By Chris Chavez
March 8, 2024
CITIUS MAG and New Balance proudly partner on showcasing tomorrow’s track and field stars today. Thousands of high schoolers will head to Boston this weekend to compete at New Balance Nationals Indoor – Thursday to Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center and Sunday’s championship action at The TRACK at New Balance.
We’ve been fortunate to be media partners with New Balance since 2022 and we’ve had the chance to help introduce the track and field community to current NCAA stars like Roisin Willis, Juliette Whittaker, Gary Martin, Tinoda Matsatsa, Connor Burns, Simeon Birnbaum and more. We’re continuing that in 2024 as we’ll be bringing you live coverage all weekend long, race breakdowns and more than enough content to make you feel the energy of being in Boston.
This year, we will be introducing the CITIUS MAG Most Valuable Performer award at the meet where our team will determine our four star performers of the meet on the track and in the field to take home custom Bose Quitecomfort Ultra Headphones with New Balance and CITIUS MAG branding.
Here are the athletes on the CITIUS MAG Watchlist heading into the meet:
BOYS
Quincy Wilson – Bullis (MD)
At 16 years old, Wilson continues to improve as one of the nation’s top sprint stars. This indoor season, he’s run personal bests of 21.02 for 200m, 33.11 for 300m, 1:01.27 for 500m and 1:17.36 for 600m. He’s yet to go all-out in his signature event, the 400m. Last year, he went viral after running 46.67 at just 15 years old. He went even faster during the outdoor season with a 45.87 last July in Oregon. Wilson knows how to put on a show for the fans.
Drew Griffith – Butler (PA)
Griffith is the top returner from the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix high school boys mile since JoJo Jourdoun scratched from the meet due to illness. Griffith ran a personal best of 4:02.71 to finish second. For those who weren’t paying attention to the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association Indoor State Championship, Griffith put together another strong showing there as he solo’ed a 4:02.19 personal best (taking down Gary Martin’s indoor state record of 4:02.23) and made up a 12-second gap in the DMR to lead his team to the state title.
The Footlocker National Cross Country Champion wants to add his first New Balance Nationals title to his resume in the mile and two-mile. Don’t forget, he’s already run 8:38.67 for two miles on Notre Dame’s oversized track, which is faster than Edward Cheserek’s 8:39.15 but ineligible for records.
Jaden Marchan – Leonia (NJ)
Marchan started the indoor season with a statement victory over Quincy Wilson when he broke the New Jersey 600m record with a 1:17.66 at the Marine Corps Holiday Classic in December. He just won the 400m title at New Jersey’s Meet of Champions.
Clay Shively – Wichita Trinity (KS)
Last month, Shively finished fourth in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix high school boys mile in an indoor personal best of 4:04.55. He gave the sub-four barrier a scare when he went crosstown to Boston University and managed to run 4:00.70 against collegiate athletes.
Daniel Simmons – American Fork (UT)
Three weeks after going 8:48.08 for 3,200m, Simmons is planning to take a shot at the high school 5000m record of 13:56.82 set by Tyrone Gorze at last year’s New Balance Nationals. He told The Lap Count, “I'm definitely going for the record and hopefully well beneath it. Well, a few seconds is “well beneath” it, right? I just feel like my strength is still returning to me and running 8:48 is proving that.”
GIRLS
Adaejah Hodge – Montverde (FL)
At this meet last year, Hodge became a star. She destroyed the high school indoor 200m record with a 22.33 performance. She also broke the under-20 world indoor record of 22.40 which was set in 2008 by Bianca Knight, who was a college freshman at the time. Hodge defended her New Balance Nationals crown outdoors and then went on to reach the semifinals of the World Championships in Budapest while representing the British Virgin Islands. She’s entered in the 60m and the 200m. Keep in mind that Shawnti Jackson’s high school national record is 7.16 from last year’s Millrose Games.
Sadie Engelhardt – Ventura (CA)
Fresh off her commitment to NC State, the New Balance Nationals indoor and outdoor mile champion is back to defend her title. She’s put together a strong indoor season thus far as she moved to No. 3 on the all-time high school indoor mile list with a 4:34.45 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and also clocked the No. 4 all-time 1000m performance with a 2:41.00 at Boston University’s Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational on Feb. 3. She is entered in the 800m and mile.
Ali Ince – Normal Community (IL)
Ince has emerged as one of the best 800m of this year’s senior class and is looking to defend her 800m title while balancing a full basketball season. This winter, she signed her letter of intent to run at Oregon. She notched a personal best of 4:39.74 when she bumped up to the mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
