Twenty of the top high school athletes from across the country will take to the Hayward Field track on Friday for an exhibition mile race as part of the Nike Elite running camp. Elite high school runners from 11 different states will compete in the final two events before the national anthem on Friday, with the girls racing at 2:35 p.m. and the boys racing ten minutes later.
The field includes state champions from across the country, representing some of the fastest high school runners in the nation. Runners are entering either 11th or 12th grade in the fall, though some are only beginning their tenth grade seasons.
The race represents the mandatory competitive aspects of high school camps sponsored by shoe companies. For its first two years of existence, the Nike Elite camp has staged a 5k near the Nike campus in Beaverton, Ore., but with the Olympic Trials being staged in Eugene, organizers opted to hold the exhibition race at Hayward. While the race has no championship ramifications, Nike’s Andrew Haberkorn told ESPN in June that he expects competitive instincts to take over with thousands of spectators cheering the competitors on.
Among the competitors in the boys’ field is Jacob Burcham, who won the New Balance Outdoor Nationals mile race in June with a time of 4:08.80.  Also running in the field are Cody Brazeal, Josh Brickell, Andrew Gardner, Blake Haney, Josh Leingang, Ben Malone, Sean McGorty and Nick Ryan.  In the girls’ race, twins Haley and Hannah Meir will join Alexa Efraimson, Jillian Fanning, Erin Finn, Wesley Frazier, Dominque Hiltz, Katie Knight and Amy-Eloise Neale.
Haney and Brazeal ran against each other in the 1,600-meter finals of the California state championships, finishing third and fourth with Haney edging Brazeal for the final podium spot by less than a second.
Most competitors in the field in both races have posted sub-five minute times this year in either the mile or 1,600 meters with Burcham’s time setting the bar high for the rest of the boys’ pack.