By Justin Gaymon // Photo by John Nepolitan

The 22nd Annual EmblemHealth Hispanic Games take place on January 8-9. You can find the meet page HERE, invitational entries HERE and live webcast HERE.

Noah and Josephus Lyles in the Sprints

With multiple national titles between them, brothers Noah and Josephus Lyles of T.C. Williams are two of the country’s most promising young sprinters. Noah will run the 55m/200m and Josephus will run the 400m. Both are signed up to compete in the 4x400m relay, where their team will face a deep field that includes Newburgh Free Academy, Boys & Girls HS and Abington.

Noah ended last season with the U.S. #4 All-Time 100m (10.14) and U.S. #3 All-Time 200m (20.18). He also won the 200m and took second in the 100m at the Pan-American Junior Championships. You may have spotted him on the cover of last month’s Track & Field News Magazine.

Josephus has been a consistent force in the 400m. Last summer he ran 45.99 to win New Balance Nationals Outdoor and 45.46 to take second at the World Youth Championships.

Stacked Girls and Boys Miles

The PR cutoff time for heat one of the girls invitational mile was 5:04. 4:24 for the boys.  

Olivia Sargent of Pennsbury is top seeded for the girls race with an indoor mile PR of 4:51.02, which she ran to take second at last year’s NYRR Millrose Games.

Fordham Prep’s Conor Lundy ran a 4:07.50 1,600m to win last summer's NY State Championships.

With an NYRR Millrose Games qualifying spot up for grabs in both the girls and boys races, there’s sure to be some impressive times.

Girls 55m Hurdles

We could see sub-8 second performances from a number of girls.  It could come from Paul Robeson’s Alyssa Sandy, who ran 8.02 to win last week’s Marine Corps Holiday Classic. Or Shayla Broughton of Medgar Evers, who ran 8.09 to win last year’s New Balance Games. Chanel Brissett of Cheltenham ran 8.06 to take third at this meet a year ago.

Girls and Boys 4x200m Relay

No matter the meet or competition, the 4x200m relay is always one of the most exciting races to watch at The Armory.

Paul Robeson’s girls 4x200m relay have been lighting up the track this season. They currently hold the US #1 spot with 1:38.82. Windsor, Cheltenham and Norristown will add to the excitement, as each have ran US top 10 times this year.

The guys of Newburgh Free Academy own the US #2 time with 1:28.93. They took last year’s Bishop Loughlin Games, EmblemHealth Hispanic Games, Molloy Stanner Games and NYRR Millrose Games. Several other teams will make this an exciting one, including Boys & Girls HS, who ran 1:30.74 (US #6) last month.

Girls Mile Steeplechase

Amanda Bakely of Pennsauken took second at last year’s New Balance Nationals Outdoor in the 2k steeplechase. Crystal Ortiz of Hudson Catholic finished fifth in that race. The two are the top seeds for this Saturday’s deep mile steeplechase field.

Girls Long Jump

Shayla Broughton of Medgar Evers and Nina Crawford of Elizabeth Seton are both undefeated in the long jump this season. Broughton’s season best of 19-1.5 is currently tied for second in the country and Crawford’s 19-0 is ranked fifth.

Boys Weight Throw

Cameron Thompson of Lakeland/Panas won last summer’s Eastern State Championships and finished seventh at New Balance Nationals Outdoor in the hammer throw. He currently owns the second best mark in New York for the weight throw with 64-1.