Distance Relays
The 4 X 800 was the first distance relay contested on Friday night at the Arcadia Invitational. On the girl’s side, JSerra hoped to defend their title from last year’s Arcadia Invitational. Del Norte inserted their 800-meter star Hannah Riggins in the third leg, took the lead and Del Norte held on for the win 9:00.77. Buchanan used the lead runner Noah Ray and anchor of Zach Weaver to win the boy’s 4 X 800 in a convincing time of 7:43.84.
Girl’s Friday Relay Photo Gallery
Buchanan girls repeated as 4 X Mile champions and almost broke the twenty-minute mark and finished at 20:01.12. Lone Peak girls finished second and finished second last year too. American Fork, led by Gatorade Cross Country athlete of the year Daniel Simmons, won the boy’s 4 X Mile for the second year in a row in 17:13.24. Jesuit of Oregon finished second for the second year in a row.
Boy’s Friday Relay Photo Gallery
The distance medley was competed the following evening and JSerra successfully defended their Arcadia DMR title pulling away for the win in 11:52.45. Palo Alto broke the 12-minute barrier and JSerra’s B-team finished third. In the boy’s DMR, Loyola, San Clemente and Redondo Union battled for the lead with Loyola coming up with the win in 10:12.91
Friday 3200
The magic barrier for the girls in the 3200-meter race is 10:30 and the boys hope to break 9:00. The Friday night races are fun to watch to see this happen. Riley Blade of Santiago won the seeded 3200 in 10:21.08 and six other athletes also broke 10:30. Teammates William Brunner and Porter Middaugh of Battle Mountain (CO) ran 8:59 to break the important 9-minute barrier.
Girl’s Friday 3200-Meter Photo Gallery
Boy’s Friday 3200-Meter Photo Gallery
800 Meters
Allison Ince of Normal (IL) came back to Arcadia to defend her 800-meter title. Throughout the race, it looked like Ince would successfully defend her title and then MacKenzie Browne of JW North gained ground. Browne won the 2022 California State 800-title last spring so her contending for the lead was not a surprise. The impressive part of Browne’s 2:03.07 victory was that it was over a five second PR! There was a little drama in the boy’s 800-meter race as Newbury Park’s Aaron Sahlman slipped forward at the start of the race and it was recalled. He was given a warning and the race was restarted with Sahlman holding off Tyler Mathews of Red Mountain (AZ) to win in 1:49.07.
Mile
Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura successfully defended her Arcadia mile title by winning in 4:36.26. Engelhardt won easily by almost five seconds. Still, eight athletes achieved their personal best. The boy’s race had a sit and kick strategy and Will Heslam of Roosevelt (OR) took advantage of the race pace to kick for the win in 4:12.20.
3200 Meters
Irene Riggs of Morgantown (WV) continued her amazing senior season by winning the 3200 in meet record time of 9:52.66. Riggs took control of the race from the beginning and won by almost three seconds. Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery (Santa Rosa) had a great finish to place second in 9:55.31. Riggs and Thomsen and seven other athletes broke the 10-minute barrier! Twenty-three athletes broke the 10:30 barrier in the two-day meet.
At Saturday’s seeded 3200, Pierre Attiogbe of St Alans For Boys (DC) won in 8:49.82 and 18 other boys broke nine-minutes. Daniel Simmons of American Fork (UT) took the lead with a lap to go and Simon Birnbaum of Stevens (SD) caught Simmons for the win in 8:34.10 for the meet record. Birnbaum, Simmons and Rocky Hansen of Christ School (NC). In the two-day meet at Arcadia, 44 athletes broke 9-minutes in the 3200.
Girl’s Saturday Day Photo Gallery
Boy’s Saturday Day Photo Gallery
Girls’ Saturday Night Photo Gallery
Boy’s Saturday Night Photo Gallery