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LONG BEACH -- The rainy, windy, chilly conditions were present. Long Beach Poly High's TrackRabbit Invitational organizers had to scrap the originally planned two-day meet down to one that altered some teams' strategic plans. Several schools who looked at this as a competitive season opener with a typically strong field, instead chose not to travel due to weather issues.
For those who attended, who did brave the elements, and chose to compete, their decision to participate was rewarded Saturday. With a few event exceptions -- girls and boys' 4000-meter distance medley relay and the boys' 4x400 relay races were not run -- organizers pushed the meet start time back one hour and did an admirable job, catching enough breaks from the storm to put on an entertaining early-season meet.
Great Oak's boys and girls distance runners made the most of their decision to come from Temecula by sweeping the 4x800 boys (8:05.62) and girls (10:03.70) relays to begin the meet. Subsequent distance wins came in the boys 1600 (Mark Cortes, 4:26.82), girls 800 (Meilani Castillo, 2:26.38), a photo finish in the boys 800 between twin brothers Michael Rodriguez and Gabriel Rodriguez in 1:59.58 and 1:59:59, respectively, and a mixed gender relay in which a 2x800, and a pair of 2x400 lengths turned into a Great Oak win in 5:08.28.
"I just knew I wanted to bring my best, see what I can do and surprise myself," said Great Oak's Castillo, who also ran on the winning 4x800 relay. "It wasn't my PR, but I went 2:26 so I was happy with that given the inclement conditions."
Furthermore, Great Oak also captured the 4x100 girls relay (53.79) and the girls 4x400 relay (4:29.13). Boys hurdlers, Ryder Nord in the 110 and Dorrell Barriffe in the 300, both earned personal-best times in 17.65 (Nord) and 42.14 (Barriffe).
PHOTOS | INTERVIEWS | RESULTS
Meet host Long Beach Poly got wins across the board on the track.
- The Jackrabbits swept the boys and girls 100 and 200 dashes. Kennadi Reed won the girls 100 in 12.90 and Javon Hampton won the boys 100 in 11.92. Jaylin Hunter won the girls 200 in 26.92 and Malachi Dawson took the boys 200 in 22.18.
- Anise Becker won the 100 hurdles (PR, 15.74). Becker is a transfer from Carson now in Poly green and white. She was a 2022 LA City Section hurdles champion.
- Alijah Stokes, running in the 400 open division, won his race in 54.97.
- Freshman distance runner Avery Peck, who is coming off a solid first year of cross country, including an Moore League individual championship, went 5:11.44 in the 1600 for her first high school track win.
"I've not had a race in three months since the state cross country meet, so I was really ready to race today," Peck said. "I had great workouts coming in and when I saw the weather reports, I was disappointed to think I might not get to race."
Poly was strong in relays, winning the boys 4x100 in 43.11, the boys' sprint medley relay in 3:30.71, which included junior standout Xai Ricks running the 800 anchor leg, and a mixed gender 4x400 relay that finished in 3:42.58 for Poly's B team. The Poly A team was second in 3:51.59.
In field events, Great Oak had a strong showing, too, led by Andrew Robinson's wins in the triple jump (42-7) and a 6-0 PR in the high jump. Shayna Hinds won the girls pole vault in a PR height of 10-6, Alanna Gonzales got a PR in the long jump (15-5) and Nicholas Pogue PR'd at 43-6 to win the boys shot put.
Poly had an equally fine showing in field events. Mai Ricks swept the girls discus (110-4) and shot put (38-0), Jadyn Robinson won the boys long jump in 21-1, and Jillene Wetteland cleared 5-6 to win the girls high jump. She attempted 5-8, but did not clear the height that would have equaled her personal best.
Aside from Poly and Great Oak, other individuals who picked up wins in the field were Redondo Union boys pole vaulter Dylan Curtis going 14-0, Godinez's Jalaiya Brooks getting a PR in the girls triple jump (32-1) and Edison's James Oliphant in the boys discus (91-6).
On the track, winners were Woodbridge's Saniya Ali in the girls 400 (1:03.02), Diego Mejia of Godinez, arriving soon after completing the boys soccer season, in the varsity 400 (55.14), Los Alamitos' Alene Washington earned a PR in the 300 hurdles (48.38), and Beckman's Joy Weber (11:29.54) and Zachary Blum (9:20.39 PR) won the girls and boys' 3200 races. Los Alamitos won the girls sprint medley relay in 4:29.13.
Blum, who arrived with other Beckman distance runners late in the day just to compete in the 3200, made the most of his time with the PR time and qualified for April's Arcadia Invitational.
"This was my first two-mile race in two years," said Blum, who will also be running the 800 and 1600 this season. "I had an accident that kept me out of competition my junior year. I just want to keep improving."
The meet ran multiple races for most events, an open and varsity division, giving more athletes opportunities to compete.