The New Balance Nationals Outdoor Track and Field meet held June 16 through the 18, was one for the record-books and the memory banks. The meet attracted more than 5,700 athletes during a weekend of near-perfect June weather at Aggie Stadium in Greensboro.
Among those performances, athletes set four national records, seven national class records and 22 meet records: nine championships, 11 Emerging Elite and two Freshman records.
High Point local medal winner Tamara Clark, a senior All-American sprinter, captured a bronze medal in the girls’ championship 100m with a time of 11.50 seconds. Clark is a two-time defending 4-A state champion in the 100m and 200m dashes. Clark just missed another medal in the 200m dash with a sixth place while her Heat TC just missed a medal in the 4x200m relay finishing sixth. She will be attending the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa )this fall on a track scholarship.
The Union Catholic, N.J. girls Swedish medley relay, which zipped 2:07.99 to break its own 2015 standard, was anchored by McLaughlin’s 49.80 seconds - thought to be the fastest-ever 400 leg by a prep girl to finish in any relay.
Lauren Harris, the Sachem East, N.Y. junior, who had previously become the first prep girl to finish under 7 minutes for the indoor 1-mile racewalk at NBNI, accomplished the same feat Friday with her 6:52.23.
The Ogden, UT boys’ 4x1 mile relay, which held off Great Oak, Ca (4x1600m record-holders) in a super-dramatic finish, 17:04.55 to 17:04.61 - were both under South Eugene’s 1976 mark.