I am not talking about Jr or Youth, but the World Championships Team. It used to be somewhat of a novelty to have one or two H.S. athletes going up against seniors. It is very rare that a high school athlete can make the U.S. national team, even rarer, if ever to have over half a dozen who ‘would’ have a legitimate shot. With that said, except for Efraimson and Whitney, none of these athletes have declared for USATF SR Nationals. There is a tremendous amount of mystique around running a sub-4 mile, which was accomplished by 2 H.S. boys this year, Grant Fisher and Matthew Maton. A sub-4 mile on scale, is barely national class compared to the female phenoms like Efraimson’s 4:03 1500m or Hall’s 22-5 long jump for example.
The most likely candidate would be Vashti Cunningham in the women’s high jump. At 6-4 1/2 she is ranked number one in the U.S. among senior jumpers. Last year only 2 U.S. athletes jumped better than 6-41/2 and Vashti seems to be getting better every times she is put under pressure. Baring a total collapse, Cunningham is a lock to make the U.S. National team if she choose. Albeit, Cunningham is fantastic jumper, this is also an indictment on how poor high jumping is in the U.S. right now. Only 2 U.S. women have meet the WC IAAF standard.
High school sophomore Sydney McLaughlin ran 55.63 in the 400m hurdles last year at age 15. She pushed the NCAA 400m hurdle champ all the way to the finish line at the Jr Nationals and it wasn’t a perfect race for her. I think she could have possibly won that race if she knew how to hurdle with her alternate leg. She basically lost due to a stutter step on the 9th hurdle. Sydney’s best time this year is 55.87, she got her season off to late start due to injury, but has run faster each time out. Consider the fact that Sydney in all of her 400h races has run unopposed, with the next closes runner usually being several second behind her. The top 400 hurdler in the world this year is Shamier Little, the same athlete Sydney pushed all the way to the finish line at last year’s Junior Nationals. Btw, high school girls 400h hurdle height 30”, which is the same as the NCAA and pros.
Kate Hall, the Iowa bound senior jumped 22-05 (6.83) breaking the U.S. high school and Junior record. Hall’s jump would have won the NCAA Championship and is tied for 3rd best among U.S. senior jumpers.
Anyone who follows high track should have known Candace Hill was the air apparent to Kaylin Whitney. Whitney’s only lost to a high school athlete came last year to Candace Hill, who was a year younger. Hill is no longer the air apparent, she has run over a tenth of a second faster than Whitney in the 100m dash and at a younger age. Some perspective: The European track media was a buss a month ago when Dutch athlete Dafne Schippers ran 10.94 and British athlete Dina Asher-Smith ran 11.02 at the Hengelo meet; I can't imagine what the European track media thinks when they here that an American 16 yo has run 10.98.
Last year, Kaylin Whitney ran 11.10 and 22.49. While in the U.S., those times are unlikely to put you on a national team; however she ran those times as a 16 year old H.S. sophomore. Consider this, Allyson Felix ran 22.83 at age 16 and 22.11 at age 17. You get the point, teenage sprinters can improve a lot in one year. Also, I watched Kaylin run 2 sets of relay legs this year against the pros where she more than held her own. While finishing top 3 is unlikely, because Whitney is off to a slow start, but if she can turn things around and make a slight improvement over last year, making the 4x100 relay pool is not an impossibility.
Alexa Efraimson ran 2:03.23 and then 2:01.13 two days later. Before you say making the National team in the 800m impossible, consider this, at last year’s USATF Championships. Alexa’s 2:03.23 would have gotten her through the preliminaries and two days later, her 2:01.13 would have gotten her out of the semi-finals. Obviously, with the U.S. depth in the 800 making this year’s World team in the 800m is doubtful. Why am I talking about the 800m when Efraimson’s best event is that the 1500 where she is ranked 4th in the U.S. USATF 1500m finals are always tactical, usually won in around 4:06 by the athlete with the best 800m credentials. Only Simpson and Rowbury have a faster 800m PR (this year) than Efraimson.
Although 17 yo Madison Wiltrout, the H.S. National Record holder in the Javelin is only ranked 7th among the seniors; however, who wants to compete against a high school kid who sets a PR by multiple feet every time she throws. Btw, her throw of 185-8 would have placed her second at the NCAA meet.
Realistically, there is a lot I am not considering in terms of these kids being able to manage the rounds and the pressure of the national meet. And, H.S. PRs don’t necessarily equate to the professional who are primed to peak in late June. Except for Vashti Cunningham, the chances of any of these kids making the national team would be less than 50%, but the chances are good enough for conversation. Perhaps what's most interesting is that several of these kids are still eligible to compete in this year’s Youth World Championship.