The adidas Azusa Meet of Champions Distance Classic always provides a great atmosphere for big times in the distance races, but a small change this year led to lots of extra sizzle. That change was the addition of boys and girls mile races, separate from the 1600's, but the sizzle had as much to do with the prize for winning them: tickets to the Dream Mile were on the line! The mile winners would get to participate in the adidas Grand Prix, held in June in New York City and the home of one of the most prestigious high school mile competitions in the country. Add that to the usual bevy of fast times in the traditional 800, 1600, and 3200, and you have can understand how the meet produced nearly 150 MileSplit Elite performances! Check out the highlights below.
adidas Azusa Meet of Champions Results:
Highlights:
- Austin Tamagno (Brea Olinda) continued his recent tear, blasting a US #1 time of 4:06.26 to pull away from Isaac Cortes (Great Oak, 4:08.92 US #2) and Kasey Knevelbaard (Immanuel, 4:10.51 US #3).
- Amanda Gehrich (Tesoro) out-dueled Hannah Benoit (Buchanan) to win the Dream Mile qualifier, clocking 4:55.23 CA #1 US #11. Benoit ran 4:57.72 CA #4, moving into the 20th spot in the national rankings in the process.
- Sabrina Jones (Saugus) and Tyler Janes (Martin Luther King) posted the best 1600 times of the day: Jones clocked 4:55.21 CA #2, while Janes posted a 4:12.09 CA #8. When you convert the miles to 1600, this meet produced the top 12 times in the state so far this season!
- Samantha Ortega (Saugus) had the fastest girls 3200 time of the day with her 10:41.74 CA #5 US #13, while Collin Price (St. Margaret's) took the boys' 3200 by running 9:08.87 CA #3 US #15.
- Cassi Durgi (Huntington Beach) took over the state lead in the 800 by posting a 2:11.19 US #3, holding off Bianca Tinoco (Golden Valley) by just 0.01 (Tinoco moves up to US #4). In the boys' 800, Xolan Brown (Redlands) won with a time of 1:55.24.
