Girls 1600
Meet Record: Nikki Hiltz (Aptos) 4:47.64, 2012
The fastest section time in this event was recorded at a dual meet by Carlmont junior Kaimei Gescuk (5:00.51) vs. Menlo Atherton. She also ran 10:32.95 in the 3200m at Arcadia and has emerged as the best distance runner in this section. She will be taking this weekend off which means that Santa Cruz senior Lila Roake (5:01.18) will be the favorite to win here (photo above from 2018 Arcadia Invite with Roake on far right). She will be challenged by Melissa Cichon (5:07.28) of Leland who just won both distance events at the Quicksilver Invitational. Naomi Donovan of Los Altos just ran a season best of 5:08.96 at the Arcadia Invitational and should be in the mix for the victory.
Boys 1600
Meet Record: Matt Bates (Los Gatos) 4:12.80, 2001
This race could be quite good as we have a very strong field of runners. The fastest runner in the section is Garrett MacQuiddy of Westmont. He ran 4:16.10 at Stanford and qualified for last year's state meet. He also just ran 1:54.05 at Arcadia and will be favored to win here. There are plenty of runners in this field who have recorded 1600 times in the low 4:20s and will be looking to dip under 4:20 here. Among those runners will be Owen MacKenzie, Los Altos (4:20.93), Chris Anderson, San Lorenzo Valley (4:22.18) and Eric Eng, St. Francis (4:22.38). St. Francis senior Colton Colonna just recently made his season debut with a 3200 race in a dual meet as well as a DMR leg at Arcadia. He finished in 2nd place at the CCS finals last year and raced to a 4:13.81 PR at the state trials to qualify for the finals. This will be his first individual effort at a top invitational this season after dealing with a nagging leg injury.