California State Meet - May 24 & 25
Most states have divisional championships within their state meets, but California has all their athletes converge in one glorious event at state meet. Friday events were all prelims with finals on Saturday.
For Friday's 800 and 1600 meter prelims, click HERE
1600 Meters
Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura set the meet record in the 1600 last year and set the national mile record earlier this season at the Mt. SAC Invitational. As expected, Engelhardt won her third consecutive 1600 meter title and broke her 1600 meter meet record with a winning time 4:32.06. Braelyn Combe of Santiago (Corona) finished second in 4:39.73. Andreas Dybdahl of Santa Barbara won the 1600 meter boy's title last year and successfully defended his title with a 4:08.23 victory. Fellow Channel League athlete Anthony Fast Horse of Ventura finished second in a time 4:09.32.
800 Meters
Tessa Buswell of Poway held off several challengers in the 800 to win in 2:06.51. MaKenna Herbst of Carlsbad finished second in a time of 2:07.23 and Keaton Robar of Newport Harbor took third 2:07.40. Makenna's sister Morgan won the following race in the 300 meter hurdles. Carlsbad High School had an exciting evening during the 800 and 300 hurdles time frame as Cain Evans of Carlsbad won the boy's 800 in a time of 1:50.21. Wyland Obando of Long Beach Wilson came in a close second at 1:50.26.
4 X 800
Last year was the first time California ran the 4 X 800 and in the second year, the girl's 4 X 800 proved to be an exciting race. The race favorite Ventura were cruising for an easy victory when they approached the last baton exchange. The baton was dropped on that last exchange by Ventura. Luckily for Ventura, Sadie Engelhardt ran the last leg. The dropping of the baton erased their lead and had Ventura six seconds behind the new leader Santiago (Corona). Engelhardt made up the six second deficit to win by almost three seconds with a meet record time of 8:57.21. Santiago (Corona) finished second in a time of 9:00.13. Not as much drama in the boy's 4 X 800 thanks to San Clemente returning as the defending champion. San Clemente boys won in a time of 7:38.07 and Granada closed the gap a bit in the last lap and finished second in a time of 7:40.29.
3200 Meters
Jaelyn Williams of East Lake took the pace out in the 3200 and Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery of Santa Rosa tried to reel in Williams, but ran of time. Speaking of time, Williams ran 9:57.11, Thomsen ran 9:59.81 and Rylee Blade of Santiago (Corona) finished third in 10:06.26. The top three finishers are now the last three 3200-meter champions at the California State Meet. Jason Parra of Millikan led a deep field of boys in the 3200. Evan Noonan of Dana Hills followed. With a lap to go, there were nine boys with a legitimate shot to win the title. Noonan used his speed at the end to win in a time of 8:43.12 and Grant Morgenfeld of Palo Alto finished second in a time of 8:44.40. Seventeen boys broke nine minutes in the 3200-meters.
For the girl's photo gallery, click HERE
For the boy's photo gallery, click HERE
Comments