NEW YORK, March 13 – Irene Riggs won a highly-anticipated girls championship mile that lived up to its advance billing, while five of the sport’s brightest stars and powerhouse teams captured multiple titles as more than 3,500 athletes ran, jumped and threw their way to glory during a spectacular 2023 Nike Indoor Nationals over three days at the new Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory.

Akala Garrett (60H and 400m), Mia Brahe-Pedersen (60m and 200m) and Skylynn Townsend (TJ and LJ) each topped the podium twice, with Garrett (60H) and Brahe-Pedersen (200m) defending titles they won in 2022 and adding to their legacies as great NSAF indoor/outdoor champions (details below). Garrett, Brahe-Pedersen and victorious 1 Mile racewalker Talia Green also represented Team USA last summer at the World U20 Championships in Colombia. 

With the stick, Real Training TC’s girls (Niwot HS, CO) claimed both the distance medley (11:41.46) and 4x800m (9:00.25) titles with outstanding marks. Meanwhile, the Hoover HS, AL girls swept the sprint medley (4:06.08), 4x200m (1:40.81) and 4x400m (3:50.67) titles, one each day. 

A total of six defending individual champions and/or 2022 Nike Outdoor Champions won a total of nine titles (see below). And among those who captured relay golds indoors in 2022, the Kinetic (Saratoga HS, NY) repeated with an outstanding 20:02.50 – not far off their national record from last year.

Girls Mile: Riggs tops super deep field

• Riggs (Morgantown, WV senior) – the NXN champ and USA U-20 XC champ – wore down the crack field in the girls mile, her 4:38.23 PR making her history’s 8^th-fastest.  She’s the first girl to win NXN and NIN Mile titles back-to-back. The stellar field she defeated included US#1 and World U18 800m record-holder Sophia Gorriaran (3^rd 4:41.94), plus World XC teammates Karrie Baloga (2^nd, 4:39.96), Abbey Nechanicky (5^th, 4:45.65) and Zariel Macchia (6^th, 4:51.99) in a race where the first five ran 4:45 or faster.
• In 4^th, just outkicking Nechanicky, was Sophia Kennedy (4:45.60), daughter of Olympian Bob Kennedy. Gorriaran had won the 800m on Saturday (2:07.30) and was seeking to become the first to achieve the NIN 800m/Mile double.

Super trio each achieve double victories

• Garrett (Albemarle, NC senior) took Saturday’s 400m in 54.08, then delighted herself and the fans with a US#1 PR 8.25 60H Sunday. Those were the 4^th and 5^th Nike National titles, indoors and out, for the 2022 World U20 400H champion. She also ran on her Purpose Driven Elite TC winning Club 4x400m relay, which had the fastest girls’ time overall of the meet at 3:42.97.
• Brahe-Pederson (Lake Oswego, OR junior), a World U20 100m and 200m finalist for Team USA and indoor 200m national record-holder (22.89) coming in, swept the 60m (7.37) and 200m (23.35) Sunday and also anchored her Inner Circle TC’s Club 4x200m runner-up finish. Adding her outdoor title in Eugene last summer, she has won three straight Nike National crowns at 200m.
• Townsend (Rock Hill, TX jr) had never competed in a Nike Indoor or Outdoor Nationals, but made her debut a special one. Repping North Texas Jackrabbits TC, she soared to a massive PR 43-6.5 in Saturday’s triple jump, edging Canadian standout Asia Phillips by a half-inch (1cm). Her jump was a U.S. Junior Class record and =#5 all-time. Townsend had a similarly clutch performance – 20-1.5 on her final jump – to edge 2022 Nike Outdoor champ Sophia Beckmon in the LJ.

Niwot, Saratoga continue Nike greatness

• The girls distance medley relay Friday was a rematch of the #1-2 teams from Nike Cross Nationals: Kinetic RC (Saratoga, NY) and Real Training TC (Niwot, CO). The Colorado powerhouse got some measure of revenge with its US#2 11:41.46 to 11:44.67 triumph, as anchor Anna Prok held off a big come-from-behind challenge from Kinetic’s Emily Bush.
• Kinetic rose to the top of the podium again, however, with its 4x1 Mile triumph Saturday in 20:02.50, a solid 16 seconds up on Wayzata AC – Bush again providing the anchor. Not only did Kinetic defend its 2022 crown, but won the event for the 9^th time in meet history.
• On Sunday, Real Training completed its impressive distance double with its 9:00.25 in the 4x800, winning by seven seconds over South Lakes, VA. Anna Prok’s older sister Mia crossed the line as the anchor this time. 

More outstanding defenders

• In addition to Garrett and Brahe-Pedersen, four others were able to defend NIN crowns or add to their NON titles last summer. Shot putter Mensi Stiff actually did both. She claimed the Nike Indoor/Outdoor double in 2022 as a junior, then extended her legacy with a 51-0 victory Saturday. Still also easily captured the subsequent Shot Put Showcase that evening, which featured three rounds of bracket/tournament style 1-on-1 competition.
• Distance star Hunter Jones (Benzie Central, MI senior) won the 2022 NIN 5000m title with a stunning breakthrough 14:20.71.  This year, he wanted two golds, so he dominated Friday’s 2-Mile in 8:51.40, then topped his previous mark in the next day’s 5000m with a 14:20.54 PR.
• Both 1-Mile Racewalk champions were bolstering their previous Nike National resumes. For Clayton Stoil (Langley, VA senior), it was defending his indoor crown, walking 6:47.37 this time after finishing nine seconds faster in ’22.  Meanwhile, Talia Green (College Prep, Oakland CA jr) was coming off her NON 3k title at Hayward last summer and prevailed at the shorter distance with a 7:14.05.