Four capital area high school athletes have already proven to be the best in the state. Now, they will compete against the best in the nation.
Coe-Brown’s Addison and Aidan Cox, Merrimack Valley’s Seth Baylus and Concord Christian’s Shane Wang will all be competing in The Outdoor Nationals, presented by Nike at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., the same site that just held the U.S. Olympic Team Trials over the last two weeks.
Nationals starts Wednesday and finishes Saturday, with rising Concord Christian Academy senior Shane Wang getting the first chance to compete on the national stage in Thursday’s triple jump.
Wang took New Hampshire competition by storm in his junior season (his first competing in the NHIAA), easily winning Division III and Meet of Champions titles in both the triple jump and the long jump, setting a new state record in the triple jump (48 feet, 2.5 inches) in the process.
Wang – one of just three athletes on the Kingsmen’s team this past season – won several awards in jumping in his native China before coming to the United States for school in 2019. Wang lives with a host family in Epsom.
The triple jump will start at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
On Thursday morning, Baylus, a rising senior at MV, will compete in the 100-meter dash qualifying heats. Baylus, a Loudon resident, won D-II titles in the 100 and 200 before setting a state record in the 100 at the Meet of Champions (10.77 seconds). The preliminary heats will be at 9:20 a.m. Pacific Time, 6:30 a.m. Eastern, and the finals are slated to take place three hours later.
The Cox siblings of Northwood compete on Saturday morning, the final day of competition, in the 5,000 meters. New Hampshire doesn’t run that event for outdoor track, but it’s a distance familiar to cross country runners.
Addison – a recent Coe-Brown Northwood Academy graduate who is bound for the University of New Hampshire this fall – and Aidan – a rising junior at Coe-Brown – both were undefeated, D-II and state champions in the 3,200 this past season. Aidan set a D-II record in 9:17.38, while Addison was also undefeated in the 1,600. Both are familiar with competing on a bigger stage and are coming off strong performances at the East Coast Championships. Addison set a personal record 10:30 to finish third, while Aidan won after nearly breaking the 9-minute mark (9:00.75).
The pair is also accomplished at the 5,000 meter distance on the cross country trails, sweeping the D-II and MOC titles this past fall. Aidan became the first New Hampshire high school runner ever to break 15 minutes in the 5K – clocking a 14.58.8, while Addison nearly broke 18 minutes (18:01.2), times that will be much easier to break on a flat track.
Addison will race in the girls’ 5,000 at 9:30 a.m. Pacific, 6:30 a.m. Eastern, with Aidan competing in the boys’ race an hour later.
A free webcast for the meet is available at theoutdoornationals.runnerspace.com.