Keegan Leverett | Saint Stanislaus High School | 3200m, 1600m
Representing the state in the 'slow heat' of the championship section of the High School Boys 3200m, as well as section three in the 1600m, at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships is the 2021 Mississippi Cross Country Gatorade Player of the Year and eight-time state champion from Saint Stanislaus, Keegan Leverett.
Take the words 'slow heat' lightly... there are 21 entries in that heat between 9:15-9:26, and took a 9:26 just to make one of the two championship sections.
Leverett is almost a household name on the Mississippi High School Boys distance running scene at this point. He has not lost to a Mississippian since the 2021 Saltillo Cross Country Invitational back in September of last year and hasn't lost to a Mississippian in a track race since his freshman year.
His only loss this year was the 2022 Mobile Challenge of Champions, in which he ran a converted 1600m of 4:16.41, the only sub-4:20 1600m runner this year.
However, perhaps Leverett's most impressive performance this year was his solo 9:18 at the 2022 MHSAA 3A South State Championships.
It was this performance that got him in the 3200m heat that he will be racing in on Friday night.
Here is the bottom line: Leverett has been soloing most of his races this season. He is obviously very talented, and he has proven that his natural instinct is to rise to the level of competition.
Once he gets a solid level of competition, which is exactly what he will get at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships, he has the potential to run very, very fast.
Could Leverett crack into the top three all-time in Mississippi High School 3200m state history?
Sidney Stegall | Heritage Academy | 3200m
Another well-known name in Mississippi High School Boys distance running is the up-and-coming talent out of Columbus Miss., Sidney Stegall.
Stegall, now with six state titles to his name, was one of the most underrated distance talents coming into the 2022 Mississippi outdoor track and field season.
However, at the 2022 Woody Barnett Invitational, Stegall woke the state of Mississippi up with a 1:57.5 800m win over numerous middle-distance studs.
Even before that performance, Stegall soloed a 4:26 1600m beating some prominent figures in MHSAA 6A. Just one day prior to that performance, Stegall soloed a 9:52 3200m and won that race by over three minutes.
Fast forward to the 2022 MAIS Overall Track and Field Championships, and Stegall added three more MAIS state titles to his resume, including a 4:23 1600m.
Finally, at the 2022 Mississippi Track and Field Meet of Champions, Stegall lowered his 800m PR to 1:55.4 and yet another win, continuing his undefeated streak through the 2022 outdoor track and field season.
On Friday night, Stegall has a solid chance to continue that undefeated streak.
The crazy thing, although Stegall won the 3200m at that 2022 Falcon Relays by a landslide, that 9:52 performance serves as his PR and is the official mark that went as his seed time at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.
All in all, Stegall has a huge shot to compete well in his heat, and he has proven that he knows how to race the field.
Expect him to do that same thing on Friday in section four of the 3200m with a potential win and sub-9:40.
Brooklyn Biancamano | Long Beach High School | 3200m, 800m
Yet another Mississippi High School distance superstar with several state titles slated to run at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships is, not one, but five-time winner of the Gatorade Player of the Year, Brooklyn Biancamano out of Long Beach High School.
Biancamano, the 17-time Mississippi state champion (that's with the COVID season), is set to run in section three of the 3200m on Friday night, and then will come back to run in the slow heat of the championship 800m on Saturday evening.
Last year at the 2021 RunningLane Track Championships, Biancamano won section two of the 3200m, and then later came back to run a 5:05 converted 1600m.
Here is what we can expect from the Arkansas distance commit: A well-executed heat win in the 3200m on Friday night, followed by a potential sub-2:20 and Mississippi No. 1 in the 800m the following day.
Jaheim Bridges | Tupelo High School | 1600m, 800m
Next up in this stacked list of Mississippi RunningLane track entries is the 2022 MHSAA 6A 1600m state champion out of Tupelo High School, Jaheim Bridges.
Bridges is slated to run in both the 1600m and 800m on Saturday, running in section five in the 1600m and section four of the 800m. His outdoor PR in the 1600m is a 4:26, though he ran 4:24 indoors back in February at the 2022 Last Chance Invitational.
Here is the rundown: Bridges is coming off of a lot of momentum, as he has successfully raced at a pretty high level in basically the whole month of April.
However, he also knows what a stacked race like this one feels like, as that is exactly the atmosphere that he got his PR of 4:24 from at the 2022 Last Chance Invitational.
In that race, Bridges simply found his spot on the rail and stuck his nose in there, and let the field bring him to a PR.
Bridges has also yet to officially break two minutes in the 800m, though he has done it unofficially in a relay.
He is one of the top seeds in his section of the 1600m on Saturday. As long as he does basically what he did at the 2022 Last Chance Invitational, Bridges could be due for one, maybe even two, PRs on Saturday.
Taylor Brown | Tupelo High School | 1600m
Joining his teammate in the 1600m is the freshman phenom out of Tupelo, Taylor Brown.
Brown, with a PR of 4:28 which is currently the Mississippi freshman class state record, is slated to compete in section six of the 1600m at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.
Brown is coming off of a bronze medal in the 3200m at the 2022 MHSAA 6A Track and Field State Championships, as well as a fifth-place finish in the 1600m.
Last year at the 2021 RunningLane Track Championships, Brown came away with a converted 1600m PR of 4:41, a very solid time for just an eighth-grader.
Could Brown potentially come away with another PR this season?
Robert Hooper | Tupelo High School | 1600m, 800m
Rounding out the 2022 RunningLane Tupelo contingent is their 800m specialist, Robert Hooper.
Hooper is coming off of a couple of momentous performances, the most recent one being the 2022 MSHAA 6A Track and Field State Championships. At that meet, Hooper ran 1:57.3 to earn the silver medal against some stellar competition.
Here's the scoop: We called Hooper to be a prominent 800m runner, and he has proved us right in a big way all season long.
With the way that he has been progressing each race, Hooper's stock is shooting up, and we could potentially expect a 1:56 out of him in section four of the 800m on Saturday.
Charlee Brees Franks | Columbia Academy | 3200m, 1600m, 800m
The only Mississippi prep gunning for all three distances at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships is Columbia's Charlee Brees Franks.
Another MAIS superstar as she has five top-four finishes at the MAIS State Championship level, Franks is coming off of a 5:34 1600m PR at the 2022 MAIS Overall Track and Field State Championships where she competed in the very tough class of MAIS 5A.
Franks is also coming off of a slight injury where she was not able to race the first half of her season. However, if her state meet performance tells us anything. she is obviously fit and ready to rip at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.
Franks will start her racing on Friday evening in section three of the 3200m, and then come back on Saturday to race section five of the mile and section three of the 800m.
Franks has to yet break 2:30 in the 800m, 5:30 in the 1600m, or 12:00 in the 3200m, but looks very poised to do ao this weekend at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.
Ryan Williams | Desoto Central High School | 800m
Another middle distance stud taking his talents is 1:58 800m runner from Desoto Central, Ryan Williams.
Like Hooper, Williams is another runner that has progressed really well in the 800m in his 2022 track season campaign.
In just seven weeks, Williams got his 800m PR from 2:04 down to 1:58.2, running his PR at the 2022 MHSAA 6A Track and Field North State Championships. In that race, Williams placed third, which qualified for the 2022 MHSAA 6A Track and Field State Championships the following week.
Williams showed that same progression in his 2021 cross country campaign on a much bigger scale, starting his season with a 19:33 5k and ending it with a PR of 16:47.
Desoto Central's 800m ace, in our expert opinion, is a huge sleeper pick to at least snag an 800m PR, and maybe even drop a 1:56. His progression line is shooting way up, and he has shown that he can perform well under the spotlight.
Gabe McElwain | Walnut High School | 3200m
The king of MHSAA 2A will be bringing his talents to Huntsville, Ala., as he will be going head-to-head against some of the best runners in the South in section five of the boy's 3200m at the RunningLane Track Championships.
McElwain is now a three-time state champion in MHSAA 2A, winning the cross country title back in 2021, and doubling in the 1600m and 3200m just a few weeks back at the 2022 MHSAA 2A Track and Field State Championships.
At that state meet, McElwain soloed a 10:02 PR, winning by a full 1 minute and 10 seconds.
Here is our easy prediction: McElwain is an outstanding small school talent that tends to do really well in 'the big leagues'. For example, as soon as he faced competition of his caliber at the 2021 Watson Cross Country Meet, McElwain ran 16:13 for 5k, PR'ing by 47 seconds.
McElwain has yet to break 10 minutes in the 3200m, but most definitely has the wheels to do so.
Expect him to get after it on Friday and take a big swing at that barrier, with another big possibility to win his section at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.
Jackson Stroud | Neshoba Central HS | 1600m, 800m
Wrapping up our 2022 RunningLane Track Championships Preview is yet another sleeper pick that is highly talented, and that is Neshoba Central's, Jackson Stroud.
For starters, In 2020, Stroud opened up his cross country season with a 22:19. Fast forward to the 2021 MHSAA 5A Cross Country State Championships, and Stroud ran a PR of 17:26 to finish ninth, earning All-MHSAA 5A honors.
Fast forward again to the 2022 MHSAA 5A Track and Field State Championships, and Stroud is running 4:34 for the 1600m and taking some of Mississippi's best to the line.
As one can see, Stroud, a senior, is just tapping into his running potential, and we would not at all be surprised to see this guy break 4:30 on Saturday in section eight of the Boy's mile at the 2022 RunningLane Track Championships.