West Charlotte put its star Trenton Guy Jr. on leadoff and took the lead, holding it until there were about 100 meters left, but then DeMatha and Long Beach Poly took over. Bryshon Nellum ran a 21.3 anchor to put it away for Poly, which ran a U.S.-leading 1:27.42. DeMatha ran 1:28.49. West Charlotte faded.

Poly split 22.2-22.2-21.7-21.3, DeMatha 22.3-21.5-22.4-22.3. Pine Bush NY won an unseeded race in 1:29.89.

GIRLS

Poly won the girls’ race as well, as Turquoise Thompson powered past Middle College (Brooklyn NY) on the final leg to win, 1:39.67-1:40.02.

Speed City (Poly, Long Beach) had a big margin in the boys’ qualifying, running 1:27.93, the fastest time in the country so far this season. Bryshon Nellum ran the anchor. The other teams to make the seeded section of the 3-section final were DeMatha Catholic (Md), Dayton (Oh) and Starkville (Miss.).

In the girls, Middle College (Brooklyn, NY) ran the fastest time in the preliminaries, 1:40.45, just ahead of Speed City (1:41.60). Also in the fast section will be the Greyhounds TC and, in a surprise, the Horace Mann School, of the Riverdale section of the Bronx.