Will Claye

Check out which boys are among the top 100 from the Great Southwest Classic in each event.

A look at the top 15 boys performances at the Arcadia (CA) Invitational.

Check out which boys are among the top 100 from the Great Southwest Classic in each event.

Gator Greats Will Claye and Christian Taylor feel they will push each other to break the world record, several times over. (via Florida Gators)

Gator Greats Christian Taylor and Will Claye became the first men in history to post a gold-silver finish at consecutive Olympiads, while Kerron Clement and Genevieve LaCaze also advanced to finals in their respective events. (via Florida Gators)

The Gator Greats' mythical 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships duel remains, in a word, legendary. Their gold-silver finish at the 2012 Summer Olympics introduced the world to a burgeoning friendly rivalry. They finished 1-2 at this year's Olympic Trials. What do they have in store for the Olympics? (via Florida Gators)

A pair of Florida natives and former high school rivals brought home gold medals on the final day of USA Championships.

Two-time Olympic medalist Will Claye wrapped up the Gators' medal haul Sunday with his second World Championships bronze medal in the men's triple jump. (via www.gatorzone.com)

Oklahoma Track and Field athletes Ronnie Ash and Will Claye have remained on the updated watch lists for the 2010 Bowerman Award, track and field's equivalent to the Heisman, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Tuesday. With only 11 individuals on the current watch list for the award, the OU Track and Field program is one of only two in the nation to have multiple athletes on the watch list joining the University of Oregon with two athletes.

Just when you think the track and field season is officially done, guess what...it's not! The USATF National Junior Olympic T&F Championships take place this week, July 22-27, in Omaha, Nebraska. While many of the nation's top seniors have taken their break and now prepare for their collegiate squads, some younger prep athletes take a stab one more time at putting up big marks and improving their personal bests. MileSplit will bring you day-to-day highlights of each final and hopefully news of some new U.S. top ten performances. Top USATF Junior Olympic Highlights - William Wynne (GA) hurdles to victory in YM 400m hurdles in 49.84 - Turquoise Thompson (CA) goes 57.67 in YW 400m hurdles - Booker Nunley (NC) earns win in YM 110m hurdles in 13.41 - Jack Whitt (OK) vaults 17-02.75 to win Young Men's pole vault - Phyllis Francis (NY) runs 2:04.83 800m, new IG record, U.S. #3 - Chalonda Goodman (GA) blazes 23.29 YW 200m, 11.36 100m - Elias Gedyon (CA) wins Intermediate Boys 800m dash in 1:51.91

 Just completing her freshman year at Dobson HIgh School, Hannah Carson was named to the All-USA Track and Field in the throws.  Her distance of 167-11 with the Javelin was one of the top throws in the nation and she was one of two Javelin throwers to make the list.  Will Claye (Mt. Pointe) and Bryce Lamb (Chandler) made the team in both the long jump and the triple jump.  Claye whose season ended early because of a broken wrist jumped distances of 24-3 in the long jump and 52-4 3/4 in the triple jump while Lamb jumped 24-2 in the long jump and 52-2 in the triple jump.  Both boys have one year left in their High School Career.   Click here for USA Today article

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Some of the top athletes in Arizona headed to the Jesse Owens Stadium on the Ohio State Campus in Columbus Ohio for the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships. The three day event serves as a selection meet for the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships to be held July 8 – 13 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The top two finishers in most of the events qualify for the World Team. An athlete competing in events like the 3000 also need to hit a qualifying time in order to make the team regardless of where they place. Click on header for full article! Click here to see photos

The decision for many athletes this year was hard. Go to Nike Outdoor Nationals, our sports high school track and field champion, or take their talents to Ohio and compete at the USATF Junior National T&F Championships and try to make the world team. Both meets fell on the same weekend this year, so athletes had to make a choice. Well, it turns out many of the top athletes across the country want their shot to make Team USA and the Junior National meet is loaded with talent. See who's got a shot to make the team.

Hannah Carson (left) from Dobson Photo by Alan Versaw (Colorado Milesplit) Athletes from all over the West headed to the University of New Mexico over the weekend to compete in The Great Southwest Invitational. The elevation was over 5,000 feet and the winds were swirling around making it difficult to post some great times. Four Arizona athletes hit gold as they ran......jumped........and threw!   Click here for complete article.... More articles.... Photo Gallery.....

Although many of the most highly-anticipated match-ups did not take place, there was still plenty of action and excitement to go around at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic.   Tennessee's Jacquelyn Coward, at left, lights up the track with a wind-aided 13.00 in the 100 hurdles. Complete Meet Results Photo Gallery

Several Arizona athletes will be heading to Albuquerque New Mexico for the Great Southwest Invitational this weekend. Nationaly ranked Larissa Matthews from Chandler will be competing in the 100 and 300 hurdles before heading to the USA Track and Field Junior Nationals in two weeks. Super freshman Hannah Carson from Dobson is seeded first in the Javelin, 7th in the Shot Put and 12th in the long jump and sisters Ashley and Amanda Weber from Sierra Vista are seeded 1st and 2nd in the Hammer Throw. Sprinters Serene Williams (Peoria) and Terra Evans (South Mountain) are both schedule to compete in the 100 and 200 elite races and the 4 x 100 relay. Top Arizona Pole Vaulter Cara Carpenter from Mesa Mountain View is seeded third in the Pole Vault. On the boys side top National Triple Jumpers Will Claye (US#3 Mountain Pointe) and Bryce Lamb (US#4 Chandler) are ranked 1 and 2 in the triple jump and 2 and 3 in the long jump. Sprinters Allante Battle (Desert Vista) and Giorgio Giurdanella (Mountain Ridge) will be running in the 100 and 200. Battle and Giurdanella faced off against each other at the State Meet with Giurdanella winning but the two will not be racing against each other on Saturday as they are in different heats. To see a full list of Arizona runners competing at the Great Southwest..... click on the title.

Wow! That's all that can really be said to sum up this past weekend's performances across the nation. With great weather, peak performances and deep fields, some of the results simply impressed. With nearly ten seperate state meets to cover, and numerous other top-tier invitationals, we've decided to merge it all into one big article, a new feature we're going to call The Awards Stand. Each week for the rest of the season we'll recap what the top performances were in each event grouping. See who made it this week. (Photo of Texas' Kyle Clemons by Alex Aldaco)

5A-1 Finals Three Footlocker finalists toed the line Thursday evening at the 5A-I State Championships. US#9 Nadya (pictured middle) and US#15 Nastia Bishton (pictured far left), seniors at Mountain Ridge and US#10Jessica Tonn (pictured right) a sophomore from Xavier Prep pushed the pace right from the start.....they were there to race. By the time the three of them crossed the 200 mark they had already separated themselves from the rest of the field crossing the half way mark in 5:09. With one lap to go an offcial held up the 2 lap sign by mistake causing a few moments of confussion and the crowd to jump to their feet. Tonn won the race with a time of 10:30.55 breaking the sophomore state record of 10:33.11 set by Sarah Gordon in 1998 and winning her second 3200 state championship. Nadya Bishton finished second in 10:31.97 while Nastia finished in 10:35.42. A late surge by junior and Xavier teammate Sarah Penney put her in fourth place.

As the sun went down and the lights came on at the Arcadia Invitational in California, two Arizona runners toed the line for the men's 800 Invitational. Two weeks ago at the Chandler Rotary James Eichberger (Catalina Magnet) and John Kline (Desert Vista) gave the stadium crowd a race to remember.

What a weekend it was out at the Arcadia Invitational. As the dust settles and the results are entered into the national rankings, it is clear once again that Arcadia is one of the premier high school meets in the country. After analyzing the performances and notes from the weekend, MileSplit national editor Scott Bush takes a look at the top ten performances of the meet. Guess who made the top spot? (pictured right is Chris Derrick (IL) giving the thumbs up after his impressive 5k performance)