Indoor track and field is essentially the overlooked younger brother of the track community. It gets so little attention that many states in America don’t even compete indoors officially at the highs school level. The track is weird at only 200 meters, and unlike outdoors, only but so many people can fit into any fieldhouse. If you are a sprinter who runs the 100 meter dash, then you are totally out of luck come indoors. Because the 60 meter dash (or the 55 depending on where you are) is the closest thing that exists. But at the high school level, what does it really mean to win in the 60 meter dash? I personally didn’t run indoors in high school, I was actually playing varsity basketball the entire time. But when I ran outdoors I snatched a few gold medals from the boys who were winning while I was busy. Besides, if all of the fast boys won’t show up to compete until outdoors, doesn’t that put an asterisk on everything you accomplished?

Thanks to internet we now know who was the fastest boy in high school, in the fastest race that track and field has, every single year. Only 1 boy every year is named the nation’s best. And the truth is, high school is really only the start of any young sprinters career. To make this list as the fastest high school boy in the nation, the criteria is simple. You have to run the fastest recorded time on either MilesSplit or Athletic.net. So here is a breakdown of what happened to the fastest high school boy on the track, every single year, for the past 10 years. Some names that you might recognize, and some others you likely have forgotten. But it doesn’t really matter how fast you start, as much as it does how well you finish.

2023 - Issam Asinga (60m/55m)

In 2023 Issam Asinga was the nation’s fastest boy indoors. He ran 6.57 in the 60 meter dash, which likely would have gotten him into the NCAA championships already. But he was also the Gatorade track athlete of the year, by the time outdoor season was over. Truth be told he dominated the season wire to wire like almost no sprinter has. But that’s not what he is known for anymore. Although he has committed to Texas A&M to run in college, he was also slated to run for Suriname in the World Championships. That dream that came crashing down when he failed a drug test given by the AIU. Issam petitions his innocence, and does admit to taking supplements but claims they did not contain banned substances. However, he is on the Texas A&M track and field roster and hopefully will be dominating the SEC conference this season.

2022 – Justin Braun (60m/55m)

In 2022 it was Justin Braun who was a senior out of Ohio who ran the fastest indoor sprint time in the nation. He went 6.62 to do it. However, he later ran the fastest 400 meter dash as well! After dominating the high school track scene he chose to continue his career at USC. As a freshman in 2023 he ran 45.99 indoors in the 400. That is basically a PR, not only because it was his first full indoor season, but because indoor 400s are often slower than ones run outdoors. He also just barely missed qualifying for the NCAA championships individually. But he did go on to win a bronze medal at the NCAA Indoor championships in the 4x400m relay. His outdoor season was cut short due to injury but Justin seems to share a lot of similarity with another great USC Trojan, Michael Norman. So we should expect big things from him in the future.

2021 – Jaylen Slade (60m) 

In 2021 Jaylen Slade shocked the track world dominating every short sprint event, both indoors and outdoors. He ran 6.68 in the 60 meter dash before choosing to turn pro signing with Adidas when he was still just 17 years old. At that time Slade was aiming to qualify for the Olympic trials. But 2 years later in 2023 we haven’t seen much from Jaylen Slade. He has battled injuries and in 2022 he was listed as unattached in the races he did run. He doesn’t seem to have run faster than 10.30, a time that was actually wind aided. He also failed to break 21 in the 200 meter that season. To this point he doesn’t have any times registered in 2023, so let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of Jaylen Slade.  

2019-2020 – Micah Williams (60m)

In both 2019 and 2020 Micah Williams left no doubt that he was the nation’s fastest sprinter in the 60 meter dash. He ran 6.60 at his fastest and later went on to compete for the University of Oregon. Today he is one of the fastest men to ever run the 60 meter dash in college, just 3 hundredths of a second off the collegiate record. But his only NCAA championship win is from his first trip there in the 60 meter dash in 2021. Ironically he barely missed team USA in 2022 for the 100 meter dash, but he can make up for that by getting the job done at the Olympic Trials.

2018 – Anthony Schwartz (60m/55m)

In 2018 Anthony Schwartz was proved himself as the fastest indoor sprinter, and it wasn’t even close. He ran 6.59 to do it but he was also Gatorade track athlete of the year when outdoors was done. However, he was also a great football player. That is where he put his focus after high school. He took his talents to Auburn and sprinted only a little bit there But he ran 10.21 in the 100 meter in college, and 6.59 in the 60. That perforamnce would have given him a shot to run at the NCAAs indoor championships, had he showed up to compete. Since that time, football has worked out for him and he has become an NFL player for the Cleveland Browns, drafted in the 3rd round for 2021. Anthony is a truly special talent, who probably could have become one of the best sprinters of his generation, but we will likely never get to see it since he is now competing exclusively on Sundays.

2017 – Caleb Jolivette (60m)

In 2017 it was actually Caleb Jolivette who beat out a lot of fast boys to become the nation’s fastest in 6.73 seconds. But you probably don’t remember him much, because track really wasn’t his primary sport. He played football for both Sam Houston and Jackson State in FCS D1. But he did run track a little bit for both schools. He never ran faster than his high school PR and made the conference finals in the 60 meter dash at both schools. He did not win any medals in those conference races either. It’s clear that he was always a special talent, which has to make you wonder, what he could have done if he actually made track his priority. 

2016 – Josephus Lyles (60m/55m)

In 2016 it was Josephus Lyles who ran 6.65 in the 60 meter dash to shock the track world. But he still had a tough time winning in any meet he would enter, because his brother Noah Lyles was always there. He elected to turn pro after that, skipping running in college entirely. From that moment he’s honestly never run the shortest distances much since. For a while he wasn’t talked about much, while he focused primarily on the 400. But he seems to be more of a 200 meter specialist at this time. He has even gotten dangerously close to making Team USA now in that event. So he has to be setting his sights on doing it for the first time this upcoming Olympics.

2015 – Noah Lyles (60m/55m)

The next name on this list needs no introduction. Before Josephus Lyles ran the fastest indoor sprint times, his brother Noah Lyles did it too. Ironically he ran the same exact time of 6.65 in the 60. Today we know how good Noah Lyles is. He is now the reigning world champion in the 100 and 200 meter with an active three peat in the latter. The only thing left for him to do is to break perhaps a World Record and win triple Gold at the Olympics. Keep in mind he's dangerously close in the 200 meter dash, and he’s already won triple Gold this year, so that is a legitimate possibility.

2014 – Trentavis Friday (60m/55m) 

One full decade ago it was Trentavis Friday who didn’t just run the fastest 60 meter dash in the nation, he was named the Gatorade athlete of the year, later that season. He ran 6.64 in the 60 meter dash to do it, and later won the USA junior championships as a senior in high school before winning the world junior championship in the 200 meter dash. He then attended Florida State but only for 1 year where he struggled to win much at the conference and NCAA level. After which he turned pro but never regained the form that made him a World Junior champion. He hasn’t recorded any official times since 2020, so it seems we may have seen the last of Trentavis Friday on the track.

The Bottom Line 

To become the fastest boy in high school in either the 60 or 55 meter dash is a great accomplishment. But all it really means is that you have great talent and great potential. Which does not mean a whole lot if that potential is never realized. The names you forgot about who made this list are proof that high school success, is not the end of your career but rather the beginning of it. But one thing is for certain that in the United States of America, there is no shortage of talent on the track at the high school level.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, RUN GOOD.

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