MEETS ON TAP Granada Distance & Sprint Festival

MEET PREVIEW

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LIVERMORE -- Local Track and Field athletes will be competing this Saturday at the Granada Distance and Sprint Festival in a unique format that has the distance races in the morning under presumingly cooler weather followed by warmer temps in the afternoon for the sprint events. Following two weekends of the Stanford Invitational and the Arcadia Invitational, this meet should be a good test for many local East Bay athletes as they prepare for the upcoming league affairs.

It's the largest field in the meet's short history, and athletes will likely be dealing with wet conditions, at least in the morning.

Here's an event-by-event look at some of the top athletes expected to compete. 

GIRLS 3200

Leading off the meet will be the girls' 3200 meters race at 8am. It will feature one of the rising stars in the North Coast Section, Dougherty Valley freshman Sabrina Noriega (Chase Bryson photo above). This past fall, Noriega led her DV teammates to a near sweep in the Division I race as she won the individual title. She has a best of 10:54.85 in this event that she set at the Dublin Distance Fiesta. Her main competitor should be Monte Vista junior Sally Binder who will be making her season debut in this race and has a best of 5:01.64 in the 1600.

BOYS 3200

The boys' race will be a bit more competitive up front with several runners eying an individual victory. Monte Vista junior Ethan Miller will also be making his season debut in this event and has a best of 4:19.39 in the 1600 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta. Dublin HS will counter with a couple of their elite XC runners in Daniel Trampe (9:24.27) and Sharvin Manjrekar (9:26.46). Lowell senior Oliver Witt has been equally as impressive this spring with multiple solid efforts in this event including a best of 9:24.77.

GIRLS 800

While this may be the strength event of many runners, for some, this event is a means to faster times in other events. That is the case for Lowell junior Jacqueline Holman who has run 4:59.18 and 10:51.56 this season and will be looking to drop a fast time here. Carondelet junior Mary DeMartini has the fastest time this season from the West Coast Relays at 2:21.31. Sally Binder of Monte Vista will be doubling back from the 3200 and has a best of 2:22.13. Also in the mix will be Katelyn Espino of Foothill at 2:22.92.

BOYS 800

The road to victory in this event will require a sub 2 minute time and here are the main contenders. Irven Hill of St. Mary's Stockton ran 1:57.86 at the West Coast Relays. College Park's Lev Afonine will be looking for a big breakthrough here and will need to fend off two more runners looking to dip under the 2-minute mark in Jordan Maldonado of Heritage (2:00.56) and Jared Hayes of Piner (2:00.72).

GIRLS 1600

Woodside coach Al Hernandez has done a great job reviving their distance program which included the school's first section cross country team title for their boys. Senior Elle Marsyla was their top runner and was named the San Mateo Daily Journal Runner of the Year. She is always a fearless front-runner and will be dictating the race here. Monte Vista has been super impressive this spring especially with their relays. One of their top runners has been Kinsey Pogue who recorded a 5:11.10 personal best at Stanford Invite. A couple of other runners who will also be in contention both have the same PRs. Maria Carrillo's Gracie Trenam ran her time at the Dublin Distance Fiesta and Granada's Elizabeth Melcher recorded the same exact time at this meet last year.

BOYS 1600

The heavy favorite to win this event will be College Park's talented junior, Alex Lamoureux (pictured). He steamrolled the field at the Dan Gabor Invitational running a personal best of 4:14.86. His main competition here will be Granada's Roland Ruckmann-Barnes who just recorded a 9:11.03 at the Arcadia Invitational and will more than keep Lamoureux honest in this race. Newark Memorial's Tad Kawabata recorded a 4:22.69 at the Dublin Distance Fiesta and will be looking to dip under 4:20 here.

4 x 100 RELAYS

The first sprint race in the afternoon will feature the shortest relay event. The Foothill track and field team has been super impressive this spring with great depth on the sprint side. Their girls' relay team here has by far the fastest time in this field with their 48.70 just set last week at the Arcadia Invitational.

The boys' race should be a bit more competitive although the early favorite is a familiar one. The De La Salle boys ran 42.98 at the West Coast Relays and are the only team to date to dip under 43 seconds. Their main competition should be from San Ramon Valley and James Logan who will hope to give the Spartans a run for their money.

GIRLS 400

Maria Carrillo's Elianah DeMange has the fastest time in this field with her 58.99 from the Stanford Invitational. The other girls in the field that have personal bests under 60 seconds are Jessica Chisar who set her best time at this same meet last year at 59.45 and Kayla Galvez of Foothill who ran 59.76 also in 2021. 

BOYS 400

Monte Vista's Aiden Leslie has participated in a lot of events this spring including legs on multiple relays. He will be making his season debut in this event although he has run quite a few of them already on those teams. Elyes Serghine of Mission San Jose has run 51.24 and has also posted a 1:58.75 800. De La Salle's Christian Meyer posted a 51.21 personal best at the West Coast Relays and will be looking to make a breakthrough here as well.

GIRLS and BOYS 100

Alhambra's Desie Armstrong is the most accomplished sprinter in the field with a 12.42 season-best from the Stanford Invitational as well as a 12.17 lifetime best time.

For the boys, the favorite will be Zayar Myint of Abraham Lincoln HS in San Francisco. He ran 11.00 at the West Coast Relays along with other low 11 clockings which should make him the sprinter to beat.

GIRLS 100 HURDLES

As a reminder, MileSplitCA will be live streaming this meet and as always, the short hurdle races are usually one of the most exciting events at any meet. Heritage senior Guinn Herron is the class of the field here with a 15.67 personal best. 

BOYS 110 HURDLES

For the boys, Zachary Carroll of Heritage seems to have hit his stride in the high hurdles with a 15.67 personal best at the Stanford Invitational followed by a 15.68 at the more prestigious Arcadia Invitational.

GIRLS and BOYS 200

Alhambra senior Desie Armstrong will be looking to score a double victory with a win here following her projected win in the 100. The same goes for Zachary Carroll of Heritage who will be favored to win both the high hurdle race and this event. He set his personal best of 22.17 at the K-Bell Invitational as he scored the individual victory there.

GIRLS and BOYS SHOT PUT

There will be two contenders in each of the shot put events. For the girls, Ashley Rosati of Monte Vista (37-5) and Kimora McLemore of Heritage (36-4) will battle it out for the win. For the boys, Jacob Watts of James Logan (49-10) will try to outlast Benjamin Feldstein of Vintage (49-3) as they are both the class of the field.

GIRLS and BOYS DISCUS

James Logan senior Bianca Townsend has cracked 100 feet three times this season with a best of 108-7. That mark leads the field. The two favorites in the shot put will also be the favorites in the discus. James Watts has the best mark of 167-7 followed by Benjamin Feldstein of Vintage at 163-2.

Albert Caruana is a teacher and coach in the Bay Area and a regular contributor to MileSplit.

Banner photos by John Houston.

Schedule and programs courtesy of Diablo Timing.