The Mississippi High School Boys 100m dash as a whole made a huge leap over the weekend, largely thanks to the 2022 Bianca Knight Invitational.

Heat seven of this race featured names we all know very well, such as the Tylertown duo of Jordan Anthony and Jeremiah Dillon, debatably the two best sprinters in Miss. history, along with other big names such as nationally-ranked freshman Omari Hampton from Clinton, La'Javeon Griffin of Canton whose stock is shooting up right now, and Wingfield's Tyler Arrington.

All five of these athletes ran the race of their lives and ended with the five of them shattering 11 seconds for the 100m.

Although it was not wind-legal, for five athletes to break 11 seconds in a non-championship meet in March is startling indeed.

Among them, Jordan Anthony ran a mind-blowing 10.17 to nab his own all-conditions 100m state record and put him AT THE #1 spot of the US Rankings.

Dillion isn't that far behind, however, currently holding the nation's #15 spot in the 100m.

This now makes the total number of athletes under 11 seconds to a whopping total of thirteen. This is one of the most prominent rankings in the 100m Mississippi has had this early on, and that's a testament to how thrilling the 2022 Mississippi state meets will be. 

Here's the bottom line - Mississippi 7th grade High School Girls are showing a lot of promise, with the trio of Leah Collipp, Emerson Yelverton, and Samantha Kennedy leading the way. All three of those runners are nationally ranked, falling inside of the top 15. Here is that top 15 table, with the Mississippi runners in bold: 

Here's the exciting part - Yelverton and Kennedy are both in MHSAA 6A South State, and will both try and go for a spot at the 2022 MHSAA 6A State Championships. 

Hopefully, all three of these young talents will face off this season and go for a sub-2:30. 

Like the High School Boys 100m, the High School Boys 1600m had a stellar weekend.

To start this highlight weekend, Keegan Leverett of Saint Stanislaus High School absolutely shatters his best, the state's #1 ranking, and almost everyone's expectations by running a 4:18.73 at the 2022 Pass Christian Invitational. With that run, Leverett is now only the second Miss. prep to break the 4:20 barrier in the last decade. With that fresh on his mind, I bet the senior is very confident and ready for more this season. 

Other standout marks from this weekend included a blazing time out of nowhere from Sidney Stegall. The MAIS junior from Heritage Academy opened up his season very late, but that didn't stop him from PRing and running a 2022 Miss. #2 ranking with a 4:26.96 at the 2022 Bianca Knight Invitational to win the event by almost 20 seconds! Stegall also ran 9:52 in the 3200m the day before this mark, winning that race by a whopping three minutes and five seconds!

In addition, three more sub-4:40 performances from Luke Johnson, Grayson Childress, and Matthew Singletary who had himself a great day with a PR and win in the event at the 2022 Oxford Invitational. Johnson was right behind his teammate, running 4:33 for a new 1600m PR. Finally, Childress, the 2021 MHSAA 5A Cross Country State Champion, had a monster last lap (watch it here) at the 2022 Brookhaven Invitational, running 4:31 for his third straight win in the 1600m, and seventh win this season. 

The count for sub-4:40 1600m's is now 18, with several more right on the barrier... it is looking like we will easily double the number of 13 Mississippi High School preps who broke the barrier during the 2021 season.