The ALL-USA Preseason Boys Track and Field Team for the 2018-19 season was selected by Fred Baer, the founder of Track and Field Writers of America, and Jack Shepard, the high school editor for Track & Field News.
The boys high school boys track and field focus could return to the sprints in 2019 following the conclusion of the Mondo Duplantis pole vault era.
Matthew Boling, Tyrese Cooper, and Sean Burrell are the preseason candidates to provide the speed focus after the graduation of Duplantis from Lafayette (La.) High School. He set high school class records from his freshman through his senior seasons – concluding with the highest clearance by anyone in the world in 2018, 19 feet, 10 1/4 inches (at an international meet in Berlin on August 12). That season also produced the No. 2 and 3 all-time high school vaulters, Sondre Guttormsen of Davis (Calif.) at 18-10 1/4 and KC Lightfoot, Lees Summit (Mo.) at 18-5.
–Duplantis is the favorite to win this season’s NCAA pole vault title for LSU, with Guttormsen (now at UCLA) and Lightfoot (Baylor) in the medal chase.
Bolling, of Strake Jesuit (Houston) has already produced top 2019 times of 10.22 for 100 meters and 20.58 for the 200. He captured real attention at the Texas Relays the last weekend of March with a long jump of 26 feet, 3 1/2 inches. That ranks No. 7 on the high school list. The future Georgia Bulldog had gained focus in 2018 with a 46.15 time for 400 meters.
Burrell, a junior at Zachary (La.), is the fastest 400 meter returnee with his Louisiana state record 45.74. He also won the USATF Junior Olympics 200 and 400 in the summer.
Cooper, at Norland (Miami Beach, Fla.), set the freshman class 400 record of 45.23 in 2016, which ranks No. 10 on the all-time high school list for all performers. At 200 meters he holds records for both HS freshmen (20.62) and sophomores (20.51).
The one lap race has the oldest high school record in a regular track event, 44.69 by Darrell Robinson of Wilson (Tacoma, Wash.) in 1982.