BRIGHTON, MASSACHUSETTS, March 09–12 – Not since ’10 had a HS nationals landed in Beantown. With the opening of The Track At New Balance, many elite preps took full advantage of the modern and spacious facility for a final curtain call of the 2022–23 undercover campaign.
Three national records on the boys’ side highlighted the four days of competition in resounding fashion. Sprints and distances dominated throughout while locals had a key role in some of the recordsetting performances.
Just a brilliant sprint weekend on the lightning-fast track for Issam Asinga (Academy, Montverde, Florida) who captured both the 60 and 200. First up he destroyed the 1-lap HSR, running 20.48 in the final ahead of Brody Buffington (Catoctin, Thurmont, Maryland) at 20.71, who jumped to No. 6 all-time.
Asinga’s time bettered Jaylen Slade’s old record of 20.62 set in ’21.
“I knew I had to go out fast because I had Brody right in front of me,” Assinga told milesplit.com. “I knew he was going to push me to something crazy. Once I passed him I knew I was in contention for something special. I didn’t know it was gonna be that special, but hey, I can’t complain. Great day!”
Asinga then came back in his qualifying round of the 60 and tied the 24-year-old record of Casey Combest, running 6.57 before taking the final in 6.59.
Connor Burns (Southern Boone, Ashland, Missouri) got things rolling on Friday for the boys, holding off Jackson Heidesch (Dowling Catholic, Des Moines, Iowa) in the 2M. Burns, who had gapped Heidesch by 7 seconds heading into the final 400, held on to win by just over a second in 8:43.24. The mark moved Burns to No. 6 all-time.
Heidesch followed up his runner-up performance with a 4:02.25 mile ahead of Devan Kipyego (St. Raphael, Pawtucket, Rhode Island) at 4:02.30. Kipyego was looking to become the first New Englander to go sub-4, but it wasn’t to be on this day.
The top two DMR teams just missed breaking 10:00, with the 10:00.20 time of Crater (Central Point, Oregon) grabbing the win over Delbarton (Morristown, New Jersey) at 10:02.81. Collin Boler anchored for the runner-up quartet in 4:03.80.
The 11-year-long reign of 5000 recordholder Edward “King” Cheserek came to an abrupt end after a sterling contest which saw the top 4 finishers all within striking distance with 100m remaining. It…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Track & Field News…