Updated: March 25, 2024, 10:08 ET
As of March 21st, the fastest freshman in the nation for the 1600m race, will not be participating for the rest of this outdoor track season. Following his performance at the 2024 New Balance Indoor Nationals, Andrew Brown, from Tupelo High School in northern Mississippi, was ruled ineligible for the remainder of the Mississippi outdoor track and field season.
Brown won both the one-mile and 3000m middle-school races at the indoor Adidas Track Nationals just last year. He was also ranked as the fastest freshman in the country this year for the one-mile race with a time of 4:18 at the Bulldog Open. With personal bests of 9:44 in the 3200m and 15:39 in the 5000m races, Brown was considered a top contender for both the 1600m and 3200m Mississippi 7A state titles.
Expressing his disappointment, Brown told Milesplit Mississippi, "It's obviously extremely disappointing. As someone who loves running, simply all I want to do is enjoy the sport I love and compete against the top high school runners in Mississippi and the country."
Brown is believed to have breached an MHSAA regulation by competing in an indoor meet while unattached after the commencement of the outdoor season. Consequently, his participation in the New Balance Indoor Nationals was deemed a violation of this rule, resulting in the imposed ban.
Running social media influencer and Mississippi high school alum, Brock Kelly took to his Instagram story on Saturday night with a two-minute video expressing his thoughts on the Andrew Brown situation:
"It seems like a very outdated regulation... It takes so much for these athletes to go out every day, these high school athletes who aspire to do something bigger than just run in the state meet, these athletes who aspire to compete on the national stage, to take that aspiration away from these athletes, to say no like you can't go compete at meets like that, doesn't make any sense and is very bad for the sport."
Kelly, a 2020 Tupelo Christian Preparatory School graduate, is a seven-time state champion in the MHSAA 1A Classification and Mississippi's 2018 Gatorade Runner of the Year. Kelly closed by stating that he would compile a full-length news story on the issue.
In March of 2023, five Mississippi athletes competed in postseason indoor national meets (Adidas Indoor National Championships and Indoor Nike Nationals). None of these athletes were penalized for their participation.
The Milesplit Mississippi staff reached out to MHSAA for comment, but at the time of publishing no response or statement has been issued.
