Epic Girls 1600 At SJS Masters A Perfect Appetizer For State

Jeffrey Parenti



In the race Friday night at Elk Grove, Anna Hicks (Ponderosa HS) took the early lead with O'Keeffe and Maddy Denner running in stride right behind and Elena Denner just behind. Maddy took a slight lead at 800m and from about 700 to the bell, it was Maddy, Olivia and Elena running away from the field in order onto the backstretch. Maddy tried to pull away over about the last 250 but O'Keeffe not only refused to let her go, but she looked fresher and more relaxed as she calculated her move. Elena kept pace, just a stride or so behind. Immediately off the final curve, O'Keeffe moved out from behind Maddy Denner, and with about 85m to go, O'Keeffe took the lead and sprinted away without challenge. The Denners closed fast just behind.

In winning the race, O'Keeffe also broke Maddy's SJS Masters Meet record of 4:49.84 set the year before.

"It's awesome to have two people I can always count on to really elevate the competition every race," O'Keeffe said of the Denners in a post-race interview with MileSplitCA's Dan Tyree.

"Now Olivia is the fastest in the nation and we get to race her," Elena, with a huge smile, told Tyree after the race. "We definitely have the best competition you can get."

O'Keeffe went 4:51.02 for second at State last June and dipped below 4:50 for the first time since finishing third at State as a sophomore (4:48.66) when she dropped 4:46.25 for 2nd between Maddy and Elena at the SJS Division Finals.

The victory at SJS Masters was O'Keeffe's second in three years but she never won a section divisional title, placing 2nd each of the last three years. She was asked which meant more to her, winning or that epic time?

"The time that I ran is definitely more meaningful to me than the title," O'Keeffe said. "I've been wanting to get down to that 4:40 barrier all of high school, so it's exciting to see that happening."

O'Keeffe, headed to the University of Washington, is a former State divisional cross country champion and two-time qualifier for Nike Cross Nationals, yet she never competed in the 3200 on the track before this season. She's run the eight-lapper six times in 2018 (according to her MileSplitCA profile) with a best of 10:22.30 (CA #11). She said she expects to take the line late Saturday night in what will be the final CIF race of her career. (The Denners also confirmed their intent to double in Clovis.)

"I'll definitely do the 3200 as well next weekend," O'Keeffe confirmed in her written response. "Running the 32 after the 16 is challenging, but I think this race should help build up my confidence in my fitness so I can just go out there and see what I'm capable of."

Note that University of Michigan-bound Maddy Denner was runner-up to Claudia Lane in last year's State 3200 final. And University of Notre Dame-bound Elena Denner -- a two-time Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 and SJS Masters champion -- was 4th!

"I do plan to race both the 1600 and 3200 because I like the challenge of doubling," Elena wrote. "I'm also a lot more relaxed by the 3200 if I've already raced."

The expectation, with Lane's season ended by injury, is that it will be Maddy Denner battling Mariah Castillo (Saugus), Haley Herberg (Capistrano Valley), Gillian Wagner (Redwood), Elena, and a host of other distance stars in the eight-lapper. Castillo, Maddy Denner, Herberg and Wagner rank 1-2-3-4 in CA and 5-6-7-11 in the US in the 3200. Herberg, for one, dropped the 1600 to focus exclusively on the 3200. While those choosing to double will already have run two highly competitive 1600s on consecutive days, the girls only running the 3200 will come in much fresher. (Check out an interview we did with Herberg on that topic.) How that plays out is one of the big storylines at the finals.

While the 3200 figures to be a highlight race at Saturday's State Championships, it is the girls 1600 that projects to banner across the top of the marquee. The field is absolutely stunning with 14 of the top-ranked runners in the U.S. competing in prelims for ONLY 12 spots into Saturday's final.

From the CIF-State Handbook: There will be two heats in the 1600-meter run, with runners starting in alleys for the first turn. The first (4) placers in each heat, plus the next fastest four (4) times (overall) will qualify for Saturday's final. 

Since the girls began competing for CIF State titles in 1974, only four winners in the 1600 have run sub-4:40, all from Orange County schools, with the most recent in 2015. Here's that list from the State Championships Records, listed in chronologically:

  • 1982  Polly Plummer (Irvine University) 4:39.92
  • 2007 - Christine Babcock (Irvine Woodbridge) 4:38.85 
  • 2008 - Christine Babcock (Irvine Woodbridge) 4:33.82 
  • 2015 - Amanda Gehrich (Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro) 4:39.33

"I think sub-4:40 is possible," Elena Denner wrote, "but I don't think the time really matters, for the race could be tactical. I don't focus on time and just focus on tactics and running my best race."

Wrote Maddy Denner: "I don't really know if (it) will take a sub-4:40 but I think the depth this year is the amazing part."

"I'm super excited for the mile next weekend," O'Keeffe wrote. "I negative-split the 800s of this race by about 8 seconds, so I feel like I do have room to run faster. I'm mainly just excited to get out there with such an amazing field and try to do something special!"


All photos by James Leash


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