CIF-State champion Davis Davis-Lyric is scheduled to see a familiar face when he takes the line in the elite 110-meter hurdles race on Wednesday at the Brooke PR Invitational.
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Of the 32 states with scheduled athlete representation at the Brooks PR Invitational, no state has more stars across the 12-event elite schedule than California.
Led by sophomore distance sensation Sadie Engelhardt, coming off her historic double championships at the CIF-State Meet some three weeks ago, the Golden State has a dozen athletes scheduled to take on some of the nation's best on Wednesday in Renton, Washington, south of Seattle.
Engelhardt is scheduled to run in the 2-mile race looking to break the meet and national record of 9:50.70 set a year ago by then-Mira Costa (SS) senior Dalia Frias. Engelhardt has a best of 9:50.69 from 2022 (9:54.12 conversion to 2-miles).
She is coming off a CIF-State Meet where she defended her title in the 1600m, running a U.S. No, 1 time of 4:33.45, and then she came back to unseat the returning champion the 800m, becoming just the second girl in State Meet history to pull of that double and the first since 1975.
But the shorter distances have been the trend for her later in the season each of the past two outdoor seasons. And this spring she has just one eight-lapper on her profile, a 9:51.49 solo effort from March 3 that ranks U.S. No. 2 behind only Olney (IL) senior Tatum David's 9:48.94 from late April.
David is scheduled to compete in Renton but in the 1-mile run, a field that includes Oaks Christian (SS) junior Payton Godsey, Dana Hills (SS) senior Allura Markow, and La Jolla (SD) freshman Chiara Dailey.
Other California athletes scheduled to compete among girls include: Lincoln-Stockton (SJ) senior Y'Vette Harris (100m hurdles), St. Mary's (SS) sophomore Madison Mosby (400m), Monte Vista (NC) senior Cate Peters (800m), and Del Norte (SD) senior Hannah Riggins (800m).
Riggins, headed to Princeton, concluded her senior season with San Diego Section records for 800m (2:06.69) and 1600m (4:41.42), and she ran a key third leg on the State Meet champion 4x800m relay team. Peters, headed to Stanford, placed sixth at the State finals and has a PR of 2:06.89. Harris, headed to Central Florida, was the CA leader in the 100m hurdles at 13.53 (2.8) and won nearly 20 races over the spring.
CA boys scheduled at Brooks include State Meet 110m hurdles champion Davis Davis-Lyric of Upland (SS). Davis-Lyric, who ran a PR 13.83 to win the State title, is working on a 16-race win streak that also includes Arcadia and Mt. SAC.
Davis-Lyric will be matched up with former teammate Kai Graves-Blanks, the CIF-State champion in the event in 2022 as a junior before he transferred to Montverde (FL) Academy for his senior season. At the '22 State 110mH finals, Graves-Blanks ran 13.75 (4.5) to win and Davis-Lyric went 14.13 for second.
El Cerritos (NC) senior Robert Stitts, who placed third in one of the all-time great 100-meter dash finals at the CA State Meet, is scheduled in the short sprint here. Stitts ran 10.31 (2.0) in a race where Serra-Gardena (SS) senior Rodrick Pleasant shattered the meet record at 10.20 and Jordan (SS) junior Jordan Washington placed second in 10.30, which equalled the previous record.
Newbury Park (SS) senior Aaron Sahlman, headed to Northern Arizona University, is scheduled in the 800m. Sahlman ran a CA-best (U.S. No. 5) 1:49.07 to win at Arcadia in April. He opted out of high school competition after that.
The field, chasing a 1:47.55 meet record, includes U.S. No. 2 Dan Watcke of Hinsdale (IL) Central (1:48.59), U.S. No. 3 Tyler Mathews of Mesa (AZ) Red Mountain (1:48.72), and U.S. No. 7 Andrew Regnier of Waunakee (WI) (1:49.35), and U.S. No. 8 Tinoda Matsatsa of St. Andrew's (MD) (1:49.48).
