* Nyckoles Harbor clocks 20.76 for US No. 5 all-time in the 200m prelims.
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Harbor And Sprint Stars Steal The Show At Texas Tech
Last weekend at The VA Showcase, Archbishop Carroll dual-sport talent Nyckoles Harbor made his transition form the football field to the indoor track look seamless, clocking a U.S. No. 1 33.9 to win the invitational 300m.
A week later at the Texas Tech Under Armour High School Classic, Harbor's early season efforts couldn't look more flawless.
Harbor ran his way to three nation-leading times over the course of the two-day meet, beginning on Friday with a 6.66 in the 60m prelims. He would then lower that U.S. No. 1 mark in the finals, clocking 6.64 to win the event.
But prior to that short sprint final, Harbor contested the 200m prelim rounds where he clocked 20.76 for yet another top mark nationally.
That 200m effort marks Harbor the only high schooler so far this season to dip under 21 seconds, and it also ranks him at US No. 5 all-time in the event behind greats like Noah Lyles and last season's Mississippi star Jordan Anthony.
It's a fitting performance for Harbor, who ran 20.79 at this same meet last year, which at the time ranked fifth in the record books.
Looking beyond Harbor's dominance, it's safe to say that sprinters showed out at Texas Tech over the weekend, as the 6-foot-5 sensation wasn't the only one to produce nationally-ranked performances.
Alexander Chukwukelu may be one of the nation's top up-and-coming athletes this season, and it's time people remember his name. The Major Impact Track Texas hurdler joined Harbor by also having an all-time performance at Texas Tech as he won the 60mH in 7.71. That moves Chukwukelu up to US No. 20 in event history, and he now sits atop the 60mH leaderboards this indoor season.
Also in the sprints, the boys 400m may have been perhaps one of the most entertaining showdowns of the entire meet. It saw two out-of-state racers -- Mead's (CO) Tavon Underwood and Long Beach Poly's (CA) Xai Ricks -- go back-and-forth in both the prelims and final, with Ricks coming out of the first rounds with a US No. 1 time of 47.27. That mark surpassed Underwood's previous nation-leading time of 47.79 from the Arkansas Invitational.
But in the end, it was Underwood who came away with the 400m win in 47.58 to improve upon his now-US No. 2 ranking behind Ricks.
On the girls side of the Texas Tech competition, the performances were just as stacked. Ariike Elijah from Houston, Texas clocked a U.S. No. 3 time of 23.65 to win the 200m, and Cydni Martin's 8.37 winning time in the 60mH also gave her a third-ranked performance nationally.
And to cap it all off, two thrilling performances in the 4x400m closed out the action on Saturday, with Team Quest (TX) taking the girls win in a U.S. No. 2 3:51.02 lead by a 55.36 anchor split from Lauren Lewis and the boys of California's Long Beach Poly winning the boys relay in a country-leading 3:17.96.
The Scoop:
Page 2: All-Time Performances Highlight CYUP Misfits Invite
Page 3: Florida's Best Take To RADD Sunshine Showcase
Page 4: Harbor And Sprint Stars Steal The Show At Texas Tech
Page 5: Langley Continues Distance Success At LSU High School Qualifier
Page 6: Putman, Wilson Run Away With Titles At U.S. Army Officials Hall Of Fame Invitational