* Adaejah Hodge returns to the New Balance Outdoor Nationals to see if she can hold her all-time 200m record
Photo Credit: Cara Mooney/MileSplit
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On the high school front, it's time for national championships to be crowned.
New faces and returners will travel to Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to compete atNew Balance Nationals Outdoorfrom June 13-16.
Some are leaders in their events at the moment, while others are ranked on the all-time performances list, but all are ready for the chance to win a national title.
Here are the top seven athletes you need to be on the lookout for starting Thursday.
Christian Miller, Creekside High School, FL
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This won't be Miller's first rodeo at New Balance Nationals Outdoor.
He finished second to Issam Asinga in this race last year and currently sits with the seventh-best performance of all time at the meet.That being said, Miller has a shot to earn a meet record. His personal record of 9.93 is over a tenth of a second faster than that.
The Georgia recruit set his PR -- and current world top five time -- at the PURE Athletics Elite Sprint Meet this year,breaking the American U20 record in the process.
This weekend, you can expect Miller to chase after sub-10 and, in the process, go after the record. Atascocita's Jelani Watkins, who owns a U.S. No. 2 time, will also be in the race.
Adaejah Hodge,Montverde Academy, FL
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Hodge is also a Georgia signee and is entered to run in the 100m, 200m, 4x200 relay, 4x400 relay and sprint medley.
That's quite the lineup.
While Hodge currently leads the nation in the 100m with a wind-legal time of 11.19, we haven't seen her race since April.
At the New Balance Nationals Indoor, Hodge defended her 200m indoor title, which she also holds in the outdoor meet.Hodge has the chance to go up against the current all-time performance in the 100m set by Tamari Davis at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, which matches her PR.
Zamarii Sanders,American Heritage High School (Plantation), FL
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Entered into the 100m and 200m, Sanders is currently the nation's leader in the 200m with a time of 20.50 ... as a sophom*ore.
The 200m Florida Class 3A state title-holder will have his work cut out for him, though.
Sanders and Miller will go head-to-head for the 200m title. That likely won't faze him, though, as he anchored American Heritage to its first -- and Florida's first ever -- sub-40 time in the 4x100 at the state championships. He knows pressure.
Ethan Walther, Salesianum School, DE
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Walther is entered in the 800m and currently stands as the U.S No. 1 performer in the event.
He finished first in the 800m at the HOKA Festival of Milesat the end of May after running a sub-1:50.
With a personal record of 1:49.02, Walther could not only win, but chase after a top 10 performance all-time in high school.
Sadie Engelhardt,Ventura High School, CA
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Currently, Engelhardt is the U.S. leader in the 800m, 1,500m, 1,600m and mile distances, with the latter being a national record.
Engelhardt is entered to run in the mile and distance medley relay.
She recorded the third-fastest mile of all-time at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor last year, but with her current personal record of 4:28.46 -- the nation's first outdoor time for a girl under 4:30 -- she could take the top spot and blow the doors wide open.
Engelhardt finished second in the women's professional race at the HOKA Festival of Miles.
Drew Griffith, Butler Senior High School, PA
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Griffith currently leads the U.S. at the mile distance, and he's the only boy this outdoor season to break four minutes.
In Pennsylvania, Griffith is entered in the mile and the DMR.
Griffith is coming off of a first-place finish in the mile at the HOKA Festival of Miles, where he set a PR of 3:57.72.
If he's able to match his performance, he would become the first boy at NBNO to record a sub-4 minute mile. The current meet record was last set in 1997.
Adelaide Caron, Woonsocket High School, RI
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Caron leads the U.S. in the hammer throw and will head to Franklin Field in hopes of keeping it that way.
Woonsocket has become one of the top producing throwing programs in the U.S., with former stars like Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan and Logan Coles being alums.
Caron's best throw was marked at 176-8, which won her a Rhode Island state title.
Related Links:
New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet page
