From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Former Millville star Bryanna Craig, now a senior at Ruston High School, returns to the Northeast this weekend to compete in the pentathlon at Ocean Breeze.

Craig spent her first two years at Millville, where she set a national freshman heptathlon record and placed 4th at the USATF Under-20 Championships in Miramar, Fla., and also won the heptathlon at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

Craig spent her junior year at Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, where her dad – former Millville star and 2019 South Jersey Coach of the Year – took a job as an assistant coach at Texas Tech. When Craig got a job this past year at Louisiana Tech, the family moved to Ruston.

Bryyanna Craig has a pentathlon PR of 3,678, which she set in January at a meet in Birmingham, Ala. That’s her only multi since she placed second at Outdoor Nationals in June
in Greensboro with a heptathlon PR of 5,138 points. Ariel Pedigo of Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge won with 5,343 points, No. 6 in high school history. She has since graduated and is now competing for Oklahoma.

Craig’s indoor PR of 3,678 ranks 17th in U.S. history and is the U.S. No. 1 mark, which makes her the top seed this weekend in Staten Island. But as you can see from the chart below she’s only 33 points outside the all-time U.S. top-10.

There are two so-called “national” meets being held in New York City this weekend. Craig will compete at Ocean Breeze in the one-day, five-event challenge that includes the shot put, long jump, high jump, hurdles and 800.

Competition begins at 10 a.m. Friday with the 60-meter hurdles and continues with the shot put at 11 a.am., long jump at 12:15 p.m., high jump at 2:30 p.m. and 800 at 4:10 p.m.

Craig is also No. 2 nationally in the high jump at 5-9 3/4 but because the championship high jump is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday she won’t be able to contest it.

U.S. No. 2 Elise Dobson of Nolensville (Tenn.), who has scored 3,357 points this year, and U.S. No. 4 Evie Culbreath of Baylor School in Chattanooga, who has scored 3,231 points, are also entered.

Here’s a look at the all-time U.S. pentathlon top-20:

4,302 … Anna Hall [Valor Christian, Highlands Ranch, Colo.], 2019
4,068 … Kendell Williams [Kell, Marietta, Ga.], 2013
3,976 … Sterling Lester [Marietta, Ga.], 2018
3,924 … Shana Woods [Poly, Long Beach, Calif.], 2006
3,823 … Ryann Krais [Methacton, Norristown, Pa.,], 2008
3,765 … Annika Williams [College Station, Tex.], 2018
3,740 … Chloe Royce [Collège Durocher Saint-Lambert, Montreal], 2019
3,738 … Alex Harmon-Thomas [Free State, Lawrence, Kans.], 2013
3,717 … Katherine Sherman [Dennis-Yarmouth, Yarmouth, Mass.], 2004
3,711 … Loren Leaverton [Naaman Forest, Garland, Tex.], 1998
3,709 … Gayle Hunter [North, Riverside, Calif.], 2004
3,706 … Shaina Burns [South, Lakeville, Minn.], 2014
3,700 … Felecia Majors [South County, Lorton, Va.], 2013
3,696 … Brooklyn Gould [Chugiak, Anchorage, Alaska], 2019
3,682 … Alaina Brady [Tahoma Maple Valley, Wash.], 2019
3,681 … Kendall Gustafson [Palisades Charter, Pacific Palisades, Calif..], 2013
3,678 … Bryanna Craig [Ruston, La.], 2022
3,674 …Tia Livingston [Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, N.J.], 2016
3,673 … Tiana Riel [Hopkinton, Mass.], 2004
3,667 … Brianna Smith [Cheltenham, Pa.], 2019

And here’s a glance at Craig’s indoor and outdoor PRs:

PRs
Outdoor
100: 12.82 [Lubbock Coronado]
200: 24.99 [Ruston]
400: 56.30 [Millville]
800: 2:21.44 [Millville]
100HH: 14.08 [Lubbock]
400IH: 1:03.36 [Millville]
High Jump: 5-9 3/4 [Ruston]
Javelin: 117-1 [Lubbock Coronado]
Long Jump: 19-0 1/2 [Lubbock Coronado]
Shot Put: 32-1 1/2 [Millville]
Heptathlon: 5,138 Lubbock Coronado

Indoor
200: 25.29 [Millville]
400: 57.21 [Ruston]
800: 2:21.32 [Millville]
55HH: 8.31 [Millville]
60HH: 8.78 [Ruston]
400IH: 1:03.36 [Millville]
High Jump: 5-9 3/4 [Ruston]
Long Jump: 18-5 1/4 [Ruston]
Shot Put: 30-8 1/4 [Millville]
Pentathlon: 3678 [Ruston]