Best of DyeStat: Nepo's Favorite Photos of 2019

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Our photo archive from 2019 set a record with more than 48,000 images from a busy year in track and field and cross country.  

Before we get to John Nepolitan's photos, please allow me to say thanks publicly to a few of the photographers who contributed greatly to our effort to illustrate the sports of track and field and cross country in the United States, and abroad, in the past 12 months. Chuck Utash in California and Laura Duffy in Illinois also made vital and consistent contributions all year long.

To Kim Spir, Phil Yearian, Margot Kelly, Murray Schukar, Carol Chen, Chuck Aragon, Bert Richardson, Joe Hale, Loren Orr, Ivan Alfaro, Peter Campbell-Thompson, James Kirby, Justin Britton, Ross Dettman and Lily Dozier -- thank you! And to the esteemed Kirby Lee of Image of Sport, thanks to you as well. 

Nepo (you can follow him at @OPENphotos) just keeps getting better and better. A school teacher at Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, he covers all the big events in NY/NJ, Boston, sometimes the West coast and even Europe.

Here some of Nepo's favorites of the year, in no particular order.

Nepo: Matthew Payamps celebrates with his St Anthonys (NY) teammates after winning the Penn Relays HS DMR title on a rainy Friday evening at Franklin Field

Nepo: Ja'Kwan Hale of Derby CT wins the New Balance Games Inv 500 in 1:05.52.  Hale went out to a lead early then over the final strides fighting for the line his legs started to come out from under him but held on for the win.

Nepo:  Katelyn Tuohy North Rockland NY found winning her third NXN title to be the hardest.  Coming up the final hill Tuohy takes a fast look back only to see she had two runners closing fast.   Right at the top of the hill Tuohy would shift and kick to her record-breaking third win.

Nepo: Morgan McDonald (University of Wisconsin) out leans Ben Veatch (University of Indiana) to win the 4xMile Relay championship at the Penn Relays. The difference between the two was just .04 seonnds --  16:39.82 to 16:39.86.

Nepo: A stormy Day 1 of the USATF Championships - Two-time Olympian Donn Cabral (Hoka One One/ Hoka NJNYTC) would just miss out qualifying for the final as the storm clouds move on from the stadium in Des Moines.

Nepo: The Jungle TC (Loudoun Valley VA) dominated the distance relays at New Balance Nationals Indoor, winning the DMR, 4x1 Mile and 4x800. Sam Affolder had a monster weekend and got the weekend started with a win in the DMR in a new national record 9:54.41.

Nepo: Grace O'Shea (Ramapo NJ) got faster through each round of the 55-meter hurdles at the Eastern States Championships, eventually winning in a personal best 7.75. O'Shea would end up tied for the fifth-fastest time in the USA for the 2019 indoor season. Outdoors O'Shea would win the New Jersey Meet of Champs 100 hurdles and finish her prep career with a sixth place finish at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

Nepo: There is nothing better than a finish line celebration and Kenneth Wei of Mt Sinai NY closed out his high school career winning the New York state meet 110-meter hurdles crown in style.

Nepo: New York will looking for a new star next year in the post-Katelyn Tuohy era and it just might be Corwall freshman Karrie Baloga, who won the Orange County Championship by covering the Bear Mountain course in 16:56 to move to No. 5 all-time for the 3-mile layout.  For her effort Baloga earned Dyestat Performance of the Week and later would go on to qualify for the Foot Locker Championships where she finished 11th.  

Nepo: One of the last races of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships saw Craig Engles (NOP)  hold off 2016 Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz (Bowman TC) to win his first outdoor national title and qualify for the IAAF World Championships in Doha.