The Saturday night portion of the two-day Arcadia Invitational gets the headlines, but there were highlights too in Friday’s action at Arcadia High.
Los Alamitos’ boys won the sprint medley relay – broken into legs of 200, 200, 400, and 800 meters – for the second year in a row.
Repeat champion Thomas Heib was joined by newcomers Jacob Gasser, Jose Rubio and Holden Edmondson as the Griffins set an Orange County record in 3:26.36.
“As a team, our sum is greater than our parts,” Griffins coach Nathan Howard said. “It’s complemented by each of their individual talents.
“It was a fun race to watch this year because I wasn’t stressed out when we took the baton not in first place. Thomas knows how to race now, and he ran the perfect race.”
Howard called Arcadia a good barometer for knowing where his team is at as it heads toward some big league meets. The Griffins expect to receive a challenge from Fountain Valley as they seek their fourth straight Sunset League title on the boys side.
Los Alamitos’ girls have won four consecutive league titles.
Great Oak of Temecula and Dana Hills had great battles during the cross country season. Both made the podium in the Nike Cross Nationals, and the distance powers put on a show in the 4×1,600.
The Great Oak group of Solomon Fountain, Cole Spencer, Isaac Cortes and Spencer Dodds broke the national record of 17:00.7 (South Eugene of Oregon in 1976), winning the race in 16:55.85.
The Dolphins’ quartet of Jack Landgraf, John Turner, Mason Coppi and Jake Ogden finished in 17:13.71, good for second in the county record book and sixth all-time in the state.
Mission Viejo’s Hannah Duarte, Olivia Teegarden, Madison Carroll and Sahla Cook won the 400-meter shuttle hurdles in 1:04.55.
