The 2022-2023 indoor track and field season is officially over. Well, technically it will be over tonight after the 2nd and final day of the University of Central Missouri's High School Mule Relays. The long-running meet is where many teams kick off their outdoor season in Warrensburg and where most events are contested at the UCM Multipurpose indoor facility, while a few are held across the street at outdoor venues.
The high school indoor championship season is over though, after the Adidas Track Nationals meet was held this past weekend in Virginia Beach, a week after the NSAF/Nike Indoor Nationals meet in New York, and the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet in Boston.
Missouri preps had a strong indoor season which was capped with some excellent finishes at the national meets. The 2nd weekend of March was one of the biggest weeks of the year in track and field. All three NCAA Divisions held their college indoor championship meets, while the NSAF/Nike and NBNI meets were going on at the high school and youth levels.
Four Show-Me State standouts put up stellar performances in Boston to earn NBNI national titles. New Balance's new "The Track at New Balance" has quickly become one of the fastest tracks in the country after its inaugural season. After hosting New Balance Nationals Indoors at New York's The Armory for years, this year's meet moved to the shoe company's hometown and new facility, which opened last spring.
Former St. Louis sprint sensation for Principia and MSHSAA state meet record setter Issam Asinga has transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for his senior year. Asinga has continued his meteoric rise up the track and field ranks this year and he made history in Boston.
Asinga kicked off his first national meet with a 6.57 first round 60-meter dash, which tied the 24-year-old U.S. high school national record. He followed about 4-hours later with a 20.62 200-meter dash on the hydraulically banked track. The following day Asinga won his first national title, doing so in historic fashion. He won the 200 in a new national record of 20.48. Asinga finished the meet with another title, running 6.59 to win the 60-meters.
Like Asinga, Southern Boone County senior Connor Burns has consistently improved, stride after stride, straight into the record books. Burns added one of just about the only things missing from his resume in Boston, a national title. Five weeks after a runner-up International Junior boys mile finish at The Track, Burns won the 2-mile. He finished in 8:43.24 to make him the 6th fastest U.S. high school performer of all time in the event.
Kansas City native and Raytown South senior sprinter Zaya Akins is like Asinga and Burns, already a state record holder and one of the country's best. Akins was seeking her second straight indoor national title. Akins claimed the 2022 NSAF/Nike Indoor 400-meter crown at New York's Ocean Breeze facility in 53.26 seconds. This year, Akins put the new track in Boston to the test. Akins raced to a preliminary round 53.45 first-place finish. Then in the final, she raced to the same time, 53.45, and another national title.
Northeast Missouri's Hayden Dixon of Schuyler County High School in Queen City, put himself among the country's best throwers over the winter with his shot put tosses. In Boston, Dixon added nearly a foot to his personal record and he needed it. Dixon launched a 6th and final round 19.57-meter/64-2.5'' bomb. The throw gave him victory by 5 inches and the national title.
Stay tuned for more on this Missouri foursome's performances and others who've shined recently.