PREDICTIONS: 2024 Brooks PR Invitational

Donald Speas
Jun 11, 2024
6 min read

Predictions & analysis by Donny Speas, additional edits & commentary via Garrett Zatlin

The Brooks PR Invitational holds a unique place in the high school track and field world. It's not an outdoor national meet, though the fields are often just as good (if not better) than most events at the "official" national meets.

While winning an event at Brooks PR is an absolutely incredible achievement and typically sets athletes up for a great career in the NCAA (some past winners include Stanford's Juliette Whittaker and Virginia's Nathan Mountain), the emphasis is always on the clock at this meet.

Last year, we saw a pair of incredible meet records, one by Jane Hedengren in the girl's mile, running 4:35.69 and one by Simeon Birnbaum in the boy's two-mile, running 8:34.10. This year's fields look to be just as strong with amazing matchups spread across the board.

Below are our picks for each of the distance events...

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Girl’s 800 Meters

Ali Ince (Normal Community) - 2:02
Sadie Engelhardt (Ventura) - 2:02
Clare Stegall (Noblesville) - 2:05
Nicki Southerland (Delta) - 2:05
Olivia Cieslak (Haverford Township) - 2:05

Analysis: The showdown between Ali Ince and Sadie Engelhardt might be the best head-to-head matchup at this meet. Actually, scratch that, it IS the best head-to-head matchup at this meet. Ince is the three-time defending champion (yes you read that right) and is looking to pull off the four-peat while Engelhardt is dropping down in distance to test her wheels after breaking the national record in the mile, running 4:28 at the Hoka Festival of Miles.

Expect this race to be a fast one. With the pedigrees of these top-two athletes, I don't see a world in which this race is won in a time slower than 2:03.

One athlete to watch out for is Notre Dame commit Nicki Southerland who has only lost once during this outdoor track season (a 3200-meter race back in April). She is quietly building some lethal momentum.

Boy’s 800 Meters

Patrick Hilby (Aurora Catholic) - 1:48
Ethan Walther (Salesianum) - 1:48
Noah Nielson (American Fork) - 1:49
Tyler Matthews (Red Mountain) - 1:49
Cooper Lutkenhaus (Justin Northwest) - 1:49

Analysis: Wisconsin commit Patrick Hilby comes into this race as the presumptive favorite. During this academic year, he has won the New Balance indoor national title over 800 meters, won the largest regular-season invitational at Arcadia (over a handful of athletes in this field) and has only suffered one loss during this outdoor track season (an "off" distance 1600-meter race) where he still came home with a new 4:12 personal best.

Two athletes who could play spoiler are Salesianum's Ethan Waltherm who just won the HOKA Festival of Miles title over 800 meters and has run 1:49-flat this spring, and Red Mountain's Tyler Mathews, who hasn't run anything insane over 800 meters this season, but has run 1:48 in the past and recently ran 4:08 for 1600 meters.

Girl's Mile

Charlotte Bell (Cuthbertson) - 4:36
Logan St. John Kletter (Mt. Lebanon) - 4:37
Alexa Dow (Francis Kelsey) - 4:38
Lily Alder (Timpview) - 4:39
Bethany Michalak (Air Academy) - 4:39

Analysis: While this race may be missing the two girls who recently broke the national record in this event, it still contains a good chunk of the nation's best athletes. One runner coming off a huge personal best is Cuthbertson's Charlotte Bell who ran 4:35 at the Hoka Festival of Miles a couple of weeks ago, giving her the fastest seed time in this event by two seconds.

One under-the-radar athlete worth following is Canadian Alexa Dow who has run 4:18 for 1500 meters which, when using my personal conversion calculator, is more than fast enough to contend for a top-five finish over the slightly longer distance.

Make sure to remember the name Alexa Dow as she is part of a stacked 2025 NC State recruiting class that could be (maybe should be?) contending for NCAA titles in the future.

Boy's Mile

Jojo Jourdon (Olympus) - 3:59
Owen Powell (Mercer Island) - 4:00
Evan Noonan (Dana Hills) - 4:01
Corbin Coombs (Organ Mountain) - 4:01
TJ Hansen (Freeland) - 4:03

Analysis: Simeon Birnbaum's meet record of 3:59.51 looks like it should be on high alert. Why do I say that, you may ask? Well, this is the only event at this meet with a pacer who is set to come through the halfway mark in 1:59. And on paper, this field is certainly deep enough that someone could pull off a sub-four-minute mark and reset the meet record.

Jojo Jourdon has had a relatively quiet outdoor track season (at least when compared to his phenomenal indoor track season), but with a 3:59 personal best, he undoubtedly has the talent to take down the meet record and get another sub-four minute clocking under his belt.

I'd also be remiss not to mention hometown favorite Owen Powell who has run 4:02 (mile) this spring and could certainly pull off the upset.

Girl's Two-Mile

Allie Zealand (Pacers Homeschool) - 9:44
Jane Hedengren (Timpview) - 9:44
Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) - 9:47
Isabel Allori (Liberty Common) - 9:47
Addison Ritzenhein (Niwot) - 9:49

Analysis: Wow, this field is absolutely loaded with talent.

It's clear that for the second year in a row, Brooks has spared no expense in creating some amazing two-mile fields. I'll go ahead and say it now, I'm confident that Dalia Frias's meet record of 9:50.70 is going down.

The headliner of this race is Liberty commit Allie Zealand who briefly held the national record in the mile with a time of 4:30.38...before Sadie Engelhardt broke it 20 minutes later. Zealand has already run 9:47 for 3200 meters this season and her recent mile performance gives me confidence that her fitness has jumped up a notch since then.

Jane Hedengren is another athlete coming into this race with a lot of momentum, having recently run 9:52 (3200) to win the UHSAA 5A state title...at 4600 feet of elevation. She also has experience at this meet, setting the meet record in the mile last June.

Oh, and she's coming down from altitude which can never hurt.

Two other athletes coming down from elevation are the Colorado duo of Isabel Allori and Addison Ritzenhein. Allori has run 9:48 for 3200 meters and won the always-stacked Arcadia Invitational earlier in the spring. Ritzenhein has run 9:52 this season and is the defending NXN champion.

Finally, we come to Elizabeth Leachman, the Boerne Champion sophomore who set the high school 5000-meter record in a blazing time of 15:25. Admittedly, Leachman hasn't looked like the same untouchable athlete that she was during the indoor track season, but she still has had a great outdoor track campaign including a 3200/1600 double victory at the UIL 6A State Championships.

All in all, this field is just so good and there are tons of athletes who I haven't mentioned that deserve some ink. But I've already made this section long enough as is, so make sure to tune-in on Wednesday afternoon to try and catch this race, it's sure to be a great one.

Boy's Two-Mile

Drew Griffith (Butler) - 8:34
Nathan Neil (Bozeman) - 8:36
Ryan Pajak (Ringgold) - 8:36
Grant Morgenfeld (Palo Alto) - 8:40
Josiah Tostenson (Crater - 8:40

Yet another loaded two-mile field with a title favorite coming off of a wicked fast mile time. In this case, the favorite is Notre Dame commit Drew Griffith who recently ran a 3:57 mile mark which was good for a three-second improvement on his personal best, giving me confidence that he can at least match his 8:34 PR for 3200 meters (if not improve upon it).

One athlete who was there when Griffith ran his 3200-meter personal best and is gathering some strong momentum of his own is Nathan Neil of Bozeman. He just ran 4:01 (mile) at the Hoka Festival of Miles and ran 8:35 for 3200 meters back in April.

Some quick-hit names worth keeping an eye on are Grant Morgenfled, (the California state meet runner-up over 3200 meters), Ryan Pajak, (2nd place finisher at the Foot Locker XC National Championships), Colin Eckerman (the Tennessee state champion over 3200 meters) and Josiah Tostenson (the fastest non-senior in the country over 3200 meters and 3k).