Week in Review: I'm afraid I must break out the ALL CAPS
Performances by sprinters from Granada Hills Charter High School were just that good in the Arcadia Invitational
When it comes to track and field competitions, there are breakout performances, and then there are BREAKOUT PERFORMANCES!!
The boys’ sprint squad at Granada Hills Charter High School in California collectively produced the latter in the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on Saturday.
Consider that Highlander senior Dijon Stanley entered what is regarded as the best in-season prep meet in the nation with a personal best of 46.40 seconds in the 400 and left it with the first sub-46 clocking (45.92) of his career, as well as the fastest prep time in the nation this year.
Junior teammate Jordan Coleman came into the meet with personal records of 10.61 in the 100 and 21.24 in the 200 and exited with bests of 10.36 and 21.01.
And in what was the best performance by any Los Angeles City or Southern section athletes in the boys’ meet, Granada Hills’ 400-meter relay team lowered its school record from 41.13 to 40.28 to equal the meet record that was set by Muir High in Pasadena in 1997.
“We had a really good meet and a really great day,” Coleman said in a phone interview on Monday. “Now we need to get back to work. . . We have the potential to run even faster if we work really hard.”
Relay team members Coleman, Stanley, junior Kanye Martin, and senior Jayden Smith hoped to break 41 seconds entering the meet, but they obliterated that goal as their 40.28 clocking was tied for the third fastest time in state history and crushed the former City Section record of 40.74 set by a team from Taft High in Woodland Hills in 2002. It also gave them a whopping 1.57-second margin of victory over runner-up Serra of Gardena, which timed 41.85.
“It sparked us for the rest of the meet,” Stanley told me before he handed the phone to Coleman. “I thought we could run 40.8 or so, but I never expected to run that fast. I was just not thinking about a time like that.”
Coleman added that he was in “shock” and “awe” when he first saw the time — which trails only Long Beach Poly (40.14 in 1999) and Hawthorne (40.24 in 1989) on the all-time California list — on the video display board near the finish line.
He then prepared for his first individual event of the evening, the seeded race of the boys’ 100, with the expectation that he could better his personal best of 10.61 set in winning the Simi Valley Invitational two weeks earlier. But he did not expect to win the race with a time (10.36) that would have placed him second in the invitational race that was run five minutes later and moved him into a tie for second on the all-time City Section performer list.
The Arcadia Invitational contests numerous events in which a seeded race precedes an invitational one. The invitational races are designed to have the highest-caliber performers in them, but there are instances when a competitor from a seeded race out performs many of those in an invitational event.
“My main goal is always to get out fast and run as hard as I can,” Coleman said about his performance in the seeded 100. “But the time surprised me.”
Next up was Stanley in the 400, the race in which he placed third in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships last year when he finished an excruciating two hundredths of a second behind first place Jeremiah Walker of Central High in Fresno.
Running in lane four, Stanley was battling for the lead after the first 200 meters before taking control of the race as he sped around the second curve. Arden Parker of Helix High in La Mesa, California, fourth in the state meet last year, was closest to Stanley entering the home straightaway. But he faded to sixth down the stretch and fellow seniors Jacob Andrews of Sehome High in Bellingham, Washington and Jayden Davis of Mountain Pointe High in Ahwatukee, Arizona finished second and third in times of 46.30 and 46.45, respectively.
“I was definitely thinking sub-46,” Stanley said after his 45.92 effort moved him to third on the all-time City Section performer list. “That was my goal the whole time.”
After winning the 400 and running on the victorious 400 relay team, Stanley entered the boys’ invitational 200 approximately 37 minutes later as the favorite. But Coleman upstaged him by running a dynamite turn and never giving his more highly-regarded teammate a chance to win the race in the home straightaway.
His time of 21.01 gave him a comfortable margin of victory over runner-up Stanley (21.27) — who has a personal best of 20.86 — and moved him to sixth on the all-time City Section performer list.
“I knew Dijon would be coming because he’s a great finisher,” Coleman said after defeating Stanley for the first time in a 200. “But I was most focused on myself and just closing strong.”
Terrell Stanley, Dijon’s father and the sprint coach at Granada Hills Charter, expected his charges to run personal bests at Arcadia, but he did not envision them running as fast as they did.
“I know how they have been working out for the last month or so, but the times did surprise me,” he told me over the phone. “I expected to improve, but not by this much.”
The improvements were large enough that Granada Hills Charter, which won its first City Section team title last year, now appears capable of scoring 30 to 35 points in the state championships if its sprinters perform well in the meet that will be held at Buchanan High in Clovis from May 26-27. And there have been years in the past when a point total in the mid-30s has won the team crown in a meet in which the top eight finishers in each event are awarded points on 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
“That kind of total is possible,” the elder Stanley said. “But I’m not counting on anything and we’re not going to go around and say we’re going to score that many points. We need to continue to work hard and get better.”
Room to improve: When a 400-meter relay team makes the kind of jump that Granada Hills Charter High did in the Arcadia Invitational, one might assume the squad will be hard-pressed to equal or top the effort in the meets ahead. But the Highlanders had far from pristine passes on their exchanges.
Jordan Coleman ran up on Dijon Stanley on the first exchange, Stanley had to switch the baton from his left hand to his right just before he made his pass with Kanye Martin, and Martin ran up on Jayden Smith on the final exchange.
“The handoffs could have been better,” Stanley said. “Jordan came in hot on me because he was running faster than he ever had and I had to switch hands with the baton before I got it to Kanye.”
Interesting situation: Dijon Stanley is a standout running back in football who led Granada Hills Charter High to the Los Angeles City Section Division I title last fall and has signed a national letter of intent with two-time defending Pac 12 Conference champion Utah.
He said he plans to continue to run track in college, although it will have to be as an unattached competitor as Utah does not have a men’s track and field program.
Without a collegiate team to compete for, Stanley will continue to be coached by his father, Terrell, the sprint coach at Granada Hills and the only track coach Dijon has ever had.
Taking it to another level: Mackenzie Browne of J.W. North High in Riverside entered the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday as the defending state champion in the girls’ 800 meters and she left it with a vastly improved personal best.
Browne had run a then-personal best of 2:08.66 in winning the CIF State Championships last year, but she cut more than five seconds off that time in posting a come-from-behind victory on Saturday evening.
The Husky senior trailed junior Ali Ince of Normal Community High in Illinois and senior Madison Shults of Niwot, Colorado after coming through the first lap in 61.01 seconds. She moved past Shults midway down the backstretch, but Ince had about a five-meter lead on her when she came through 600 meters.
Ince extended her advantage to about seven meters over Browne midway through the final turn but Browne moved into lane two entering the home straightaway and edged past Ince with about 20 meters left in the race before crossing the finish line in 2 minutes 3.07 seconds. The time moved her to third on the all-time California performer list and was the fastest in the nation this year.
Ince placed second in 2:03.17, followed by Shuts in third in 2:04.28.
“I went into the race feeling confident, thinking maybe 2:05,” Browne was quoted as saying in The Press-Enterprise of Riverside. “Once I crossed the line, I said, Wow, I really just ran a 2:03. It’s about confidence. I started out this season needing to regain my confidence a little bit. . . I think this has definitely helped boost that.”
Browne, who later anchored North to a come-from-behind victory in the girls’ invitational 1,600 relay with a time of 3:49.36, now ranks behind only Amy Weissenbach of Harvard-Westlake in Studio City and Mary Decker of Orange on the all-time state list.
Weissenbach ran 2:02.04 as a junior in 2011. Decker clocked 2:02.29 as a sophomore in 1974.
Lesson learned: Aaron Sahlman of Newbury Park High did not make the same mistake twice when he ran in the boys’ 800 meters in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday.
The Nike Cross Nationals champion appeared to have gone out too fast — 51.68 seconds — for the first lap of the Azusa Pacific Meet of Champions Distance Classic on March 25 and he ended up finishing a well-beaten second in 1:50.86 after Xai Ricks of Long Beach Poly (1:49.19) sped past him in the home straightaway. But his first lap was a more controlled 53.32 at Arcadia and he ended up winning the race in a season-best and yearly nation-leading time of 1:49.07.
After ending up in the back of the 11-runner field after the first 125 meters of the race, Sahlman was running nearly abreast with first-place Carter Cunning of Wilsonville High in Oregon at the end of the first lap and he moved past Cunning into the lead with 210 meters left in the race.
Sahlman extended his led through the final turn before holding off Tyler Mathews of Red Mountain High in Mesa, Arizona (1:49.32) and Andrew Regnier of Waunakee High in Wisconsin (1:49.35) in the home straightaway.
“I wanted to [set a personal record],” Sahlman said in a Runnerspace interview after the race. “That’s always my goal now. Just to get a PR. I’ve been running 1:50s all year. I finally broke 1:50 so I’m super stoked about that.”
Successful defense: Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High won her second consecutive title in the girls’ mile in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday after breaking away from her closest pursuer — Allura Markow of Dana Hills High in Dana Point — with 700 meters left in the race.
The Cougar sophomore took the lead within the first few seconds of the race before coming through the first 440 yards in 67.44 seconds, the 880 in 2:16.76 (69.32), and the 1,320 in 3:26.12 (69.36).
She appeared to have a decent chance of bettering her personal best of 4:35.16 from last year’s race — in which she set a national freshman high school record — with 200 meters to go. But she slowed some in the final straightaway and finished in a yearly nation-leading time of 4:36.26.
Sophomore Jane Hedengren of Timpview High in Provo, Utah placed second in 4:41.08.
Making its mark: Carson High moved to second on the all-time L.A. City Section list in the girls’ 400-meter relay with its winning time of 45.51 seconds in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday.
The Colts foursome of freshman Christina Gray, senior TaAhjah Fann, sophomore Kaitlyn Williams, and senior Reign Redmond finished nearly four tenths of a second ahead of runner-up Cardinal Ritter College Prep High of St. Louis (45.89).
The City Section record of 45.06 was set by a Carson team while winning the state title in 2016.
End of a streak: When Simeon Birnbaum of Stevens High in Rapid City, South Dakota won a sensational boys’ 3,200-meter race in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night, it marked the first time since 2018 that a Newbury Park High runner had not won the event.
Newbury Park junior Nico Young won the Arcadia title in 8:40.00 in 2019 before the 2020 high school track season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Colin Sahlman of Newbury Park had followed with wins in 2021 (8:43.42) and last year (8:34.99) while holding off teammate Lex Young — one of Nico’s younger brothers — each time.
But with Sahman now at Northern Arizona University, and with senior Lex Young and his twin brother Leo having decided not to run for Newbury Park this season so they can compete in open races for the best opportunities to improve, there was no Panther in the race with a realistic shot at winning.
This is not to imply that one of the Youngs would have definitely won the race on Saturday had they run, as Birnbaum clocked 3:59.51 in the mile as a junior last year and he looked superb in coming from behind in the final straightaway to record a meet record of 8:34.10.
The time, which moved Birnbaum to fifth on the all-time national prep performer list, was the result of a negative-split effort in which he ran 4:19.39 for the first 1,600 and a faster 4:14.71 for the second while running his final lap in 59.29 seconds.
Birnbaum’s closing rush gave him a narrow win over junior Daniel Simmons of American Fork High in Utah (8:34.14), with senior Rocky Hansen of Christ School in Arden, North Carolina finishing third in 8:34.78. Those times moved them to sixth and seventh, respectively, on the all-time U.S. high school list.
Depth galore: The Arcadia Invitational has developed a well-deserved reputation for producing a slew of fast times in the 3,200 meters over the years, but it had never had a night like it did on Saturday.
That’s when a record 44 boys combined to break 9 minutes in the 3,200 meters and an unprecedented nine girls broke 10 minutes in the girls’ event.
The boys’ marks were produced in an invitational, seeded, and rated race. The girls’ marks came in a single invitational race.
While Andrew Birnbaum of Stevens High in Rapid City, South Dakota had the best boys’ time at 8:34.10, Irene Riggs of Morgantown High in West Virginia won the girls’ invitational race in 9:52.66.
Another meet, another record: The Arcadia Invitational bills itself as the Home of National Records and an all-time prep best was produced in the girls’ pole vault when Hana Moll of Capital High in Olympia, Washington cleared 15 feet (4.57 meters).
Moll, the World U20 (under 20) champion last year, became the first U.S. high school girl to clear 15 feet outdoors. Her twin sister Amanda, who placed second at 13-3 on Saturday, had become the first girl to accomplish that feat indoors when she had scaled 4.61 (15-1½) to win the women’s division of the pole vault Summit in Reno, Nevada in January.
Hana Moll did not get off to an auspicious start at Arcadia. She needed three tries to clear her opening height of 13-9, but she followed that with a first-time clearance of 14-3, a second-time make of 14-10 (4.52), and a first-time clearance of 15-0. She then missed three times at 15-1¾ (4.62).
Numbers watch: Sha’Carri Richardson showed once again on Saturday that she can post noteworthy times in the 100 meters when she’s running in races in the U.S. in April, May, or early June.
Now the question is will she be able to turn in comparable, or even better, performances in the biggest domestic meets — such as the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon in early July — or international competitions — such as the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August — later in the season.
The 23-year-old Richardson, aided by a hefty 4.1 meters-per-second breeze, ran a wind-aided 10.57 seconds to win the women’s 100 meters in the Miramar Invitational in Miramar, Florida on Saturday.
Her time gave her a huge margin of victory over second-place Twanisha Terry of the U.S. (10.83) and followed a wind-aided 10.75 clocking in her heat when she was aided by a breeze of 2.8 meters-per-second.
With her latest performances, Richardson has now run under 10.80 seconds eight times during her career. Four of those marks were achieved in what are commonly referred to as wind-legal races and four came in wind-aided races when the aiding breeze was more than 2.0 meters-per-second. All eight of them were run in Florida, Texas or California, and seven were posted by June 8 or earlier in the year.
Rolling along: Aleia Hobbs, who had lowered the American record to 6.94 seconds in the women’s 60 meters during the indoor season, ran 10.87 in her first outdoor 100 of the year in the Lloyd Willis Invitational at LSU on Saturday.
Hobbs’ time was the fastest in the world this year and gave her a large margin of victory over Mikiah Brisco and Symone Mason, who each ran 11.12.
In what could be a good sign, it marked the first time the 26-year-old Hobbs has run under 10.90 this early in the season.
Two for two: Rai Benjamin of the U.S. won his second 400-meter race of the season in the Ron & Sharlene Allice USC Trojan Invitational on Saturday.
The Olympic and two-time World silver-medalist in the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, Benjamin clocked 44.21 seconds to better his previous personal best of 44.31 he had set in 2019.
Isaiah Jewett, a member of the 2021 U.S. Olympic team in the 800, placed second in a personal best of 45.90.
The 25-year-old Benjamin had opened the season with a winning time of 44.94 in the Florida Relays the previous week.
Impressive streak: When Valarie Allman of the U.S. unleashed a yearly world-leading toss of 70.25 (230-5) to win the women’s discus in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational last Friday, it marked the fourth consecutive year that she had topped the 70-meter mark (229-8) in a meet.
The Olympic champion in 2021 and a three-time American record-setter, Allman hit her big mark in the fifth round after throwing 67.58 (221-9) on her first attempt and fouling her next three. She also fouled her final attempt in the sixth round.
Jorinde van Klinken of the University of Oregon finished second at 67.05 (219-11), followed by Yaime Perez Tellez of Cuba at 66.97 (219-8).
The throw by van Klinken was the third-longest in collegiate history and her second-best effort of 66.85 (219-4) ranks fourth. The Dutchwoman set the collegiate record of 70.22 (230-5) in 2021 while she was throwing for Arizona State.
Very good start: Sophomore Mykolas Alekna of UC Berkeley opened his season by winning the men’s discus with a yearly world-leading mark of 68.39 (224-4) in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal on Saturday.
The World silver medalist for Lithuania, Alekna fouled on his first attempt before throwing 67.88 (222-8) on his second and 68.39 on his third. The European champion had a throw of 64.32 (211-0) in the fourth round before fouling on his fifth and sixth efforts.
Great start: Camryn Rogers of Canada, who won three NCAA titles in the women’s hammer throw for UC Berkeley before turning professional last summer, had the best series of her career while opening her season in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational on Saturday.
The World Championship silver medalist threw 77.00 (252-7) on her first attempt, 76.04 (249-6) on her second, and 77.30 (253-7) on her third before passing her final three attempts as she and Cal throws coach Mohamad Sataara wanted to simulate the qualifying round of a championship meet in which competitors only get three throws to advance to the final.
All three of her throws in the meet at UC Berkeley were the farthest in the world this year and they rank second, third, and fifth on the all-time Canadian list.
The 23-year-old Rogers set the national record of 77.67 (254-10) while winning the NCAA title last June and setting the fifth collegiate record of her career.
Two liners: Abby Steiner ran her first individual race of the outdoor season when she won the women’s 200 meters in the Miramar Invitational in Florida on Saturday. She clocked 22.23 seconds, followed by fellow American Tamari Davis (22.31) in second place. . . . Christian Coleman of the U.S. won a tight duel with Letsile Tebogo of Bostwana in the men’s 200 in the Miramar Invitational on Saturday. Coleman, the 2019 World champion in the 100, and Tebogo, the 2022 World U-20 champion in the same event, were each credited with times of 20.00. . . . USC teammates Caisja Chandler and Samirah Moody moved to first and third on the yearly collegiate list in the women’s 100 meters in the Ron & Sharlene Allice USC Trojan Invitational on Saturday. Senior Chandler ran 10.99 and sophomore Moody clocked 11.02. . . . Michaela Rose of LSU ran a yearly collegiate-leading outdoor time of 2:00.34 in the women’s 800 when she won the Lloyd Willis Invitational in Baton Rouge on Saturday. The time moved her to 10th on the all-time outdoor collegiate performer list.
Format finalized: The new race walking team event that will be held in the Olympic Games in Paris next year will consist of 25 teams, each of which will be comprised of one man and one woman who will both walk two legs of approximately 10.5 kilometers as the distance of the relay will be a marathon.
The order of the relay legs will go man, woman, man, woman, and the event will be held on Aug. 7, six days after the individual 20-kilometer walking events begin the athletics program in Paris.
The mixed marathon relay, as I prefer to call it, will replace the men’s 50-kilometer walk on the Olympic program.
The men’s 50-kilometer walk had been contested in every Olympics — except Montreal in 1976 — since its inception in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. But a decision was made to replace with a mixed relay event because the Olympic program did not include a women’s 50-kilometer walk.
Although many felt a women’s 50-kilometer walk should have been added to the Olympic program to rectify that situation, the International Olympic Committee did not want to add another event to its athletics program.
Change in plans: The 2024 World Athletics U20 (under 20) Championships will no longer be held in Lima, Peru as previously scheduled.
World Athletics made that announcement in an April 5 press release, stating that due to “circumstances beyond its control, Lima has withdrawn as the host city of the championships.”
The meet had been scheduled to take place from Aug. 26-31, 2024.
The World Athletics post added that the “Peruvian Athletics Federation has informed World Athletics that political instability, and social unrest, as well as natural disasters in Peru, have left the federation and the organising committee unable to stage the event next year.”
World Athletics wrote that it is in “discussion with a replacement host” for the event next year.
On the performance enhancing drug front: The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said last Friday that World champion steeplechase runner Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan had been provisionally suspended for an anti-doping violation.
The AIU wrote in a Twitter post that Jeruto had been suspended for the “use of a Prohibited Substance/Method (ABP).”
That acronym is short for Athlete Biological Passport, which can show discrepancies that indicate an individual is using prohibited substances.
The 27-year-old Jeruto is a Kenyan native who gained clearance to compete for Kazakhstan last year after sitting out the Olympic Games in 2021 as she was in the process of gaining her citizenship in that country.
She set a meet record of 8:53.02 when she won the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July. It was the third fastest time in history and Jeruto has also run the fourth-fastest time of 8:53.65 which she posted in the 2021 Prefontaine Classic while competing for Kenya.
Jeruto is ineligible to participate in any competitions until a final decision is rendered at a hearing that will be conducted under the World Athletics anti-doping rules, or the Integrity Code of Conduct.
If the provisional suspension of Jeruto stands, she will be stripped of her World Championship gold medal.