2018 Stanford HS Invitational Loaded for Outstanding Weekend

SATURDAY RUNNING EVENTS


* Last year, Bellarmine's Alex Scales out kicked Davis' Michael Vernau to the line

Mile (Girls & Boys)
Meet Record Girls: Anna Maxwell San Lorenzo Valley-CCS 4:43.27 '14
Meet Record Boys: Eduardo Herrera Madera South-CS 4:11.41 '16
Following the trials of the 400m. relays, the girls' 1600m. runners will take center stage. There will be two heats in this event and we can only hope that the athletes that I will highlight here will all be in the same heat. Stanford meet management has always separated all running events by the entry times so some of the faster competitors may end up in the slower heat. Either way, this event is LOADED. This is state final worthy with lots of great competitors. Instead of naming a favorite which is quite difficult, I will highlight the leading competitors. The Denner sisters (Maddy and Elena) will be back as the top returners from last year's meet. Olivia O'Keeffe of Davis and Gillian Wagner of Redwood will renew their rivalry after their clash in the 3200m. at the Dublin Distance Fiesta. Great Oak will have their top two runners in this field as well with Fatima Cortes and Tori Gaitan. Mari Friedman of Santa Cruz will test her four-lap skills against this field after running a couple of solo sub 4:50 earlier this season. La Costa Canyon's McKenna Brown has also been a top competitor in this event and will be part of the front pack.

The boys' race should be equally as exciting with some of the fastest runners in California in this event. The defending champion is Bellarmine senior Alex Scales. The fans in the audience should get a good look at Scales in the DMR on Friday but he will be out to show his strength here. He will have quite a field to contend with that will include last year's 800m. state champion Jett Charvet of Heritage, Redwood's Liam Anderson, Jesuit precocious sophomore Matt Strangio, Andrew Hill's Jorge Estrella, and the Great Oak duo of Gavin Korby and Carlos Carvajal.  Collin Ullrich of Liberty Ranch was a late addition to the meet due to a scratch and would be a factor but will more than likely be in the slower heat and will have to grind out a fast time on his own.

4 x 100m. Relay (Girls and Boys)
Meet Record Girls: James Logan-NCS 46.23 '03
Meet Record Boys: Long Beach Poly-SS 41.03 '98
The 400m. relay will contest trials starting at 11am. They will narrow the field down to the 9 finalists. 

The girls' will have an overwhelming favorite in Sheldon but this is a cruel event for those teams that can't get the baton all the way to the finish line. They have run a season-best of 47.59 and with just solid passes will be well clear of the field based on this year's season bests. The next best team is the Great Oak girls who have run 49.40 so far this season. Three teams that qualified for last year's final are also entered in this meet, defending champion Woodcreek and Maria Carrillo and St. Francis, Sacramento.

In the boy's competition, the fastest time run this early season belongs to Great Oak which recorded a season-best of 42.47 at the 40th Annual Aztec Track and Field Invitational. The other teams that have run faster than 43 seconds this season are Sheldon (42.73), Pittsburg (42.80) and Maria Carrillo (42.82). Other teams that are within striking distance and should also be contenders are Archbishop Mitty (43.04), Clayton Valley (43.05) and Turlock (43.06). 

800m. (Girls and Boys)
Meet Record Girls: Allie Schadler Rio Rico, Arizona 2:10.11 '16
Meet Record Boys: Connor Dunne San Clemente-SS 1:50.53 '16
I will show my bias but this meet sadly switched to the open 800m. after contesting the 4 x 800m. relay for many years. It's not often that Invitationals contest that relay event so that definitely lessened the opportunities for teams who want to run a fast time in that event. Regardless, there is a quality field contesting the girls' 800m. and we should observe multiple girls recording personal bests. There will be two heats in this event for each sex and the favorite should be Del Oro senior Cathilyn McIntosh. She has finished second in state twice two years in a row and has a lifetime best of 2:07.62. She has reportedly been dealing with a minor injury so her participation might be in question. The fastest three athletes from this season are Ashley Johnson of Mission Viejo (2:13.10), 
Charlotte Tomkinson (2:14.30) and Kyra Pretre (2:14.90), both of Menlo School. NCS runners Alhambra's Marissa D'Atri (2:11.77) and Concord's Rayna Stanziano (2:12.53) both had exceptional 2017 seasons and will both be looking to run fast here.

The meet record here is quite safe but we should still have an outstanding race. The favorite in this event is Clovis senior Andrew Scherf who finished in 5th place at last year's California State Track and Field meet with a lifetime best of 1:52.34. His main competition is Carlmont senior Ryan Wilson who has a best of 1:52.92 and was also a state finalist last year in this event. Other two-lap specialists who will also contend are Nixon McKenzie of Armijo (1:53.88), Reed Foster of Palo Alto (1:54.10), Abraham Maldonado of Atwater (1:54.40) and Quinton Alexander of Vanden (1:54.57). Interesting note about McKenzie is that this will be his 3rd Stanford Invitational as a junior and as a freshman, he helped Armijo win the Distance Medley Relay with a then meet record time.

400 Meters (Girls and Boys)
Meet Record Girls: Kaylah Robinson El Cerrito-NCS 54.09 '17
Meet Record Boys: Tim Brown McClymonds-OAK 47.31 '97
Last year's meet winner was Oak's Christian's 
Carolyn Wilson. She is now competing in college but another Wilson (presumably sister Hannah) will be here competing this year. She has a season best of 57.29 and will be looking to work her way up the California list this Saturday. The favorite to win the 400m. will be last year's 2nd place finisher, Alexis Surrell of Newark Memorial. She won the 2017 NCS MOC meet with a then PR of 54.10 and improved her personal best to 53.90 at the CA state Track and Field meet. She seems to be the class of the field and should win fairly easily. The next group should all be fighting for a second place finish. That includes Vista del Lago's Emily Costello who has ran 55.61 last year, Leigh's Hawa Kamara (56.97) and Sheldon's Thalia Reid (56.88). A wildcard in this field is St. Francis, Mt. View freshman Isabelle Cairns. She has run 57.70 so far this season as well as a 2:14.39 800m. She could run much faster with better competition so watch out for her.


This might be the best boy's 400m. field assembled at this meet in a long time. In all, you have 9 athletes that have all run faster than 49 seconds in the field. Leading the way is La Costa Canyon's Karson Lippert (Don Bloomer photo) who ran a CA #3 46.91 last season. Whitney, Rocklin's Andrew Franco had a best of 47.82 and was a state finalist last year. Other athletes that should be in the fastest heat include Monterey Trial's Zachary Larrier (48.17), Napa's Garrett Lustig (48.64) and Central's Nazim Seifuddin (48.59). Another runner in the field is Oakland Tech's Henry Larkin. He had a best of 48.59 last season as he qualified for another California state meet. That time is actually the 4th fastest time in his family which includes his grandfather's 47.6 (run on cinders) as well as uncle Bill Green Cubberly-CCS, who at one point held the high school 400m. record of 45.51. 

Girls 100m. Hurdles/Boys 110m. Hurdles
Girls Meet Record: Trinity Wilson St. Mary's College-NCS 13.41 '12
Boys Meet Record: Deion Lightfoot Kimball-SJS 13.76 '17
Just like the 100 meters, the 100m. Hurdles will have trials which will narrow the field from 32 to a final of 9. From looking at the entries, it looks like it will take a time of low 15s to make the final. A sub 15 effort in the trials will get you in the finals for sure. The favorite to win the final will be Silver Creek's talented junior, Jazlynn Shearer. She has already run a season-best of 14.19 which just missed her freshman PR of 14.18. She has qualified for two state meets already and has a lot of experience at large invitationals. A couple of other finalists from last year's Stanford meet will keep Shearer honest. They are Sadye Peschke of Bella Vista (14.62) as well as Valencia Fortenberry of Angelo Rodriguez (14.91). The girl with the next fastest time behind Shearer is Nia Collins of Monterey Trail who ran a PR of 14.52 at the end of her 2017 season. She is typically not impressive early but will continue to improve throughout the season. 

For the boys, it looks like you will need to run sub 15 to definitely make the final. The favorite to win this event is impressive sophomore Jamar Marshall of St. Mary's Stockton. As a freshman, Marshall made it all the way to the Sac-Joaquin Finals and recorded a personal best of 14.27 at the SJS Division I finals. He missed going to the state meet but I am positive that his experiences last year will lead to a tougher competitor this year. His main competition should come from Clayton Valley senior, Aidan Jackman. He is currently undefeated in both hurdle events and set a personal best of 14.50 already this season. Jake Woods of Clovis, Warren Williams of Merrill West as well as Jermain Worthy of Bella Vista all sport personal bests in the 14.60s and will all definitely be in the hunt.

100 Meters (Girls and Boys)
Meet Record Girls: Ashton Purvis St. Elizabeth-NCS 11.50 '07
Meet Record Boys: Deondre Batson Laguna Creek-SJS 10.44 '10

One of the favorites to take the fastest high school competing at Stanford will be Whitney Young senior,
Amira Young (photo courtesy of MileSplit Illinois). If you are wondering where Whitney Young is located, try Illinois. She has lots of experience racing in high school on her HS team as well as a club team. Athletes don't typically fly across the country unless they plan to race well so she will be one to watch. Santa Rosa's Kirsten Carter will be fairly busy at this meet and despite her excellence in many other events, this may still be her favorite race distance. She won last year's NCS MOC meet and ran a best of 11.78 at the California State Track and Field meet. Another sprinter that should not be overlooked is Amador Valley's Chinyere Okoro. She ran a near personal best of 11.84 earlier this season at the Dan Gabor Invitational and I can vouch that the event was not held during ideal conditions.

Dorian Simon from Lakes HS is one of the top sprinters from the state of Washington. He will be here to test his speed against some of the best California sprinters. Some of those sprinters that will hope to send Simon back to Washington with an L includes Dalaan Green of Antioch. He has already recorded a victorious effort at the Sacramento State Track Classic with a personal best of 10.83. The rest of the top contenders include Joseph Fontes of St. Mary's Stockton, Patrick Acholonu of Pleasant Grove and Darius Van Den Akker of Santa Teresa. It will be interesting to see who will really shine at this meet as many of these sprinters will get to compete in the warm conditions they crave to sprint very fast. 

4 x 400m. Relays (Girls and Boys)
Meet Record Girls: Kennedy (Granada Hills)-SS 3:44.4y '81
Meet Record Boys: Berkeley-NCS 3:14.0y '81
It's hard to believe that both records in this event hail back to the year 1981. I know many competitors...err...their parents remember that year well. The goal here, aside from winning is to get your foursome to record a time under 4 minutes. That time, just like in the mile, separates the contenders from the pretenders. As it stands now, 15 California teams have dipped under that magical barrier and two of those schools will be competing here. Sheldon has run the fastest time so far with a 3:57.39 while section rival Woodcreek has run 3:58.75. Both teams should be challenged by teams ready to drop their first fast time of the season. South Pasadena, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Acalanes, Great Oak, and St. Mary's Berkeley all bring foursomes that can average less than 60 seconds and place their teams among the best in the state.

It's not by accident that the 4 x 400m. relays typically end most Track and Field invitationals and meets. The event is without a doubt one of the most exciting competitions in our sport. The boys in this event will wrap up the high school competition. The favorites here will be some of the usual suspects when it comes to teams that year in, year out, have some of the top foursomes in our area. From the Central Coast Section, Los Altos, Serra and San Benito will be looking to get the early lead for section supremacy. From the Sac-Joaquin Section, John F. Kennedy, Pleasant Grove, and Granite Bay will bring their own lumber to match the already mentioned teams. From the North Coast Section, the top teams will include Monte Vista, Clayton Valley, Maria Carillo and St. Mary's Berkeley. It should be quite a show and don't forget to watch the earlier heats which usually feature lots of close and exciting finishes.