The Best High School Athletes Set To Clash At New Balance Nationals Indoors In Boston

The full CITIUS MAG team is reuniting for the first time since last summer’s World Championships at this weekend’s New Balance Nationals Indoors. One of the main things I love about this meet is the chance to connect some of the biggest stars of the present day with the rising stars of tomorrow.

Last year, Trayvon Bromell was quick to jump on the Cade Flatt and Gary Martin bandwagon after their respective wins in the 800m and mile. We were just feet away from Natalie Cook and the Flower Mound girls’ relay team asking Emma Coburn and Cory McGee for advice and whether they could run together. And Newbury Park brought the house down when they broke the 4 x mile record.

We’re excited to partner with New Balance to be a part of this weekend’s festivities as the meet is held at The TRACK at New Balance for the first time. More than 5,000 of the nation’s best high school athletes will also be making the trip to Boston.

How To Watch

Our very own Katelyn Hutchison, Jasmine Todd, Dana Giordano and David Melly will be jumping on behind the mic alongside Declan Murray, Carrie Tollefson and Kate Van Buskirk to provide their analysis and commentary on the FREE broadcast, to be streamed on the New Balance YouTube channel.

Here are the links to watch on: Friday | Saturday | Sunday – Live results here.

What to expect from CITIUS MAG At NB Nationals:

Friday: We’ll be going live on our YouTube channel around 11 a.m. ET for a preview of what events and athletes we’re most excited to watch this weekend. Special guest hosts: Trayvon Bromell and Heather MacLean.

Saturday and Sunday: We’ll be going live on our YouTube channel around 6 p.m. ET on Saturday and around noon ET for “After The Final Lap” as Kyle Merber and I interview some of the top high school athletes and provide them with the chance to pick the brains of Team NB athletes. Special guest hosts: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Emma Coburn, Dani Jones, Katie Rainsberger and Heather MacLean may make appearances.

Bookmark or set your reminder here for our Saturday show.

Bookmark or set your reminder here for our Sunday show.

All of these shows will also be available in podcast form at the end of each night on The CITIUS MAG Podcast feed.

Kyle and I will be holding it down in the mixed zone to share rapid post-race interviews in the mixed zone. Johnny Zhang and Justin Britton will be all over The TRACK with the best shots that you can catch on our Instagram.

Who are we most excited to watch:

Girls sprints:

Shawnti Jackson (South Granville HS - Creedmoor, NC)

Jackson is putting together one of the best indoor seasons in history. She ran the 60m national record of 7.16 on Feb. 11 at the Millrose Games. She broke Sydney McLaughlin’s 300m high school record of 36.82 with a 36.63 on Jan. 15. She first popped onto people’s radars during the 2022 indoor season and has backed up her stardom with some World Junior Championship hardware in Colombia last summer. Still… a New Balance Nationals title is missing from her resume, but that’s likely to change this weekend.

Avery Lewis (Friends HS - Wynnewood, PA)

Lewis is the defending champion in the 60m and is coming off a personal best of 7.22 from the Pennsylvania Indoor State Championships. She’ll also be competing in the 200m and long jump – which she also won at States.

Girls distance:

Karrilynn Baloga (Cornwall Central HS - New Windsor, NY)

The Champs Sports National Cross Country champion is coming off a 9:22.09 win and personal best at 3000m to win the New York state title. She’s got her sights set on the 2-mile title.

Sadie Engelhardt (Ventura HS - Ventura, CA)

The sophomore is ALL-IN on getting that mile title after coming close last year. She battled Juliette Whittaker to the finish line and came up just shy of the national title by 0.17 seconds (For what it’s worth, Whittaker is now crushing as a Stanford freshman and may be a contender for the NCAA 800m title this weekend). Engelhardt came away with a 4:40.59 mile win in her debut at The TRACK at New Balance on Feb. 4.

Ellie Shea (Belmont HS - Belmont, MA)

I believe she’s entered in the mile, 800m, two-mile and 5000m so she may have one of the busiest weekends of any high school distance runner. Her most impressive performance of the indoor season has been her 9:02.02 for 3,000m run at BU on Feb. 26, which put her at No. 2 on the all-time list and just 0.21 seconds shy of Katelyn Tuohy’s national record from 2019. She was also the top U.S. U20 finisher on the World Cross Country Championship team that brought home a bronze medal from Australia.

Boys sprints:

Issam Asinga (Montverde Academy, FL)

Could it be time that Casey Combest’s 1999 6.57 national record in the 60m finally falls? Assinga is just .02 seconds away with his 6.59-second run from January. He’s committed to Texas A&M for next year.

Nyckoles Harbor (Archbishop Carroll, DC)

It’s not difficult to spot the 6’5” football recruit on the starting line when Harbor gets into the blocks. He’s been impressive in everything from the 60m to the 200m. His season’s best of 20.76 for 200m puts him at No. 5 on the all-time high school boys’ list. He got some early-season action against pros at the Millrose Games but it’s time he finally gets his own individual NBN crown. He will also have a chance to get a title with his teammates in the 4x200m.

Boys distance:

Jackson Heidesch (Dowling Catholic, IA)

Gary Martin was quick to flag this guy to the world on Twitter. Heidesch ran a 8:42.60 for 2 miles back in January, which puts him at No. 4 on the all-time list behind Edward Cheserek (8:39.15), Gerry Lindgren (8:40.0), and Lukas Verzbicas (8:40.70). He won that race by 6 seconds - ahead of Connor Burns (more on him soon) - but I’m sure there’s the potential to go faster with the guys pushing him.

Kole Mathison (Carmel, IN)

The Champs Sports National Cross Country Champion has been on the track just once this year (before a quick trip to Australia for the world U20 XC champs) and he managed to clock a 4:07.68 mile personal best at the New Balance Grand Prix. He’s overdue for a big personal best (currently 9:03.57) in the 2-mile and is expected to be right up there with Heidesch.

Lex Young (Newbury Park, CA)

Last year, we saw Young go 7:57.06 for 3000m so part of me wishes he was in the two-mile but alas, he’s chosen the 5000m. Cheserek’s 13:57.04 national record is certainly in jeopardy since his personal best is 13:43.95 from Sound Running’s The Track Meet last May.

Connor Burns (Southern Boone, MO)

Just two weeks ago, he became the fifth U.S. high school boy to break 4 minutes for the mile indoors. He comes into the loaded mile as the favorite. This race is so deep that we may get the first-ever sub-4 at New Balance Nationals- and maybe even more than one.

Aaron Sahlman (Newbury Park, CA)

It didn’t take very long for Sahlman to fill Cade Flatt’s shoes as the nation’s most vocal 800m high school runner. Last month, he told me he wants to go after the 800m national record during the outdoor season. The outdoor 800m record is still 1:46.45 by Michael Granville in 1996 after surviving a few scares by Flatt last year. The indoor mark is 1:47.67 by Josh Hoey in 2018. Sahlman is coming off a 1:50.25 last weekend in California so he’s still got a ways to go, and he’s also targeting sub-4 for the mile.

We’ll have Xavier Gallo as our boots on the ground in New Mexico while the rest of the team covers the 2023 New Balance Nationals Indoors in Boston. You can read my NCAA preview here and listen to our NCAA Championships podcast here. Thanks for reading! Let us know what other races you’ll be watching.

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Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez)