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Congratulations to Brandon Arrington of Helix Charter (SD) last week's top vote-getter for MileSplit Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Week.
At the CA Winter Track and Field Championships, Brandon, a freshman, beat seniors like Dijon Stanley, Jason Deal, and Alex Skalmowski to win the 150-meter dash in 15.94, just .04 off the meet record. Earlier, Arrington placed fourth in the 60m dash (6.96).
Brandon received 60 percent of the vote in a statewide poll. Xai Ricks, a junior at Long Beach Poly (SS), received 34 percent of the vote.
Congratulations to all athletes whose performance warranted consideration in last week's poll and thanks to everyone who voted.
Who's next?
This week, we tie a ribbon on the winter track and field season and ask for you help in deciding the MileSplit's boys athlete of the winter.
Check out the resumes below and then make sure to vote in the FanPower module at the bottom of the page. That is where you decide the top girls athlete of the winter track and field season.
As always, voting closes Friday at 9 p.m.
WHO YA GOT?
This week's candidates (listed alphabetically by last name)
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Grant Morgenfeld (Palo Alto/CC) - Grant, a junior, won the 3000-meter run in a CA Winter Championships meet-record time of 8:32.30. He warmed up for that race with a runner-up finish 1500-meter run in 3:55.56, a time that also went under the previous meet standard. Earlier in the winter, he ran two fast times at the Arcadia WCQ meet, 4:06.98 for 1500 meters and 8:53.75 for 3K. Compared nationally with times mostly achieved indoors, Grant ranks U.S. No. 11 for 1500m and No. 17 for 3K.
Justin Pretre (Menlo School/CC) - Justin, a senior, defended his CA Winter Championships title in the 1500m run with a record performance of 3:54.37. He came back to run the anchor leg on the record-setting 4x800m relay team that included his brother Landon Pretre, William Hauser, and Aiden Deffner. Earlier in the winter, he went 4:01.83 for 1500m, and also anchored the winning 4x800m relay team (8:16.66), at the Palma WCQ in Salinas. Compared nationally with times mostly achieved indoors, Justin ranks U.S. No. 10 for 1500m and the Menlo TC's 4x8 time ranks U.S. No. 8
Xai Ricks (Long Beach Poly/SS) - Ricks, a junior, shattered the CA Winter Championships meet record in the 600-meter run in one of the fastest times ever, 1:16.13, and later he placed second in the 300-meter run in 33.23. Earlier in the winterr, Xai won both the 300 (34.21) and the 600 (1:21.77) at the Redondo WCQ. Before that, he traveled to Lubbock, Texas where he ran a then-U.S. No. 1 time for 400m (47.77) at the Texas Tech Under Armour HS Classic indoor meet. Compared nationally with times mostly achieved indoors, Xai's 600 is U.S. No. 1, his 300m is U.S. No. 2, and his 400m run indoors now ranks U.S. No. 3.
Aaron Sahlman (Newbury Park/SS) - Aaron, a senior headed to NAU, opened his track season running indoors at the Lumberjack Team Challenge at Northern Arizona University where he won the 800m in 1:54.56 and was the top high school athlete in the mile, running 4:15.36. He followed that up with a U.S. No. 4 time for both the 1500m (3:50.31) and mile (4:06.69) at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston.
Brendon See (JSerra/SS) - Brendon, a senior headed to the University of Oklahoma, and the state's returning champion in the discus throw, won the weight throw (68-10) and placed second in the shot put (56-04.25) at the CA Winter Championships. Earlier in the winter, he dropped a shot put bomb at the Cal State Fullerton Winter Championships Qualifier, throwing 60 feet, 8.50 inches to crush his PR and eclipse the CA Winter Championships qualifying standard by a whopping 16 feet, 8.50 inches! Compared nationally with marks mostly achieved indoors, Brendon's SP ranks U.S. No. 9 and his WT is U.S. No. 10.
Dijon Stanley (Granada Hills/LA) - At the CA Winter Championships, Dijon, a senior who is committed to the University of Utah for football, held off Xai Ricks by 0.14 seconds to win the 300-meter dash in 33.09 after placing second in the 150-meter dash in 15.95. Earlier in the winter, he won the 300-meter dash (33.70) and placed second in the 150-meter dash (16.49) at the Simi Valley WCQ. Compared nationally with marks mostly achieved indoors, Dijon's 300m time ranks U.S. No. 1 and his 150 best is U.S. No. 2.
Photo by Raymond Tran / Interview by Ryan Blystone