Dylan Blair is headed to the Big Apple.

The Eagle Valley junior qualified for Nike Indoor Nationals, held at The Armory in New York City from March 14-16. Blair qualified for the event with his 3200-meter performance at the Great Southwest Indoor Classic at the University of New Mexico on Feb. 15. Blair’s time of 9 minutes, 32.86 seconds at 5,312 feet converts to a 9:13 time at sea-level, just under the 9:15 qualifying standard for the highly-competitive national competition.

“I knew he was at least as fit as he was last spring before he got sick for a really long time, which prevented him from making it to state last year,” coach Charlie Janssen said. “The 6-second PR was a major confidence boost and affirmation that he was indeed around 9:30 shape at elevation.”

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The day he qualified for the Nike Meet, Blair also found out he was selected as the 2024 USATF Colorado Mountain U20 men’s ultra trail athlete of the year. As a 16-year-old last summer, he led the U.S. to team gold by placing third overall in the International U18 Mountain Running Cup in Montana Palencina, Spain.

“Kind of like an all-time weekend for me,” Blair said. “I was really excited.”

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Although CHSAA doesn’t recognize indoor track as an officially sanctioned sport, Janssen has been working with several Eagle Valley athletes who are looking to get a jump on the spring season. He brought athletes to their first indoor meet in Gunnison on Feb. 9. Blair ran 9:56.45 at Western Colorado University’s indoor track, the highest collegiate indoor track in the world at 7,717 feet.

“I wasn’t feeling my greatest; my legs were heavy and went lactic right away,” the junior said of his season-opening rust-buster. “I just tried to shut that race out of my head because me and my coach both knew that the training was there and I was definitely going to be able to PR.”

In Albuquerque, he went up against Corbin Coombs, a senior at Organ Mountain High School. Coombs placed second in the Millrose Games high school boys mile in 4:02 this January and came into the race boasting 8:58.34 indoor 3200-meter chops.

“I knew what he was capable of,” Blair said. “I think it actually pushed me to say I’m going to run faster because I had to be in contention with this guy and then I’ll be fine.”

Colorado twins Evan and Wyatt Dan — who were also hunting for the Nike National standard — set the tone early as the lead pack clipped off 35.5-second 200-meter laps. Coombs took over halfway and Blair moved with him.

“At that point I was feeling great,” he said. “In my mind, I was like, ‘I could definitely run this faster, but I just got to stay right here because I know it’s going to be hurting those last two laps.”

Coombs surged with 300-meters remaining; Blair hit the bell lap at 9:00. The Eagle Valley junior remembered Janssen asking for a 30-second final 200-meters. He nearly delivered.

“That’s pretty good for me,” Blair said of his 32-second sprint.

Blair’s teammates also competed well. Tiago Horruitiner won the high jump with a mark of 5-feet-10-inches and Sara Marino, Jackson McKibban, Lily Brueck and Blake Anderson set a school record in the mixed 4×400-meter relay with a time of 4:01. Anderson also set a lifetime best in the 200-meter dash (23.03) and almost broke his personal record in the open 400, running 52.04.

“Of the 11 athletes that attended, all recorded indoor personal bests and most recorded lifetime personal bests in their respective disciplines,” Janssen said.

Coombs — who posted an 8:58 3200-meter mark earlier this winter — wound up claiming the five-second win as Blair finished second in the 16-athlete field.

Blair will run in the championship two-mile on March 14 at 1:50 p.m. EST. Nike Indoor Nationals is one of two elite national indoor track meets, the other being New Balance Indoor Nationals, held in Boston on the same dates. In 2023, Battle Mountain’s Will Brunner competed at New Balance Indoor Nationals, running 9:22.28 in the 3200-meters as a junior. He went on to win the 4A state title in the event later that spring and the following year as well. Blair isn’t ready to say he’s on a clear-cut state title trajectory, but based on his race performances and recent workouts, he believes he’s capable of something between 9:10-9:15.

“I think that will make me really happy if I can do that,” he said.

Blair’s goal for the spring is to chase down Cooper Filmore’s altitude school record (9:28.29) and take a run at Jake Drever’s sea-level mark of 9:10 when he travels to California for the Arcadia Invitational in April. Ultimately, he’d like to break the 9-minute barrier and attract the attention of his dream school — the University of Oregon — going into his senior year.

“I think to be able to do that I really need to lock in with my track times this year and punch those times down,” he said. “This race gave me a lot of confidence.”