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 | 42nd Arcadia Invitational
April 10-11, 2009
Arcadia High School, Arcadia CA
Saturday Distance Report
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San Diego distance runners shine
By Steve Brand, photos by John Nepolitan
ARCADIA—When San Luis Obispo Mission College Prep’s Jordan Hasay did not show up at the starting line, there were a lot of confused, not to mention suddenly hopeful, 3,200-meter runners.
The flu did what no runner in the annual Arcadia Invitational has been able to accomplish—prevent Hasay from capturing her fourth straight title—but in her absence San Clemente’s Alex Dunne proved equally formidable.
 On a day when a couple of athletes from San Diego, not exactly known as a hot-bed of distance running, won mile and 3,200-meter races in eerily similar manners, the Stanford University-bound Dunne (left) again showed herself to be a formidable competitor who just happens to have come along at the same time as an even more dominating one.
“If Jordan had run, we would done even better,” said Dunne, who captured the 3,200-meter run in 10:16.83, easily outdistancing Phoenix’s Jessica Tonn, who was second in 10:25.85, with a withering last lap.
“When we came across the mile in 5:12, I knew we’d have to pick it up to run a sub-10:20. We had to negative split the second mile. “
Dunne said her goal is to dip under 10:10 and she thinks she can do it since she’s had very little speed work to date.
There’s one other factor.
“With Jordan in the race, we know who’s going to set the pace,” said Dunne. “We didn’t know she wasn’t going to run until seconds before the race and I thought she would go out in front and pull me along.”
Meet director Rich Gonzalez said Hasay’s coach, Armando Siqueiros, told him at noon that although the meet’s three-time 3,200-meter champ had been suffering from the flu for a while, she would probably try to run.
Hasay has been so steady, her absence was disappointing.
“It took away a lot of the luster; she brings national appeal,” said Gonzalez. “She was here on Friday night signing autographs and she was here earlier today.”
Not that the 3,200 wasn’t pretty good anyway, as Dunne let others lead early and once she started to make her move with two laps remaining, steadily pulled away for the win.
The boys 3,200 and girls mile were completely different.
Silva pounces last in girls Mile
With the sun still shining as the evening portion of the meet was just starting, the girls mile seemed to be unfolding as many predicted with Petaluma Casa Grande’s Jacque Taylor leading much of the race.
The tall junior, who had run 4:54.32 at the Stanford Invitational and 4:49.63 as the state runner-up in the 1,600, and Davis, Utah’s, Candace Eddy, battled for the lead heading into the final lap.
Back in sixth place, Sammy Silva of the Academy of Our Lady of Peace in San Diego, who had never broken the 5-minute barrier in either the mile or the 1,600, moved into position and on the back straightaway, passed three runners.
Silva roared up on the front-runners and, coming off the final turn, sprinted into the lead.
With the capacity crowd urging her on, she continued to open a gap, winning in a national-leading 4:54.08, in front of Eddy’s 4:55.68 and Taylor’s 4:56.30.
Also under 5 minutes were Australia’s Holly Aitken (4:58.28) and Huntington Beach Edison’s Hillary Hayes (4:59.50).
“I’ve been trying to lay low—until now,” said Silva with a grin, whose previous best was a 5:01.5 where she led the whole race.
“It’s so much easier to run (without leading). In this race, there were no slow runners and having people pull you along feels better. I had a lot left; I really wish the first half of the race had been faster.
“I like waiting to sprint—I guess I’m a wimp. At the turn, I knew I won it. I know I can go under 50 (4:50).”
Silva didn’t even make it out of the California state 1,600 prelims last year.
Closing lap propels Jarvis under 9-minutes
 The boys 3,200-meter went almost the exact same way with another San Diego County athlete, Collin Jarvis of Vista’s Rancho Buena Vista High, sprinting to victory over the final 400 meters.
Jarvis (right), who ran 9:03.68 in beating sub-4:10 indoor miler Mac Fleet of University City (San Diego) at the Mt. Carmel Invitational, showed that was no fluke when he came from sixth to power off the final turn en route to the victory in 8:58.15, just in front of Tim Freriks of Mingus Union (Ariz.)’s 8:58.71 and Nathan Mathabane of Lincoln, Ore.’s 8:59.96.
“I didn’t look at the clock, I just wanted to compete,” said the Longhorns senior. “It’s a huge indicator that I can be competitive at state. This is such a big meet with so many good runners.”
Jarvis admitted watching Silva earlier in the meet and thinking he might be able to do the same thing with his 50-second 400-meter finishing speed.
“The idea was to move with 800 meters left but I was too far back at that point, so it didn’t make sense,” he said. “With 400 to go, I just decided to go for it.
“Winning here is huge. This is the most competitive track meet in the nation, so if I run with these guys, ooooh. . . ”
He finished the thought a few seconds later when he added, “I really wanted this race because it’s a huge indicator (that he can win state). Maybe it put something in the heads of all the others.”
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