* The Hoover boys swept the state championships in 2023
Photo Credit: Erin Nelson/Hoover Sun
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Numbers don't lie.
When it came to determining which high school boys program has been the best in the country over the indoor season in 2024, we had to go to the team scores.
Team scores won't fail you.
We hand-picked 40 of the top teams in the country based on our expert opinions and then scored them down the board in the 60m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,600m, 3,200m, 60mH, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800, DMR, SMR, long jump, high school, triple jump, pole vault, weight throw, pentathlon and shot put. Scores were compiled based off current season PRs.
Of course, this is a paper chess game. A virtual meet simply gives you an idea of how things may turn out. But the reality is also this: While there are several national indoor championships to choose from and many of the nation's top teams enter and compete at them, an equal amount do not travel or do not bring full teams, which makes scoring a national meet an incomplete science.
We do have the numbers here at MileSplit, and so we wanted to get a sense of where things stand.
Here are the teams we chose for this virtual meet:
Bullis School (MD), Archbishop Carroll (DC), Union Catholic (NJ), IMG Academy (FL), Montverde Academy (FL), Archbishop Stepinac (NY), Western Branch (VA), Nansemond River (VA), Hoover (AL), Buford (GA), Long Beach Poly (CA), Long Beach Wilson (CA), South County (VA), Oak Park (MI), Cuthbertson (NC), Oscar Smith (VA), Rush Henrietta (NY), Scotlandville (LA), American Heritage (FL), Miami Northwestern (FL), Bloomfield (CT), Hinsdale Central (IL), East St. Louis (IL), Westerville Central (OH), Clinton (MS), Friends' Central (PA), Fayetteville-Manlius (NY), Ventura (CA), Duncanville (TX), DeSoto (TX), Lake Oswego (OR), DeMatha Catholic (MD), Greensboro Dudley (NC), North Allegheny (PA), Atlanta Westlake (GA), Mater Dei (CA), Valor Christian (CO), Mountain Vista (CO), Denver East (CO), Bishop Gorman (NV).
The best team in America?
That may -- or may not -- surprise you.
Here are the results:
| ANK | TEAM | SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Hoover (AL) | 83.5 |
| Zander Dakis 1600m 4 3200m 3 | 7 | |
| Dallas Beck 400m 4 | 4 | |
| Hoover 4x200m 2 4x400m 5 4x800m 5 | 12 | |
| Denver Cash 60H 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| RJ Torbor 60H 2 LJ 1 TJ 1 | 4 | |
| DeMarion Gardner 60m 7.5 | 7.5 | |
| Cannon Peters 800m 6 | 6 | |
| Jordan Woolen HJ 6 | 6 | |
| Charles Crowder LJ 2 TJ 10 | 12 | |
| Collin Pate PV 8 | 8 | |
| Norman Settles PV 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| Omari Bryant PV 1 | 1 | |
| Bradley Shaw S 5 | 5 | |
| Michael Nixon S 2 | 2 | |
| 2 |  Bullis School (MD) | 81 |
| Colin Abrams 1600m 6 800m 10 | 16 | |
| Quincy Wilson 400m 10 200m 10 | 20 | |
| Alexander Lambert 400m 6 | 6 | |
| Cameron Homer 400m 5 | 5 | |
| Bullis School 4x200m 5 4x400m 10 4x800m 8 SMR 10 | 33 | |
| Matthew Goines 200m 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | 73 | |
| Joshua Gresham 400m 1 800m 1 | 2 | |
| DeMatha Catholic High School 4x200m 4 4x400m 8 4x800m 10 DMR 10 SMR 6 | 38 | |
| Anthony Waterman 60H 6 | 6 | |
| Daden Grogan 800m 5 | 5 | |
| Chase Lopez 800m 3 | 3 | |
| Darrell Carey HJ 1 | 1 | |
| Ashton McCullers PV 6 | 6 | |
| Caleb Barley S 10 | 10 | |
| James Long 200m 2 | 2 | |
| 4 | 55.5 | |
| Archbishop Carroll High School (DC) 4x200m 10 4x400m 6 | 16 | |
| Jake Odey-Jordan 60m 10 200m 8 | 18 | |
| Drew Dillard HJ 9.5 TJ 3 | 12.5 | |
| Farraj Al-Amin LJ 5 | 5 | |
| Damill Bostic 200m 4 | 4 | |
| 5 | Scotlandville (LA) | 51.5 |
| Scotlandville 4x200m 1 | 1 | |
| Broderick Davis 60H 10 60m 4.5 LJ 8 TJ 4 | 26.5 | |
| Kyree Langley 60m 6 | 6 | |
| FERZELL SHEPARD LJ 10 TJ 8 | 18 | |
| 6 | 43 | |
| Jimmy Wischusen 1600m 10 | 10 | |
| Evan Weber 1600m 2 3200m 5 | 7 | |
| Alex Saldana 1600m 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Devine 3200m 4 | 4 | |
| Aidan Cichocki 3200m 2 | 2 | |
| Union Catholic Reg. HS 4x800m 6 DMR 6 SMR 3 | 15 | |
| Marcus McCoy 60H 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Cooper LJ 3 | 3 | |
| 7 |  Montverde Academy (FL) | 38.5 |
| Jayvian Greene 400m 8 60m 1.5 200m 6 | 15.5 | |
| Montverde Academy 4x800m 1 DMR 8 | 9 | |
| Lucas Coan 800m 4 | 4 | |
| Alex Georgiev PV 10 | 10 | |
| 8 | 27.5 | |
| Thomas Wlazlowski 1600m 5 3200m 8 | 13 | |
| Justin Bevacqua 3200m 1 | 1 | |
| Cuthbertson High School 4x400m 1 4x800m 3 SMR 5 | 9 | |
| Tommy Pringle HJ 3.5 | 3.5 | |
| Ethan Mull S 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | 26 | |
| Western Branch High School 4x200m 3 4x400m 2 | 5 | |
| Antonio Smith 60H 4.5 HJ 3.5 | 8 | |
| Micah Hinton 60H 3 TJ 2 | 5 | |
| James Craig S 8 | 8 | |
| 10 |  IMG Academy (FL) | 19 |
| IMG Academy 4x200m 6 | 6 | |
| Ty Mathes LJ 6 TJ 5 | 11 | |
| Josh Ewing PV 2 | 2 | |
| 11 | 18 | |
| Nayan Kasperowski 1600m 8 3200m 10 | 18 | |
| 12 | 18 | |
| Wilson - Long Beach (SS) 4x400m 4 4x800m 4 SMR 8 | 16 | |
| Wyland Obando 800m 2 | 2 | |
| 13 |  Hinsdale (Central) (IL) | 17 |
| Aden Bandukwala 800m 8 | 8 | |
| Michael Prieto HJ 5 | 5 | |
| Mark Ortiz S 4 | 4 | |
| 14 |  Wester. Central (OH) | 15.5 |
| Elijah Harris HJ 9.5 TJ 6 | 15.5 | |
| 15 | 15 | |
| Oscar Smith High School 4x200m 8 SMR 4 | 12 | |
| Alvin Jones 60m 3 | 3 | |
| 16 |  Dudley (NC) | 15 |
| Le'Ezra Brown 60H 8 200m 3 | 11 | |
| Devin Mims HJ 2 | 2 | |
| Dudley SMR 2 | 2 | |
| 17 | 15 | |
| Ja'mari Manson HJ 8 | 8 | |
| Khile Francis S 6 | 6 | |
| Bloomfield High School SMR 1 | 1 | |
| 18 |  Clinton High School (MS) | 10.5 |
| Howard Banks 400m 3 | 3 | |
| Omari Hampton 60m 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| David Peabody PV 3 | 3 | |
| 19 |  North Allegheny (PA) | 9.5 |
| Zach Duckworth PV 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| North Allegheny DMR 5 | 5 | |
| 20 |  Long Beach Poly (SS) (CA) | 9.5 |
| Long Beach Poly (SS) 4x400m 3 | 3 | |
| Malachi Dawson 60m 1.5 200m 5 | 6.5 | |
| 21 | 9 | |
| Nolan McGinn 1600m 3 3200m 6 | 9 | |
| 22 |  Westlake (GA) | 7.5 |
| Terrance Mahomes 60m 7.5 | 7.5 | |
| 23 | 6.5 | |
| Rush Henrietta Sperry 4x800m 2 | 2 | |
| Nathan Sinclair PV 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| 24 |  Archbishop Stepinac (NY) | 6 |
| David Davitt 400m 2 | 2 | |
| Samuel Madu LJ 4 | 4 | |
| 25 |  Nansemond River (VA) | 3.5 |
| Israel Lewis HJ 3.5 | 3.5 | |
| 26 |  East St. Louis (Sr.) (IL) | 3 |
| Elmo Gillian S 3 | 3 |
* The On The Line crew talks about Hoover at the 28:30-minute mark