A new venue will be showcased, with new stars expected to be highlighted, but the annual Hi-Racer Meet of Champions Distance Classic remains one of the elite high school distance events in the country, looking to add to its legacy Saturday at Arroyo High.
Following a significant run for more than a decade at Azusa Pacific University’s Cougar Stadium, the meet will begin a new chapter as races will be contested on the World Athletics certified Beynon Track at Arroyo High.
A pair of meet records were achieved last season, with Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High running 2 minutes, 3.48 seconds in the girls 800 meters – leading the three fastest marks in Meet of Champions Distance Classic history – and Grant Morgenfeld from Palo Alto High clocking 8:50.95 in the boys 3,200, as five competitors produced sub-9 performances.
Competition begins at 7:15 a.m. Saturday at Arroyo High, with the rated and invitational sections starting at 6:50 p.m.
There are scheduled to be 139 total races, including a combined 27 in the rated and invitational sections.
Holly Barker, a senior at Trabuco Hills High, leads the girls invitational 3,200 field, scheduled for 9:10 p.m., with an opportunity to challenge the 2017 meet record of 10:12.21 established by Claudia Lane of Malibu High in a performance most remembered for the stadium lights at Azusa Pacific’s Cougar Stadium going out during the race.
Maya de Brouwer, a senior at La Canada High, is the returning girls invitational 3,200 champion, clocking 10:24.69 last year.
The girls invitational 3,200 field is also scheduled to include El Toro’s Gweneth Williams, San Juan Hills’ Carol Dye, Brentwood’s Amelia Sarkisian, Arcadia’s Reena Hsieh, Santa Monica’s Phoebe Benun, Buchanan’s Brooklyn Buckley, Newport Harbor’s Marley McCullough, Vista Murrieta’s Erika Kirk and Rancho Cucamonga’s Nicole Alfred.
The boys invitational 3,200 race, scheduled for 9:50 p.m., features Zion Ortiz, a senior at Burroughs Ridgecrest, and South Torrance senior standout Liam Miller, the top two returning competitors from last year’s event and both looking to eclipse the 9-minute barrier for the first time.
Grant Miller from La Serna, Tesoro’s Griffin Kushen, Glendora’s Dylan Flores, Lancaster’s Issaiah McCorvey, Corona del Mar’s Max Douglass, Venice’s Paul Tranquilla, West Torrance’s Andrew Quast and Trabuco Hills teammates Dylan Jubak and Carsten Williams are also entered in the boys invitational 3,200.
Maximo Zavaleta, a junior at Martin Luther King, is the top returnee in the Michael Paredes boys invitational mile, scheduled for 8:25 p.m.
Zavaleta finished fourth last year in 4:10.16, looking to join a strong group of 26 sub-4:10 competitors in meet history.
Hueneme’s JR Lesher and Paso Robles’ Tyler Daillak are also scheduled to compete, in addition to Clovis East’s Marcus Salinas and Redondo Union’s Adam Divinity, with Kushen, McCorvey, Flores, Douglass, Jubak, as well as Hunter Hannah from Matilda Torres and Mira Costa’s Krish Desai entered in the invitational mile along with the invitational 3,200.
South Pasadena senior Abigail Errington and Arcadia junior Charlotte Hopkins are expected to compete in the girls invitational mile at 8:04 p.m., looking to renew acquaintances after taking the top two spots in the 1,600-meter race March 1 at the Rio Hondo/Pacific League challenge.
Reese Holley, a sophomore at JSerra, is the top returning competitor in the girls invitational mile after finishing eighth last year in 4:59.57.
Holley is scheduled to be joined by JSerra teammates Sophie Polay, Chloe Elbaz, Kaia Streadbeck and Brynn Garcia.
Tesoro junior teammates Amber Dazey and Mackenzie Forrest are both scheduled to be part of the field, in addition to Buchanan standouts Kynzlee Buckley and Gaby Gutierrez.
Arcadia’s Emilia Gonzalez, Crescenta Valley’s Kaitlin Kenney and Templeton’s Frannie Perry look to gain valuable experience competing in a deep mile field, Dye also entered in the race, as well as the invitational 3,200.
Alden Morales, a junior at JSerra, is the returning champion in the boys invitational, scheduled for 7:29 p.m.
Morales ran 1:52.39 to secure victory last year and would need to run under 1:51.7 to elevate among the top 10 competitors in meet history. Bradley Arrey and Taye Newman, teammates of Morales at JSerra, are also entered in the field.
Josiah Bowman, a junior at Sage Creek, finished fourth last year in 1:53.54 and is also expected to compete in the invitational 800.
Wyland Obando, a junior at Long Beach Wilson, clocked 1:51.68 to place second March 16 at Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory in New York and was also runner-up in last year’s CIF State Championships in 1:50.26.
Juan Juarez, a senior at Liberty Winchester, secured seventh last year in 1:54.30, with Homestead senior Evan Gardner also returning following an 11th-place effort last season in 1:58.11.
Along with Obando, Juarez was a state finalist and finished 10th, with Bowman placing 11th.
Despite the top three performers in meet history in the girls invitational 800 not being part of Saturday’s field, with the race scheduled for 7:12 p.m., the potential exists for one of the elite all-time efforts from Carlsbad senior Makenna Herbst, if she decides to compete.
Herbst finished second March 15 in the 800 by running 2:03.83 at New Balance Nationals Indoor at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston. She also secured sixth March 16 in the 800 final at Nike Indoor Nationals in 2:07.92 at The Armory in New York.
Only four athletes in meet history have produced a sub-2:08 performance, including three competitors last season.
Lexi Schartmann from Immanuel, Avery Smith of Great Oak, Kaitlin Kenney from Crescenta Valley, Harper Diaz of Santana, freshman Grace Smith from Claremont and Buchanan teammates Tayler Torosian and Elle Lomeli are also scheduled to compete in the girls invitational 800.
– Erik Boal
