The TEN took place in beautiful San Juan Capistrano on Saturday evening, where suspenseful races occurred. Rylee Blade delivered an impeccable performance, winning the 3200m invite section with a time of 10:00.56. South Pasadena’s Abigail Errington finished second in 10:26. In the boys’ 3200m invite section, both Landon Pretre and JR Lesher broke the meet record, but it was Pretre who clinched the victory with a blazing 8:58.
In the 800m, Griffin Kushen from Tesoro took first in the boys’ invite section with a 1:52.82, while Anna Elise Packard of JSerra set a new meet record on her home track with a 2:07.89 in the girls’ section.
The 1600m invite saw a thrilling finish, with Jordin Lieberman narrowly winning in front of Annie Ivarsson of Dana Hills by just 0.02 seconds, finishing in 4:50.98. Fourteen girls broke the 5-minute barrier in this exciting race.
In the elite races, HOKA athlete Abby Nichols, a University of Colorado alumna, won the women’s 1500m with a 4:11, while Oklahoma State’s Fouad Messaoudi triumphed in the men’s 1500m with a 3:35.
Elise Cranny won the fastest section of the elite 10k with an impressive last lap of 67.22 seconds, outkicking Weini Kelati. Additionally, five other women broke the 31-minute barrier, including Olympian Emily Infeld, whose career has been plagued by injuries in recent years.
Meanwhile, in the NCAA 10,000m race, Ishmael Kipkurui of the University of New Mexico broke the previous year’s meet record. Kipkurui and his teammate Habtom Samuel went 1-2, both surpassing the old record and securing the Tokyo 2025 World Standard. Other standouts in the men’s 10k included Telahun Haile Bekele, Graham Blanks, and Adrian Wildschutt, who also secured the World Standard.
– Demi Marine
