Day 3 at NIN
The third day of the NIKE Indoor Nationals was March 14, 2026. On the way over, I was waiting for the bus. NIN provided a bus to and from the meet. For $50, it was a deal. Since UBER was $55 each way for a wait-and-save, the Brothers Eder invested in two passes and saved about $200 on transportation.
As independent media, we work with sponsors and advertisers to travel around the world (literally) to events so that we can provide coverage. In the days of print media (we had a group of 30 print titles from 1992 to 2017), we worked with 60+ advertisers and would take a small percentage to cover our event costs. We also sponsored programs for several major events.
The NIN travels for my brother, Brian Eder (photographer and cofounder of RunBlogRun), and me, cofounder and editor of RunBlogRun. It costs several thousand dollars. Special thanks to NIKE sports marketing for that support.
I am amazed at how the local clubs, coming from all over the US, can bring together a group of athletes. Local sponsorship and the largesse of parents, friends, and fans brought 5,000-plus athletes to the NIKE Track & Field Armory.
Here are my five takeaways from Saturday, March 14, day 4:
- The battle of the shot putters. The winner of the NB Indoor flew in late Friday night to compete in New Y rk. The young man from Texas, CJ Williams, with the biggest throws in the US, had a good shot at winning the double, NB, and N KE! One little problem: this young Wisconsinite from Marathon, Wisconsin, Christopher Marcell, had dreams. Building up from about 205 pounds to 245 pounds and eating 5,000 calories a day, this young man improved on each of his first five throws, from a PB of 61 feet to 65 feet. The Texan would have none of it and blasted out a 69′-00.75″ Monster th w. Calling on his superpowers (I suspect lots of WWisconsin-agedcheddar), Mr. Marcell, the dreamer, went 69- and took the n. love upset, and this one was extraordinary. Christopher Marcell it 69-2 in his sixth attempt, besting CJ Williams 69-00 75! An amazing improvement over the last season!
- So, the Girls’ Championship 800 meters was a curious one. Atalie Dumas, regarded as one of the most talented athletes of her generation, spent the week at Walt Disney World and arrived in NYC at 3 am, the morning of the race. ne hopes that wasn’t bravado but poor planning; either way, there was no way on God’s green earth that Natalie Dumas could enter the NIKE Armory without her very best performance. Lilie Barade had a dream, and she achieved it, as the number 2 took out the number 1 in a dominating style. I’m not sure what to say about that ne. I interviewed both Elie and Natalie.
- The Boys’ 800 had some big performances. Again, the fastest athletes are in the final heat. Grey Myrs took off, leading the 200 meters, and it wasn’t until the 600 meters that Joshua Cooper took control. Joshua Ooper ran 1 50. 9 for the win, and told this writer it took him by surprise how far he was off the pace early.
- The DMR was a fun event! The Havana Miami Club, made up of Armando Cruz running the 1200 meters, Carlos Benitez, a freshman running the 400m, Jack Michalak, a sophomore running the 800m, and Marcelo Mantecon anchoring the mile, battled a tough field. Jack Mic alak, the third-place finisher in the Boys 800m, ran 1:51.49 to break the DMR right out of the gate. Marcelo Mantecon, in his third race of the weekend, ran 4:04.73 to give Havana Miami the title, breaking the former indoor record set by Ridge TC in 2022 (9:53) 0. Havana Miami ran 9:47.02.
- We missed this one from Day 1 ! Epic Triple Jump battle from Thursday! In his very last jump, Miles Nesmith became the first high school boy to soar over 53 feet with his 53’0″. Second place, Yevhen Zhmailo, triple jumped 50’6.75″. The HSR that Miles broke, just a couple of months old, with his 53-foot jump? You guessed it, the 52’9.5″ of Yevhen Zhmailo.
