By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

For coaches Joe Lee and Brandon Jiles, a return to The Armory in New York for New Balance Nationals Indoor and the opportunity to put their sprinters and hurdlers back into high stakes with national titles on the line can't come soon enough.

It's been a long wait since 2019, but the nation's sprint powers are lining up for the challenge that awaits March 11-13 in upper Manhattan.

"It means the world to us," said Lee, the head coach at Bullis School of Maryland. "For me, The Armory is like Yankee Stadium or Madison Square Garden. It always feels like something special is going to happen in the arena."

Jiles, who helms the historic Motor City Track Club (Oak Park High in Michigan), offered the same assessment.

"The Armory itself, it's the mecca of indoor track," he said. "We haven't had a championship there since 2019. The seniors I have now were only in the ninth grade. We're ready to get in there and rock and roll."

Bullis and Motor City are two of the sprint groups that have come to expect to compete on the biggest stages and leave the building wearing medals and generating buzz.

But they aren't alone. Union Catholic of New Jersey, IMG Academy of Florida, RunU XPress of North Carolina, Archbishop Carroll from D.C. and TrackLife University of Michigan are among the programs gearing up for relays -- the 4x200, Sprint Medley Relay, Shuttle Hurdles, 4x400 -- and individual sprints.

Bullis is the current national leader in the girls 4x200 and added a US#1 in the 4x400 last weekend at the SPIRE Scholastic Showcase in Ohio, running 3:48.02 on an oversized track.

Lee is also proud to own the national record in the shuttle hurdles relay, 30.44 seconds from 2018, but also knows Jiles has a group that could challenge it.

"The shuttle hurdles is such an exciting event," Lee said. "You've got hurdles flying, everybody coming and going. That's the controlled chaos of the event and it's super-cool. It's all-out war."

"I love competing against Jiles and (Union Catholic coach) Mike McCabe. I respect and admire them. We talk off-line a lot. Our programs are different, but we do feel like we will be able to compete with anybody in the country in the shuttle hurdles."

The passion and personality of a sprint and hurdles crew is often imbued with the spirit of the coach.
When the same uniforms appear over and over for three days in the pressure cooker of The Armory -- that's when national reputations and legacies are forged.

Lee and Jiles are two examples of coaches who will come with athletes primed to go for it.
"We want to try and see if we can get to the national record (in the shuttle hurdles)," Jiles said. "We want to push Joe Lee."

Leading Motor City's group is junior Nonah Waldron, the top hurdler in the country.

For the moment, Jiles' and Lee's best championship hopes come from the girls' side.

Archbishop Carroll DC, led by Nyckoles Harbor, is US#1 in the 200 and US#3 in the 60, won the Millrose Games 4x200 relay in US#4 1:28.74.

Run U Xpress (Wakefield NC) features the new national record holder in the 60-meter dash, Shawnti Jackson, who figures to be one of the biggest stars of the meet.

Track Life University (Detroit Renaissance) features elite sprinters Kaila Jackson and Leeah Burr, potential finalists in the 200 and 400 and centerpieces of the team's relay pool.