* Gavin Schurr at the VA Beach Club Opener in December
There Are No Favorites In The Short Sprints
The short sprints are full of star power. But is their a clear favorite in either the 55m or 200m?
The long and short of it? No.
Some of the nation's top athletes at the distance are facing each other for the first time.
Neither IMG's Jaylen Slade or Fairview's Gavin Schurr have faced off in 2021 yet. However, Slade has beaten Katy Taylor's David Foster heads-up, and Schurr has topped Eleanor Roosevelt's Laurenz Colbert in the 200m.
There are also athletes like South County's Sean Jackson, and Terry Parker's Aaron Bell to consider in the 60m. But all of these athletes have to run well enough to reach the finals.
Just how fast can we expect this group to go? Consider that the fastest anyone has run in the last five years has been Anthony Schwartz -- the Auburn wide receiver who recently declared for the NFL draft -- who ran 6.13 in 2018. The meet record in the 55m is 6.26.
We're likely going to see a time somehwere under 6.20. But it will be anyone's guess just who's going to top the field.
The 200m field, meanwhile, seems just as unclear. While Colbert heads into the event with a US No. 1 time of 21.08, Schurr defeated the Maryland athlete on Dec. 5 on the same Virginia Beach track, hitting a time of 21.28.
Michigan's Udodi Onwuzurike, Fenton's Brandon Miller, Bell, Jaylen Barringer, Foster and a host of others will likely also be in the mix here.
And with race directors moving the hyrdaulic bank up a few inches, watch out for some potentially very fast times nearing sub-21 territory. The meet record is 21.48, which Brandon Nya scored in 2020.