Girls 800
Meet Record - Alyssa Brewer - California - 2017 - 2:12.13
The clear favorite in this field will be 2-time defending California state champion, Alyssa Brewer (Doug Duran photo). She made the move to the 800m. as a sophomore after several promising efforts over the two-lap distance. She won her first state championship that season with a best of 2:06.86. As a junior, Brewer recorded an almost undefeated season in the 800m. with a best of 2:07.07. Her lone loss was at the Brooks PR meet which has now become the invitational to attend for many of the top runners in the United States. Brewer also ran Cross Country for the first time in the fall which bodes well for her current outdoor season. While she is the most outstanding runner in this field, this will certainly not be a walkover. Santa Cruz senior Mari Friedman may be one of the most versatile distance runners in California with PRs of 2:09.08, 4:55.93 and 10:28.94. She has been equally successful in Cross Country with a 4th, 2nd and 2nd place finishes in the past three seasons in Division IV. Gillian Wagner of Redwood will certainly keep both runners honest as she tried to better her PR of 2:12.91. Alhambra Marissa D'Atri has been a state qualifier in this race with a best of 2:11.77. She may be doubling back from the 1600m. so that might take some of the sting from her kick.
Boys 800
Meet Record - Alex Scales - Bellarmine - 2017 - 1:53.27
While the 3200m races typically get the main event status at this meet, the race to watch this year will be the boys' 800m. Bellarmine senior Alex Scales (Eric Taylor photo above) had an amazing junior season with many impressive individual performances as well as some electrifying relay legs. His lone blemish outside of trial performances was the California state meet 800m. final when Heritage junior Jett Charvet jumped the field with less than 300 meters to go and narrowly escaped the usual Scales flurry down the stretch to nail the state title (video below courtesy of Jen Charvet). This past weekend Charvet won the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet with a personal best of 1:50.91. Scales made his official outdoor season debut last weekend at the K-Bell Invitational with a winning effort of 4:16.88 in the 1600m. This should be quite a dual! Nixon McKenzie, Armijo junior, has the next best personal best in the field at 1:53.88. Another notable entrant in the field is Liam Anderson of Redwood. I am not sure if he will be in the race but if he does indeed start, he has proven to be a handful over multiple distances.