Arcadia Invitational Recap
Southern California had unusual hot weather for April, but we knew the races were going to be hot! Here are some highlights to the distance invitational events on Friday and Saturday.
Friday
The first invitational event was the girl's 3200 meter relay. The meet was originally scheduled for a 4:30 start and was delayed by 45 minutes because of the heat. Still, the weather was a challenge and JSerra managed to compete at a high level despite the heat. JSerra finished with the fourth fastest time in the US in 9:04. Ashlee Gallegos provided the anchor leg and won the event by 14 seconds. The boy's 3200 meter relay was a battle between Bellarmine of San Jose and Long Beach Wilson. Bellarmine edged LB Wilson for the win in 7:45.
The next invitational distance event is the popular Arcadia 4 X 1600. The favorite going into the meet was the D1 California Cross Country champion Buchanan. Lone Peak of Utah and JSerra stayed with Buchanan early and the team of Lomeli, Cornett, Hutchison and Sundgren set the meet record in 19:56. The boy's featured a tight race between American Fork of Utah and Jesuit of Oregon. In the last few laps, American Fork pulled away for the win, but not without some drama. Nate Jaster of American Fork took the baton for the last leg and dueled with Caden Swanson of Jesuit. As Jaster came to the finish line, he began to stumble and landed at the line for the win in a time of 17:21. Meanwhile a battle ensued for second between Jesuit, Loyola and Central Catholic. In the end Swanson edged out Loyola's Richard Moreno and Central Catholic's Wes Shipsey.
Saturday
The weather cooled a little on Saturday, but the invitational distance races continued to be scorchers. The girl's 800 was the first invitational distance race of the evening. The race was to be a showdown between JW North's Mackenzie Browne and LaCanada's Arielle McKenzie, but Allison Ince of Normal Community of Illinois took the drama out the race by taking it out fast and finishing with a US leading mark of 2:05.42. The pre-race 800 favorite Jai Dawson of Dana Hills found his customary spot in the front of the pack. As Dawson turned to the home stretch, four 800 athletes stayed close and ultimately Carter Cutting of Corner Canyon of Colorado nipped Dawson at the line to run 1:51.55 to improve his personal best by two seconds.
One of the featured events of the evening was the girls invitational mile. The crowd wanted to see if freshman Sadie Engelhardt could continue her remarkable track season. The race was called back due to fallen athlete Madison Shults of Niwot who unfortunately was unable to return to the start. In the beginning of the race, Chloe Foerster of Jesuit, Sam McDonnell of Newbury Park and Riley Stewart of Cherry Creek tried to stay with Sadie. Then Sadie took control of the race to finish the mile at 4:35 and shattering the meet record by eight seconds. The boy's mile had only one California athlete at the starting line. Two out of state athletes Simeon Birnbaum of Rapid City Stevens in South Dakota and Aiden Emerson of Arlington of Washington were racing for the finish line tape. Simeon squeezed out the victory in 4:06.51.
Dalia Frias of Mira Costa entered the 3200 with a top seed time and when she hit the 1600 mark well under five minutes, the crowd was getting ready to watch something special. Sophia Nordenholtz of Albany initially took the lead, but after the second lap, Dalia was in control with Eva Klingbell of Niwot of Colorado and Kate Peters of Lake Oswego of Oregon trying to pursue Dalia. Dalia set a meet record of 9:55.50. The showcase event was to watch the amazing Newbury Park boys in the 3200. The top four boys of Colin Sahlman, Lex Young, Leo Young and Aaron Sahlman of Newbury Park took their customary spots at the front of the pack. Eventually only Colin and Lex held the top spots and raced each other to the finish. Colin won the race in 8:34.99 in a new meet record (breaking his own record from 2021). Lex Young finished at 8:35. Twenty-three boys broke the nine minute barrier in this one race alone!
The distance medley relay on Saturday night was an invitational feature. Much like the 3200 meter relay on Friday night, JSerra took out the lead in the beginning and never let up for win at a time of 11:49.24. The boy's DMR was closer with Santiago of Corona in 10:13.30 while holding off Vista Murrieta, Menlo and Great Oak.
Be sure to check out all of the photos we took at Arcadia and download them for free!
Tap here for Friday's pictures