South Sound Classic – April 15
Sparks Stadium - Puyallup, WA
800 Meters
Julia Stuard of Tahoma enters the South Sound Classic with the top seed time of 2:15.97. Iris Rogel of nearby Bonney Lake, Alexis Meyer of North Thurston and Reese Morkert of Gig Harbor will also challenge Stuard. Ryan Lewis of Tahoma has the top seed of 1:57.00 and look for Jonathan Miles of Gig Harbor, Cruize Corvin of Lakes, Jefferson Smith of South Kitsap and Joachim Jakuc Glacier Peak as top runners in the 800-meters.
1600 Meters
The girl’s 1600 will be competitive with Julia Couch of Auburn Riverside, Lathan West of Bonney Lake, Reese Morkert of Gig Harbor and Kate Sanders of Tahoma have similar seed times and will be vying to be South Sound Classic 2023 champions. Jack Gladfelter of Port Angeles has the top seed time in the 1600-meters at 4:17.98. Cruize Corvin of Lakes is entered and ran last week at Arcadia. Host school athlete Conner Wirth is also entered and last fall Wirth won the 4A Washington cross country title. Other athletes to watch for the 1600 will be Roman Thomas of Bellarmine Prep, Micah Galeana of Gig Harbor and Isaac Biggs of Rogers.
3200 Meters
Freshman Latham West of Bonney Lake of 10:56.75. Eliza White of Curtis is the Washington 4A defending 3200-meter champion. Julia Couch of Auburn Riverside, Olivia DeBoer of Rogers, Madeline McKenna of Stadium and Aliyah Yearian of Port Townsend (East Jefferson) are other athletes to watch in the 3200. Zander (Alexander) Trevino of Lakes is the top seed and Conner Wirth of Emerald Ridge will also challenge. Also, Caleb Wilcox of Steilacoom, Blake Edwards of Central Kitsap and Tyler Campbell of Gig Harbor are other challengers.
Look for the photo gallery of the South Sound Classic after the meet!
Sherwood Need for Speed Classic – April 15
Sherwood High School – Sherwood, OR
800 Meters
The girls 800 has a number of athletes who can win the Need for Speed. Sophomore Sophia Malinoski has the top seed time of 2:16.96. Haley Blaine of West Albany finished second last spring at the 5A Oregon State meet 800. Eva Novy-Hildesley of Lincoln and Ella Thorsett of Summit are experienced racers. Haley Butenschoen of Stayton finished third in the 4A Oregon State Meet 800 last spring. Tucker Swinth of Cleveland has the top boy’s seed time of 1:57.20 in the 800-meter race. Rowan Haywood O’Neil of Franklin and Jensen (Kirk) Lord of Summit has run under 2-minutes in the 800 this season.
1500 Meters
Haley Blaine of West Albany has the top seed time of 4:38.54 for the 1500-meter race. Ella McGillis of Central Catholic finished second at the 6A Oregon State XC Meet in November and is entered in the 1500. Ella Thorsett, who will run for Oregon next fall is in the race as well as Zoe Rector of Central Catholic. Juan Diego Contreras of The Dalles, who will run for the Portland Pilots next fall, is the top seed in the boy’s 1500 with at a time of 3:55.82. Oscar Ponteri and Brennan McEwen of Franklin and Harrison Talcott of Lincoln will challenge.
3000 Meters
Keira Saavedra of Lincoln qualified for NXN last fall and has the top seed time in the 3000 of 10 flat. Josie Fale of Ida B Wells won the Newberg meet 1500 last week and is in the 3000 meters. Barrett Justema of Summit will run for Georgetown next fall and will challenge Saavedra and Fale. The boy’s 3000 is loaded with familiar names like Wes Shipsey of Central Catholic, Kai Mitchell-Reiss of Ida B Wells, Logan Law of Milwaukie, Samy Anderson of Lincoln, Jack Meier of West Salem, Juan Diego Contreras of The Dalles and Arcadia mile champion Will Heslam of Roosevelt.
63rd Annual Mt. SAC Relays – April 14-15
Hilmer Lodge Stadium – Walnut, CA
800 Meters
Hannah Riggins of Del Norte ran 2:06.69 last week at Arcadia Invitational and is the top seed. Cate Peters of Monte Vista also ran in the Riggins’ 800-meter race at Arcadia and ran 2:10.25. Tessa Buswell of Poway also ran in the invitational 800 at Arcadia and has run 2:11.01 this spring. Kaitlyn Arciaga of Westview ran her PR of 2:10.89 in the invitational 800 at Arcadia. In the boy’s 800-meter, Gabriel Rodriguez of Great Oak has run 1:51.79 and Noah Ray of Buchanan has run 1:51.97 this spring and are top seeds. Santiago Orozco of Cathedral, Marcell Francis-Mitchell of Wilson of Long Beach, Keeran Murray of South Pasadena, Harrison Lavery of Loyola and Zach Weaver of Buchanan are also boys to watch.
Mile
Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura is the clear favorite in the girl’s mile. Engelhardt ran 4:36.26 last week at the Arcadia Invitational. Several athletes will attempt stay with Engelhardt including Hannah Riggins of Del Norte, Rylee Blade of Santiago (Corona), Gioana Lopizzo of La Costa Canyon and Chiara Dailey of La Jolla. Manny Perez of Cathedral is the top seed in the boy’s mile and there are athletes who will compete with Perez. Carter Spradling of Clovis East, Joshua Bell of Templeton, Parker Simmons of Crescenta Valley, Matthew Donis of Highlands (Palmdale), Bille Issa of West Ranch and Jason Parra of Millikan are also athletes to watch in the 1600.
3200 Meters
Gioana Lopizzo of La Costa Canyon was one of athletes who broke 10 minutes at last week’s Arcadia Invitational 3200 and is one of the favorites. Marjourie Lopez of Shadow Hills had a great race last week at Arcadia and Janelle Avilez of Etiwanda has run fast 1600s this spring. Joshua Bell of Templeton broke nine-minutes last week at Arcadia Invitational. Bell will be the favorite in the 3200.