RECAP Record-Setting Day at Mt. Carmel Track & Field Invite

SAN DIEGO -- When you have an invitational track meet that has been around for 46 years, there are bound to be some pretty heady records.

The Mt. Carmel Invitational is one of those special meets but on Saturday, four of those meet records fell and one came oh so close.

Defending CIF-State champion Kapiolani Coleman of Cathedral Catholic (SD) showed a serious competitive nature when she won the 300-meter hurdles in a California-leading time of 42.58-seconds.

That came after Long Beach Wilson (SS) sophomore Kaylin Edwards edged past her on the final straightaway only for Coleman to dig down and skim over the final two hurdles to win going away from State Meet-No. 3 finisher Karina Janik, a senior from Torrey Pines (SD), who was second in 42.80.

Edwards' time of 43.24 is 0.75 seconds faster than the previous state leader and those top three times rank among the top-12 fastest in the country so far this season. 

Coleman's winning time erased the meet and school record of 42.82 set by 2015 State Meet champion Hannah Labrie-Smith.

And that came after San Diego High sophomore Anisa Bowen-Fontenot shocked Coleman in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a PR 14.34 to the Dons' senior's 14.49.

"I was upset that I lost the 100 hurdles," said Coleman, a University of Washington-bound senior. "I used that as fuel for the 300 race. When that Wilson girl passed me I thought, 'I don't want to finish second again,' and I gave everything I had left.

"That time (42.58) is only (0.4) off my best (42.19) and this is just my second race of the year. Once I get more races in and I have my step down, the times will come down.

"I looked up the meet record before the race and so that became my goal, which I accomplished. There are a lot of good girls hurdlers in the state, so I'll push hard at Arcadia and Mt. SAC. Those meets invite the best, so I'm real excited that with the competition I'll get under 42.

"In the 100 hurdles, my mechanics just broke down. It's better that it happened now than in May."

Meanwhile, Del Norte (SD) senior Hannah Riggins, who has shown unbelievable talent in the past only to have injury intervene, suddenly is on a roll.

A week ago, at Torrey Pines, she sizzled a 2:08.60 in the 800, a mark that is No. 1 in the state, No. 2 in the national and No. 3 in San Diego all-time, just .60 behind the section record of 2:08.00 by Mt. Carmel's Lesley Noll way back in 1985.

Riggins decided to check her speed and ran a 57.77 for 400 meters before coming out Saturday morning roaring to a 4:49.50 for 1600 meters to not only win the Mt. Carmel race, but to break the meet record of 4:50.10 by Torrey Pines' Allie Billmeyer in 2010.

"I didn't know (it was a meet record)," said Riggins. "It gives me confidence that I can sustain the lead at the end.  I felt like I was crawling (as they approached the finish line)."

Riggins said she had health issues with iron in the past that are now under control and has her goals in order.

"I want to get the section 800 record (in two weeks) at the Arcadia Invitational," said Riggins. "Then I want to set the section 1600 record (4:41.771 by Billmeyer in 2011) at state, finishing as high as I can."

A year ago, Riggins surprised a lot of people by placing fifth in the state 1600 at 4:46.97 but she would like nothing better than to run around 4:40.

"I wouldn't care what place I finished if I ran under 4:40," she said.

J.W. North (SS) senior Mackenzie Browne was also in a record mood but the 800-meter standard of 2:09.48 she set simply lowered her own mark of 2:09.60 she set a year ago.

Earlier she was one of Riggins' victims in the 1600m and did not take it well.

"I hate losing," said Browne, last year's CIF-State 800m champion. "I had to regain my confidence and go for the gold."

Headed to the University of Texas, Browne admitted winning that State title a year ago was a bit of a shocker but this year she will be more than a little upset if she isn't in the lead at the tape.

"I went into that race (in Clovis) not knowing what would happen," said Browne. "God makes everything happen for a reason."

The day's first record came in one of the first events-the boys 4x800 relay-where Long Beach Wilson (SS) clocked a 7:45.51 to eclipse the J.W. North 7:53.79 run in 2007.

All four Wilson runners were under two minutes with J.T. Kraemer (1:55.9), Isaac Lewis (1:56.8), Diego Alvarado (1:59) and Marcell Francis-Mitchell (1:53.0) running away with the victory.

Francis-Mitchell said he's looking for a sub-1:50 at State.

"As a team we want to be under 7:38 and closer to 7:28," he said. "It's a good event, it gives guys who run farther than 400 meters an event."

Some of the non-record events were memorable as well.

Adren Parker, the Helix runner who was fourth at the State Meet a year ago, easily won the 400 in 478.03, the second fastest in the CA this season.

His teammate, Brandon Arrington, also had a big day, winning the sprints in fast wind-aided times.  He sped to a 10.58 in the 100 and 21.29 in the 200.  He was also a member of the 4x100 relay team that won at 42.12.

"Once I got to my top speed, I knew I'd win," said Arrington, who pulled away to win easily. "I've been focused all week on this meet."

Some of the other top performances included:

 --Martin Luther King's Alyssa Hope winning the long jump and triple jump, the former in 20-3.25, missing the meet record by a scant quarter-inch, and the latter event in 40-3.

--La Jolla's Payton Smith swept the 200 with a state-leading 24.08 and the 400 with a 54.85, the No. 2 mark in California.

--Point Loma's Manuel Correia doubled with a 4:12.91 in the 1600 and 1:53.77 in the 800.

--Vista Murrieta senior Obi Nwafor swept the jumps, winning the long jump at 23-feet and the triple jump at 45-7.