Stanford Inv & Oregon Relays Preview
- West Coast XC
- Apr 2
- 8 min read
Stanford Invitational - April 3 & 4
Stanford University - Stanford, CA
Watch Preview HERE
Stanford hosts a two day meet that includes high school and college races. Here is a preview of the distance races at the Stanford Invitational.
Friday, 3200 Meters
The girl's 3200 has the opportunity to be fast and the possibility of breaking the meet record as Amaya Bharadwaj of Palo Alto has run 10:20.52 this season and Alyssa Gutierrez of St Francis of Sacramento has a 10:27.67 time from earlier this season. Brooke Oliveira of Castilleja and Carina Nottingham of Berkeley will also be in the front pack.
Phil Contakes of Dos Pueblos travels north and already has a season best of 9:04.95. Aidan Antonio of Woodbridge is an individual NXN qualifier and ran 9:05.59 last year. Andres Lomeli of Kimball has Brooks XC National Championship experience and ran 9:06.68 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta. Connor Bilodeau of Jesuit will look to improve on his 9:08.13 personal best. Elias Thronson of Davis, Arnav Agrawal of Milpitas and Maseco Colombant of Reno are other contenders.
Saturday, 1600 Meters
Amaya Bharadwaj of Palo Alto ran last year at the CIF State Meet Final with a 4:48.14 time in the 1600. Anna Salter of Crystal Springs Uplands and Ella Mogannam of Lick Wilmerding ran to the finish line together at the Dublin Distance Fiesta and will challenge Bharadwaj. Khloe DeLaTorre of Vacaville ran 4:50.29 last week at The Ten and Josie HIll of Sonoma Academy opened her season last weekend with a fast 800.
Cooper Stream of Vacaville almost won The Ten with his blazing time of 4:06.03 in the 1600 and Aidan Antonio of Woodbridge has a personal best of 4:06.94 and is one of many challengers. One set of challengers have fast 800 personal bests like Hugh Heyer of McClatchy, Lucas Alberts of Jesuit, Cooper Barr of Placer and Henry Hauser of Menlo Schools. Ashton Smedley of Dos Pueblos ran for the Southern Section cross country champions. Stephen Sziebert of Bellarmine College Prep won the Dublin Distance Fiesta and Mario Montoya of Redondo Union, Jackson Poburko of Trinity and Drake Hoferer of Jesuit will be looking for PBs.
800 Meters
Josie Hill of Sonoma Academy opened her season with a blazing 2:06.38 time in the 800! Lily Symon of St Francis has a 2:10.24 from last year's California State Meet. Kaylee Smith of Whitney won the 800 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta two weeks ago. Other athletes who will try to improve their season best times include Gretchen Yakaitis of Carondelet, Khloe DeLaTorre of Vacaville, Hailey Sellers of Branson, Azra Gercek of Portola and Anna Salter of Crystal Springs Uplands can all run 2:10 or faster on Saturday.
Cooper Barr of Placer has a personal best of 1:51.76 from last year and Henry Hauser of Menlo Schools ran 1:52.23 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta. They are both listed in the 1600 meters. There are a large contingent of runners that have times of 1:56 or faster like Evan Chopra of Menlo Atherton, Patrick Pinjuv of Union Mine, Sebastien Swain of Piedmont, Andrew Elder of Redondo Union, James Prater of Bishop O'Dowd, Connor Bilodeau of Jesuit, Cameron Jones of Mario Carrillo and Alex Garza of Branham.
Stanford Invitational College Races
3000 Steeplechase
Rob McManus of Montana State and Kole Mathison of Colorado have raced in the in the steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championship for the event. Caroline Jepkorir of Washington State and Sage Hagelin of Weber State are top returners in the women's steeplechase.
1500 Meters
Chloe Foerster of Washington won the 1500 at Stanford last year and Juliette Whitaker of Stanford, who is a 2024 Olympian, will race in the same heat. Some of the top entries in the men's 1500 include Chris Caudillo who normally runs for Cal Poly, but is running unattached, Aidan McCarthy of Cal Poly, Tayvon Kitchen of BYU and Tyler Bilyard of Washington.
5000 Meters
Colin Sahlman of NAU recently won the 3000 in the NCAA Indoor Championships and is entered in the 5000 meters. Brian Usau of Oklahoma State has won the indoor and outdoor 5000 meter NCAA Championships. Other athletes to watch in the 5000 include Jacob White of Wyoming, Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon, Tayvon Kitchen of BYU and Reuben Reina of Washington.
Marion Jepngetich of New Mexico finished second at last year's 5000 meter's race at Stanford. Julia David-Smith of Washington, Zofia Dudek of Stanford and Ava Mitchell of NAU all ran in the 5000 at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Kaiya Roberston of Boise State, Juliet Cherubet of Oregon, Tatiana Cornejo of Cal Poly and Mia Cochran of Washington are other top runners.
10,000 Meters
The showcase event is normally the Stanford Invitational 10,000 as the weather cooperates in the night and there are only a few opportunities to run a quality 10,000. Diana Cherotich of Oregon won the 10,000 last year at Stanford and is entered. Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico won both the 5000 and 10,000 at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championship and is entered on Friday night. Florence Caron was an All-American for Penn State last year and now runs professionally for Hoka NAZ Elite. Jenna Hutchins of BYU won the Stanford Invitational 5000 last year and superstar freshman Jane Hedengren of BYU is entered. Hedengren won the indoor 3000 and 5000 in March's NCAA Indoor Championships.
NCAA Cross Country Championship winner Habtom Samuel of New Mexico is the headliner of the men's 10,000. Evans Kurui of Washington State won the Stanford Invitational 10,000 meter races last year and Evan Jenkins of Washington won the Stanford Invitational 10,000 in 2024. Carter Cutting of BYU won the indoor mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships and is entered in the 10,000. Other top runners include Josephat Meli of Washington State, Denis Kipnegetch of Oklahoma State and Evans Kiplagat of New Mexico are other top runners.
800 Meters
Jamie Phillips of Bradley won the 800 last year at the Stanford Invitational. Chloe Foerster of Washington won the 800 at the Stanford Invitational and returns on Saturday with Tessa Buswell of BYU will be a challenger.
Oregon Relays - April 3 - 4
Hayward Field - Eugene, OR
Watch preview of the meet HERE
Watch the meet live HERE
One of the premier high school track meets is held for two days at one of the premier track facilities. Here is a preview of the individual distance events.
2000 Steeplechase
High school athletes rarely get the chance to race the steeplechase and thanks to Hayward Field, they get a chance to jump into the water pit! Sophia Rodriguez of Mercer Island had a big year in 2025 in the state of Washington as she won the 3A 1600, 3200 and cross country titles and is entered in the steeple. Avery Meier of West Salem is in the steeple and she finished fourth at the 6A cross country championship in 2025. Aiden Wendring of Central (OR) has experience in the steeplechase as he won at the Nike Outdoor National at Hayward Field in June.
Mile
The two-time defending NXN team champion of Niwot will be at the Oregon Relays and are represented in the boy's mile. Rocco Culpepper of Niwot ran 4:03.80 at Hoka's Festival of Miles back in June. Jude Ritzenhein of Niwot ran 4:10.95 in the 1600 last week in elevation and he is a freshman! Quinn Sullivan of Niwot ran 4:11.32 last year at the Oregon Relays. Yosuke Shibata of South Eugene won the Oregon 6A cross country title in November, qualified as an individual for NXN last fall and ran a 4:09.06 mile indoors at the University of Washington back in January. Krish Desai of Mira Costa ran a 4:08.79 1600 meter race last week at The Ten. Cohen Butler won the 4A title in cross country in Washington, qualified for NXN and has a 4:09.28 personal best in the 1600. Garrett Faught won the 5A cross country title in Oregon, qualified for NXN and ran a 4:10.77 mile indoors at the University of Washington back in January.
Addison Ritzenhein of Niwot won NXN in 2023 and has a personal best in the mile of 4:42.56. Ruby Ihmels of Century travels from North Dakota with a personal best of 4:46.90 in the 1600. Audrey Orme of Boise qualified for NXN last fall and has a personal best of 4:51.62 in the 1600. Chloe Elbaz of JSerra ran 4:51.54 in the mile at last year's Oregon Relays. Meg Peterson of Mt Prospect of Illinois has a best time in the mile of 4:54.06.
2-Mile
Local athlete Malachi Schoenherr of Sheldon ran 8:17.35 in the 3000 at the Husky Classic at the University of Washington in February. Max Billet of Shorewood (WA) dipped under nine minutes in the 2-mile last year at the Oregon Relays. Mason Morical of Caldera (OR) ran a personal best of 8:23.21 in the 3000 meters back in February at the STCU West Coast Indoor Championships. Ty Cirino of Central (OR) ran 8:58.79 in the 2-mile at last year's Oregon Relays. Oliver Zimmerman of Cedar Park Christian (WA) recently ran a 8:59.97 at an icebreaker. Zimmerman was the 1A cross country champion in Washington last fall.
Cassidy Armstrong of Ballard (WA) ran 10:08.71 in the 3200 last week and qualified for NXN last fall. Latham West of Bonney Lake (WA) ran the 2-mile at Nike Indoor Nationals in March and ran 10:36.09. Nelida Dalgas of North Salem (OR) has a personal best of 9:47.36 in the 3000 and qualified to NXN in December. Karlin Janowski of York (IL) ran 10:31.34 indoors last March in the 3200. Maddie Carney of Caldera ran 10:40.44 in the 2-mile at last year's Oregon Relays and won Oregon's 5A division in cross country last fall.
800 Meters
Wyland Obando of Long Beach Wilson (CA) comes into the Oregon Relays 1:49.57 personal best in the 800 meters. Obando won the Oregon Relays 800 last year and the California State Meet in the 800 in May. Mana Voss of Central Kitsap (WA) finished second at the 3A Washington State Meet in the 800 in a time of 1:51.41. Rocco Culpepper of Niwot (CO) has personal best of 1:51.71 set last year at Nike Outdoor Nationals. Paul Hretcanu of Tigard (OR) won the 6A Oregon State Meet in the 800 in a time of 1:51.86. Findlay Hartshorn of Bear Creek (WA) has a personal best of 1:52.55 run at the New Balance Indoor Meet in March.
Kjirsten Ludeman of Sehome (WA) ran an eye popping 2:06.64 last week. Ludeman was a key member of the Sehome NXN team. Sophie Schoolmeester of Banks has a 2:11.46 personal best in the 800 last year and ran 2:12.78 at her future school, University of Washington. Shirayah Lewis-Williams of Long Beach Wilson (CA) ran 2:09.42 at the California State Meet last year. Naomi Cesar (OR) of Sunset finished second at the 6A Oregon State Meet last May in a time of 2:10.19. Annabelle Carr of Coeur d'Alene Charter ran 2:12.09 at the STCU West Coast Indoor Championships in February. Carr has committed to Oregon next fall.
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