN for the USATF event last season.
Lyles is also the US #3 returner for 300m (33.9), behind US #1 Anton Porter (33.82) of Mount St. Michael, NY and US #2 Rai Benjamin (33.84) of Mount Vernon, NY. No other returners ran under 34 seconds last year.
The 2014-15 indoor track season returns a slew of top quarter milers, headlined by defending New Balance Nationals Indoor champion Richard Rose (Boys and Girls, NY) and runner-up Benjamin. Both seniors this year, Rose recorded a time of 47.34 for his first national title, while Benjamin ran 47.56 to beat out a field filled out by the Class of 2014.
Richard Rose & Rai Benjamin both return to New Balance Indoor Nationals after placing 1-2 in the 400m Championship last season.
Recent Michigan signee Taylor McLaughlin (Union Catholic, NJ) did not compete at NBN, but recorded the nation’s fastest time of the indoor season with a 47.3 clocking for runner-up honors at the Eastern States Indoor Championship. In placing second at the 80th annual New York Armory event, McLaughlin defeated Benjamin head-to-head and finished behind only Trenton Central’s Zyaire Clemes (47.13), now a freshman at Florida State. Benjamin’s 47.31 clocking ranks No. 2 for returners, just ahead of Rose.
Watch out for Josephus Lyles (T.C. Williams, VA) — brother to Noah — who only ran one indoor meet last year but is the defending New Balance Nationals Outdoor champion for 400 meters (46.23). A national title not enough streed cred for ya? The stud also ran opening leg on the Team USA 4x400 meter relay team that claimed gold this summer with 3:03.31 at the IAAF World Junior Championship.
Virginia Meet of Champions gold and silver medalists Devin Barnes (Hermitage, VA) and Hunter Sampson (Salem, VA) return with nation-leading times of 1:05.44 and 1:05.93 for 500 meters clocked at the March championship event.
Rose is also the top returner for 600m with his 1:18.61 win at the PSAL City Championships. He’s already ahead of that time this season in winning the Bishop Loughlin Games (12/20) in 1:18.4, for the current US #1 spot and US #3 All-Time. Joe Luongo (St. John’s, MA) ranks US #2 returner with his 1:20.05 state championship.
Grant Holloway (Grassfield, VA) leads a solid crew of top-performing short hurdlers. Still just a junior, Holloway returns as last year’s NBN Indoors 60H runner-up, boasting a season-best stat of 7.93. State rival Charles Graham (Phoebus), eighth last season, is the only other returner from the 60H national finals field, with the fifth-fastest returning time of 7.97.
Time-wise, the duo are also the top returners in the 55H, with Holloway’s season-best a 7.82 and Graham’s 7.34. Holloway has already improved upon that mark this season with a US #1 7.23 win in the 55H at the Boo Williams Invitational (12/19).
Other names to watch include Chad Zallow (JFK-Warren, OH),Tyler Kirkwood (Waubonsie Valley, IL), Marcus Krah (Hillside, NC), Sidney Gibbons (Monsignor McClancy, NY) and Antonio Shenault (Lake Park, IL).