This year we are highlighting the top NBNO commitments each week leading up to the championships on June 19-21.  

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By Steve Underwood of the NSAF

Deakin Volz – Can he get another record in Greensboro?

Was there any more of an electric moment at NBNI in March than when Deakin Volz (Bloomington South, IN senior) vaulted his impressively sculpted frame over a bar set at an HSR 17 feet, 11.25 inches in the boys’ championship pole vault?  Such record attempts are always a thrill at NBN meets.  In 2014, we saw both boys’ and girls’ PV standards revised when Devin King soared over 17-10.25 and Desiree Freier conquered 14-2.75.  But this year’s NBNI was even better:  Volz and Paulo Benavides (El Paso Franklin, TX senior) had already traded the national record this winter on a single day (Feb. 7), as Volz went 17-10.5 in Kentucky only to see Benavides make 17-11 later in New Mexico.  

So at NBNI, both cleared 17-8.5, setting up the scenario of not one, but two athletes going for the record and the precious victory.  Volz’s 3rd-attempt clearance meant he got to walk away from the undercover campaign with both, in arguably the meet’s best showdown.  A 17-3 performer as a junior, Volz had previously never competed in a major championship.  As a senior, training under his dad, David – a former world-class vaulter himself – he was finally ready this winter.  Outdoors so far, Volz has been consistent, with three meets between 17-6 and 17-8, but has not competed in any major invites yet.  All the more reason, then, to see another “coming out party” of sorts, when he hits the big stage in Greensboro, with more great battles and potential record attempts in the offing!

Chad Zallow – Narrow defeat at NBNI a big motivator

No one could blame Chad Zallow if he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder entering 2015.  As a junior at John F. Kennedy Catholic HS of Warren, Ohio in 2014, he had a blazing start to the indoor campaign and took the U.S. lead at 60H in January with a 7.84.  He looked like a favorite for a NBNI title, or at least a top All-American finish.  But he struggled with injuries the rest of the season and never made it to New York.  He was then pretty good outdoors: He won the Ohio D3 110H and took 2nd in the 300H, then was 8th in the 110s and 7th at 400H at NBNO.  Not bad, but not what could have been.

2015 has been a different story.  Zallow’s been pretty much healthy all year and the results have borne witness to his talent and what hard work can bring.  He ran under 7.80 for 60H seven times and was unbeaten coming into NBNI at then-US#1 7.62.  It took a near-HSR by Grant Holloway to nip him, with both clocking 7.59 and passing 55H in 7.05 and 7.06.  He’s stayed on fire outdoors, led by a then-US#1 13.50 110H, 37.06 300H double at Arcadia.  In fact, the 13.50 is still US#2 several weeks later.  So maybe Zallow will have a bit of a chip on his shoulder again when he comes to Greensboro, with hopes of meeting Holloway again and reversing that finish.  But it will only be motivated by hopes for an NBN title this time, not because injuries compromised his chances.

John Lewis – Team player guns for individual title

Coaches love long sprint/middle-distance types like John Lewis – they can do so many different events, so many different relays.  A senior on Cheltenham, PA’s powerhouse squad, Lewis has enough footspeed for a short relay and can fill shoes on every medley and longer relay up to the DMR and 4x800.  In fact, Lewis came to NBNI in March at US#1 1:50.57 in the 800.  But he’s such a team player that he ran just the relays, anchoring his team’s US#1 winning 4x400 and their runner-up sprint medley relay – which ran 3:25.32 for #3 all-time behind Dayton Dunbar’s HSR.

Lewis has been at the core of much of the school’s success the past few years.  As a junior indoors in ’14, he won a 400 state title and anchored Cheltenham’s 3rd-place NBNI 4x4.  Outdoors, he ran 47.69 and 1:54.74 during the spring, but in the summer he got all the way down to 1:50.01 in taking the AAU JOs (17-18).  That set the stage for this past winter, and Lewis has continued to rock outdoors.  He’s also a great hurdler, and has progressed with a 3rd-place 52.46 in the Penn Relays 400H and 37.77 for 300H.  But the 800 is still probably his best event and just last week he blasted a US#2 1:49.15.  And guess what?  At NBNO, Cheltenham reportedly doesn’t plan to enter any relays, leaving us to see what Lewis can do in a fresh, open 800!  That will be a treat.

Twanisha Terry – Young leader is maturing

There have been a lot of great ones that have come through Miami Northwestern’s girls’ program under Coach Carmen Jackson.  Tiffany Ross, Lizzie Harris and Brianna Rollins, just to name a few.  And there’s a few this year who have that same kind of top-shelf talent and potential – perhaps none more than Twanisha Terry.  If you recall watching the Lady Bulls at last June’s NBNI, you may recall a freshman who ran on a very young winning 4x100 and runner-up 4x200 – the only 9th-grader on those quartets.  She also won the freshman 100m dash in 11.89.  That was Terry.

That great, young Miami NW squad has gotten even better in 2015, and Terry is a big reason.  They came out flying with the batons, hitting a mid-season peak at the Florida Relays with then-US#1 marks of 45.67 for 4x100 and 1:35.42 for 4x200 (still #1).  Individually, Terry started to really lower her time as the state series began, then Coach Jackson had her peaked at state for tremendous victories of 11.44w and US#6 23.55.  On top of that, the 4x100 got a state meet record of 45.61.  Terry has also been selected for Team NSAF to compete in the Caribbean Scholastic Invite in Havana, Cuba.  It’s not a long trip from Miami, so she should be fresh enough to put on a big show back with her teammates in Greensboro.

Alexis Duncan – Something to prove

There were not just one, but two absolutely razor-close finishes in the straightaway girls’ championships races at NBNO last year, providing moments as exciting as any in the meet.  First, it was Candace Hill beating Brenessa Thompson in the 100m dash, 11.332 to 11.338, then later that same evening we saw Alexis Duncan edge Sydney McLaughlin in the 100m hurdles, 13.33 to 13.34.  Among those returning to Greensboro will be Duncan, who’s now coming off quite possibly the meet of her life.  The DeSoto HS (TX) senior doubled the 100H and 300H in the Texas 6A state meet last weekend, crossing the line in the former with an all-conditions PR 13.25w – meeting a big goal of hers.  She came back in the longer race with a well-paced 42.09 victory – and this all after anchoring DeSoto to a US#1 45.38 4x100m relay triumph.

It may seem odd at this point to factor in what Duncan did in last year’s and this year’s NBNI meet, but consider this:  In 2014, she came to her first indoor champs and lowered her 60m hurdles PR from 8.51 to a smoking 8.37 in taking 3rd behind Dior Hall’s HSR and Quenee’ Dale.  A year later, with that ’14 NBNO 100H title now on her resume’, Duncan ran just a smidgen faster at 8.36 and watched McLaughlin – who she had beaten in Greensboro – and Anna Cockrell go 1-2.  Might that have stung a bit?  In any case, expect this talented soph – who is also part of the Team NSAF roster for the Caribbean Scholastic Invite in Cuba – to be extremely motivated to defend her 100H title come the third weekend in June!

Nicole Greene – Now a champ and triple threat

Nicole Greene has had a couple truly landmark days for her career in the sport of track and field so far in 2014, the first coming on the opening day of NBNI in March.  Up until this year, the Ponte Vedra, FL senior had always been able to jump high – she went 5-10 as a frosh to win the first of three Golden South titles in 2012 – but hadn’t been particularly consistent, made significant improvements, or really impacted the national scene.  But she had her first 6-footer in January, then at NBNI improved that to a victorious, meet-record and US#1 6-0.5.  Greene had really arrived nationally. 

Outdoors, the consistency at 5-10 to 6-0 has continued.  But on Greene’s 18th birthday, the day of the Florida 3A state meet, something else happened: She went from being a good horizontal jumper to a great one.  Greene had always been competitive in the long and triple jumps, but she had a mind-boggling 17-inch PR that day to win the LJ at 20-5, then another career best of nearly a foot to take the TJ at 40-2.25 (both wind-legal).  The LJ, in fact, ranks #3 in the country (she’s #2 in the HJ).  The high jump wasn’t quite as magical, but she still completed a stunning triple with her 5-10 win.  Next month – following a trip with Team NSAF to the Caribbean Scholastic Invite in Cuba – Greene will make her 2nd trip to NBNO and there’s no doubt she’ll be a HJ favorite.  It will be fun to see if she goes for it in one or more of the horizontals again, too.

Make sure to check out NBNationals.com and NationalScholastic.org often for new updates and make sure to tune in to NBNationals.com on June 19-21 to watch all the action LIVE!