Millrose Elite Preview

Women’s 60-meter Hurdles

Tiffany Porter (adidas) will be one of the favorites here and could be representing Great Britain in the 2012 London Games. American-born and schooled at the University of Michigan, Porter competed for the United States as a junior athlete, but switched her allegiance to Great Britain in 2010. Former Texas A&M stars Gabby Mayo and Natasha Ruddock will challenge Porter along with Kristi Castlin (adidas), who ran at Virginia Tech. Mayo is the only athlete doubling at Millrose, running both the sprint and the hurdles.

Men’s 60-meter Dash

Three Olympians — Travis Padgett (adidas) of the U.S., Keston Bledman (adidas) of Trinidad & Tobago and Tyrone Edgar (Nike) of Great Britain — highlight this field. Bledman won a silver medal as part of the T&T 4x100m relay in Beijing while Padgett — who ran at Clemson— was a member of the ill-fated U.S. squad. Both are sub-10 sprinters. Others to watch include Sam Effah (Nike) and Hampton star Reggie Dixon.

John Thomas Men’s High Jump

Not only is Jesse Williams (Nike) the favorite in the high jump, he is the favorite for Olympic gold in London. He won the World Championships last summer in South Korea and has a personal best of over 7-9. He opened his season two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden with a 7-6 victory. Andra Manson (Nike) has been a champion at many levels and boasts a career best of 7-8 1/2. And don’t ignore Ivy Leaguer Maalik Reynolds of Penn. He won the Penn Relays last year and is over 7-5 in his young career. Here is a link to Jesse Williams talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Fred Schmertz Women’s Pole Vault

How high can Jenn Suhr (adidas) go? Last weekend she became the first American female to ever clear 16 feet and made a single attempt at the world record. Anyone who questioned her no-height at the Garden two weeks ago is done asking questions after her Boston performance. But Lacy Janson (Nike), Jillian Schwartz (New York AC) and Mary Saxer (New York AC) have all been over 15 in their careers and could challenge Suhr. Here is a link to Jenn Suhr talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

NYRR Wanamaker Women’s Metric Mile

World Champion Jenny Simpson (New Balance) is certainly ready to make this a fast race. She went out fast in the 3k at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix last week only to hit the wall and struggle to finish. But expect her to push the pace in this shorter run. Her biggest challenger is expected to be 2008 Olympic finalist Shannon Rowbury (Nike) while Canada’s Nicle Sifuentes (Saucony), New Zealand’s Lucy Van Dalen (Stony Brook U.), Spain’s Isabel Macias (adidas) and American Lauren Centrowitz (New Balance) aren’t conceding anything. Here is a link to Jenny Simpson talking at Friday's Millrose press conference. Here is a link to Shannon Rowbury talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Mel Sheppard Men’s 500-meter Dash

Here’s a compelling story as Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt (Nike) is simply running against the clock. He will receive a $25,000 bonus if he can best the all-time record in the event (1:00.17), but can former Washington State star Jeshua Anderson (Nike) or New York high schooler Strymar Livingston hang with Merritt. Two weeks ago at the New Balance Games Livingston became the first-ever high schooler to run sub-1:02. Can the Christopher Columbus High School senior go even lower? Here is a link to La Shawn Merritt talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Men’s 5,000-meter Run

This is certain to be one of the memorable moments at the Millrose Games. So many questions to be answered. Can Arizona super soph Lawi Lalang challenge his mentor Bernard Lagat (Nike)? Will Lagat break the American record? Can Lalang, Iona’s Leonard Korir, Stanford’s Chris Derrick or Arizona’s Stephen Sambu make a run at the collegiate record? And what about Edward Cheserek, the New Jersey high schooler by way of Kenya? Can he erase Lukas Verzbicas’ one-year-old national high school record? So much anticipation for this one. Here is a link to Bernard Lagat talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Women’s Long Jump

Russian Olga Kucherenko took silver at the recent IAAF World Championships and is the prohibitive favorite here, but will NCAA Champion Tori Bowie or veteran leaper (and blogger extraordinaire) Brianna Glenn mount a challenge?

Howard Schmertz Women’s 400-meter Dash

Which Olympic gold medalist are you siding with — Sanya Richards-Ross (Nike), Natasha Hastings (Under Armour) or Mary Wineberg (New York AC)? Richards-Ross is less than a week removed from watching her husband, Aaron Ross, win a Super Bowl as a New York Giant. But that won’t make her the clear hometown favorite as Hastings was raised in New York City (an A. Philip Randolph High graduate) while Wineberg was born in Brooklyn. Get ready for those three to be extra anxious. Here is a link to Sanya Richards-Ross talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Mushin Men’s 60-meter Hurdles

This is the second Big Apple meeting between David Oliver (Nike) and Terrence Trammell (Track Star) in 2012. Trammell beat the American 110m hurdle recordholder at the U.S. Open at the Garden. But that was just 50 meters. Last week in Boston, Oliver took the narrow win over Aries Merritt (Reebok), a former national high school champion here at The Armory. This one could be a barnburner and neither South African Lehan Fourie nor Jamaican Richard Phillips can be dismissed. Here is a link to David Oliver talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.

Women’s 60-meter Dash

Will this be a triumphant return for Lauryn Williams (Saucony)? She has been to The Armory, both as a high schooler and a collegian, but has never won here. Now six years removed from her World Championship in the 100m dash, Williams is looking for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in London. But so are Bianca Knight (adidas) and Shalonda Solomon (Reebok), both of whom won gold on the 4x100m relay for the U.S. at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, last summer.

Women’s 800-meter Run

Wow. Nicole Teter set an American record in the 800m run on this very track back in 2002 and now there are a number of sensational runners who are shooting at it. Morgan Uceny (adidas) is the narrow headliner of the group based on her world No. 1 ranking in the 1,500, but Maggie Vessey (New Balance), Phoebe Wright (Nike), LaTavia Thomas (Nike) and Ethiopian Fantu Magiso can all go low. This might be perfectly suited for a strong kick. And don’t forget that World Youth Champion Ajee Wilson of Neptune, N.J., is in this race.

NYRR Wanamaker Mile

This race is a testament to the talent at the college level, where sub-four miles are not at all a rarity. The clear headliner is World bronze medalist Matthew Centrowitz (Nike), who’d be a senior at Oregon if he’d not turned pro in the fall. The rest of the talent could make this the fastest college mile event of all time as the college record of 3:55.02 could be in jeopardy from the likes of BYU’s Miles Batty, Tulsa’s Chris O’Hare, Binghamton’s Erik Van Ingen, Columbia’s Kyle Merber (who has run sub-four at The Armory), Southern Utah’s Cam Levins and Providence’s David McCarthy. Here is a link to Matthew Centrowitz talking at Friday's Millrose press conference.