It's once again time to recognize most important performances from the last weekend and the biggest meets of the upcoming weekend! Athletes from the San Diego, Southern, LA City, and Central Sections traveled all over the state and the country to compete last weekend, and they returned home with many nationally-ranked performances to show for their efforts. The next two weekends, though, the world comes to SoCal! Arcadia and Mt. SAC will have the country's full attention, and they always produce big marks.
Looking Back on Week 5
Southern Section athletes found their way to Palo Alto for the Stanford Invitational in good numbers last weekend, and the results were spectacular. Connor Dunne (San Clemente) led the way with a US #1 1:50.53 in the 800, and Eduardo Herrera (Madera South) won both the mile and the 3000. Carson's girls 4x100 added a state-leading 46.29 US #9 to their already state-leading 4x400 from the previous weekend, and Erica Schroeder (San Marcos) ran 2:10.63 US #8 while finishing 2nd in the girls' 800.
Other SoCal athletes went all the way to Austin to participate in the Texas Relays, and when you look at the results you can see why. Michael Mitchell (Tesoro) jumped 23' 8", which is a wind-legal US #1 mark. After a huge fall in the 100 Hurdles, Tara Davis (Agoura) came back to triple jump 43' 2", which is US #1 by over two feet so far this season! Davis also won the long jump, and Rylee Bowen (Sonoma Academy) won the 2000 Steeplechase in a US #1 time of 6:53.34. Long Beach Poly's girls 4x800 ran 9:19.46, taking over the state lead and moving up to US #5.
The Trabuco Hills Invitational provided excellent competition for those who actually wanted to stay home over the weekend, including a 16' 6" US #4 vault by Jett Gordon (Marina). Kyle Brown (La Costa Canyon) cleared 16' 0" as well, earning him CA #3 and US #15. Allen Siegler's 4:17.33 in the 1600 leads the San Diego Section so far this year,
Although she was preliminarily slated to compete in Texas, Lauren Rain Williams (Oaks Christian) instead opted for the Bruins Legends Invitational, where she ran a wind-legal US #1 mark of 11.52 in the 100 Dash. Serra's girls 4x100 ran 46.92, which is CA #2 and US #24 this season. Kiley McCarthy (Carlsbad) posted the top SDS time of the season in the 800, at 2:13.99, just getting edged out by Taylor Arco (Mission Viejo) for the win in the process. The meet also produced several LA City Section season bests, including a 48.42 by Dorsey's Mark Nunez and a 22.67 in the 200 by Raynard Beckham (Palisades Charter).
Looking Ahead to Weekend 7
Well, of course there's the Arcadia Invitational. That one is so big, it requires it's own preview! As huge as that meet is, it almost brings the Southern California track scene to a standstill, but not quite. The Irvine Distance Carnival always attracts a solid group of runners, and produced a sub-5 1600 last year; with the dramatic improvement of the California High runners this year, expect some good times there. Likewise, the South Pasadena Tiger Invitational on Friday usually has some strong performances.