2023 Nike Indoor Nationals to light up The Armory for 3 action-packed days

NEW YORK, March 9 – The “fastest track in the world” will be sizzling this weekend as the NSAF will host more than 3,500 of the best high school track & field athletes in the country for the 2023 Nike Indoor Nationals (NIN), March 10-12, at the Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory.

All of the meet details are available at NikeIndoorNationals.com, including:

• Start Lists and Live Results

• Meet Schedule

• Follow live on the RunnerSpace.com Webcast

Eleven individual competing athletes were NIN, NON or NXN champions in 2022, including Akala Garrett (60H/100H/400H), Mia Brahe-Pedersen (200m) and Mensi Stiff (shot put), who were victorious in both NIN and NON meets. The others included Irene Riggs (NXN), Alyssa Banales (NIN long jump), Talia Green (NON 3k racewalk), Sophia Beckmon (NON long jump), Hunter Jones (NIN 5000m), Jaylen Lloyd (NON long jump), Franco Parra (NON 5000m) and Clayton Stoil (NIN mile walk).

Brahe-Pedersen has already had a stellar indoor campaign, including smashing the 200m national record with a 22.89 last month. Riggs’ unbeaten XC season included not only winning the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) title in December, but also the USATF U20 title in January.

Indeed, eight NIN athletes – including five mentioned above – have made U.S. teams and competed internationally. Riggs, Karrie Baloga, Abbey Nechanicky and Zariel Macchia all made Team USA for last month’s World Athletics XC Championships in Australia, while Garrett (400H gold medalist), Brahe-Pedersen (double sprint finalist), Banales and Green all competed at the 2022 World U20 Athletics Championships in Colombia.

Some of the other strongly anticipated highlights:

• The girls’ mile might be the most anticipated event of the meet, featuring World U18 800m indoor record-holder Sophia Gorriaran – who will attempt an historic 800m/1 Mile double. In the longer race she will face Riggs, Baloga, Nechanicky and Macchia, as well as Sophia Kennedy and Addison Ritzenhein – daughters of famed distance Olympians Bob Kennedy and Dathan Ritzenhein.

• The Saratoga Springs NY girls (Kinetic TC) will look to defend their 4x1 Mile title and reclaim the national record they set at NIN in 2022 (beaten later by a Texas squad). Also the NXN team champions last fall (coached by legends Art and Linda Kranick) first won an NIN 4x1 Mile and set a national record in 2004.

• Rodrick Pleasant, the top U.S. outdoor returnee at 100m and 200m (10.14 and 20.40) will go for the 60m/200m double, as well as a 4x200m crown with his South California Elite TC teammates. U.S. 55m leader Jadon Spain and freshman 200m sensation Kendrick Jones Jr. will be among those challenging him.

• The aforementioned Jones, already #3 all-time in the indoor 5000m, will also try and add the 2 Mile title for a double in the two longest races.

• The boys’ 400m will include two sub-47.00 talent and U.S. leader Aidan Dixon (46.98) and Wesley Noble Jr., (47.14 in ’22).

• On the field, the horizontal jumps will be particularly strong – not just with aforementioned former champs Lloyd, Beckmon and Banales, but also U.S. #1 triple jumper Zavien Wolfe, outdoor 51-footer Jarvis Anderson and Canadian 42-footer Asia Phillips.

A special highlight of the meet for throwers will be the Shot Put Showcase. A select group of shot putters will be featured in a special tournament-style event at 6:30pm Saturday, with three knockout rounds for each gender. The Showdown follows last summer’s Boys Long Jump and Girls Javelin Showcases at NON that used similar formats.

Nike Elite athletes on hand to support the next generation of athletes include sprinters English Gardner and Marvin Bracy-Williams, plus distance runner Craig Engels.

The 2023 Nike Indoor Nationals will continue the celebration of the new partnership between Nike and The Armory Foundation, which was officially launched in January 2023. The last time the NSAF hosted its indoor nationals at The Armory was 2019.