Photos by Mary Ann Magnant
After setting a national freshmen class record in the 55 meter hurdles last year with his 7.35 best as a 9th grader at the Atlantic Coast Invitational, Grassfield's Grant Holloway has maintained his progression of national greatness in matching the national sophomore class record in the 55 meter hurdles with his season opening performance at the CNU Winter Frolic last Friday. Holloway breezed through his preliminary heat in a 7.43 clocking before shifting into another mode in the finals with a US leading time of 7.32.
Few and likely no one present at the time of Holloway's hurdles finals performance at the meet on Friday in Newport News were aware including MileStat.com that Holloway had indeed tied the national sophomore record in the event, but Jack Shepard and Mike Kennedy, gatekeepers of high school track & field all-time lists and national records for Track & Field News and the High School Track booklet (which was distributed for many years pre-internet days as the only source and compiling list of yearly national high school track & field rankings), contacted us via email after the weekend that indeed Holloway now has a share of the national sophomore class record with the likes of former North Carolina high school hurdle greats Johnny Dutch and Wayne Davis, who both have had very successful collegiate and post-collegiate careers to follow up their historic high school careers.
Being so early in the season, Holloway certainly will have many meet opportunities to better his time and take sole possession of the national class record in the event. Not only is a national record on his mind, but a national title as well despite being a sophomore. If he can remain healthy and continue to maintain or improve his performance, Holloway should expected to be in the mix at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in March as a contender to win in the 60 meter hurdles. Last year, Holloway false started at the Armory for the indoor nationals and blew his first opportunity to showcase his hurdling prowess on the national stage. Holloway was an AAU national champion this past summer in the high jump, while finishing third in the finals of the 110 meter hurdles with a 14.22 PR.
The versatility and athletic ability of Holloway extends much further than the hurdles. His older brother Trey Holloway (2012 grad of Grassfield HS) was more of a specialist in the 55 meter hurdles indoors (2012 Group AAA state indoor champ - 7.24 best) and 110 meter hurdles outdoors (2012 Group AAA state outdoor champ - 13.85 high school best), but kid brother Grant excels in many other track & field events. Holloway's 6'11" best clearance in the high jump last spring is without question the best performance by a freshmen in state history and he expects to contend for state indoor and outdoor titles in that event in the 6A classification this year. When he does not have hurdles in front of him on the track, Holloway can roll as well as shown with his recent US #1 time of 34.63 in the 300 meter despite running on a flat track. Holloway posted outdoor season bests of 10.89 in the 100 meter dash, 38.52 in the 300 meter hurdles, and has also run under 49 seconds in the open 400.
It does not appear that Grassfield High School's track & field will be competing in another meet over winter break or before New Year's Day, so it looks like we will have to wait until 2014 for Holloway's next race and see if he can move ahead of 2008 World Juniors 400 meter silver medalist Johnny Dutch and World Juniors & Youth 110 meter hurdles record holder Wayne Davis and become the exclusive record holder of the high school national indoor sophomore class record in the 55 meter hurdles. Holloway is also currently ranked #14 all-time in Virginia high school history (regardless of grade level) and will see how close that he can get to his older brother Trey, who is ranked #4 on the Virginia high school all-time indoor list.
VA High School Boys 55 Meter Hurdles All-Time Indoor List All-Time Top 25 Cut-Off - 7.35 Rank Athlete School Year Time ==== ======================== ============================= ==== ==== 1 Rickey Harris Centreville 1999 7.16 2 Rhonde Barber Cave Spring 1993 7.19 3 Daniel Mcfadden Heritage (Newport News) 2011 7.21 4 Doug Haynesworth Potomac Senior 1993 7.24 4 Trey Holloway Grassfield 2012 7.24 6 Calvin Holmes Denbigh 1984 7.28 7 Patrick Mann Gar-Field 1984 7.29 (7.27 y) 8 Dennis Toole Gar-Field 1990 7.30 8 Dawane Wallace Mount Vernon 1995 7.30 8 Vincent Brown South Lakes 2009 7.30 11 Lonnie Hill Menchville 1985 7.31 11 Dontae Bugg Heritage (Newport News) 1998 7.31 11 Chris Bell Granby 2006 7.31 14 Jeffrey Artis Western Branch 2009 7.32 14 Grant Holloway Grassfield 2014 7.32 16 Charles Reid Salem (VA Beach) 1994 7.33 16 Steven McDonnough Benedictine 2000 7.33 18 Walter Smith Albemarle 1985 7.34 18 Eric Perry Menchville 1981 7.34 (7.1h) 18 Valentino Robinson Thomas Jefferson (Richmond) 1981 7.34 (7.1h) 18 John Jenkins Annandale 2011 7.34 22 Kevin Watson Henrico 2001 7.35 22 Esteban Guzman Nansemond River 2002 7.35 22 Deandre White Lakeland 2002 7.35 22 Kevin Newsome Western Branch 2008 7.35 22 JaQuan Demiel Lakeland 2011 7.35
Watch the race again of Holloway's national sophomore class record tying performance below as well as his post-meet interview with MileStat.com.
Race Video
Video Interview