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| Arcadia Invitational
41st version of largest outdoor high school meet in the US.
April 11-12, 2008 - Arcadia CA High School
DyeStat on-site coverage
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Gedyon and Loyola Boys Impress, Danbury Survives
Friday Boys Story by SteveU
Photos by John Dye
 | Danbury's Parker Boudreau holds off Loyola's James Kostelnik in the 4x1 Mile.
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What was the theme on the boys side for the Blazin Batons portion of the Arcadia Invitational Friday? You could talk about those fast 800 relay legs, which were observed in both the 4x800 and the sprint medleys. Or you could talk about Danbury CT, which was clearly one of the outstanding out-of-state teams to enter the meet, and won the 4x1 Mile Relay.
But the stars of the night were really the crews from Loyola HS. When you think of Loyola, you think first of amazing freshman phenom Elias Gedyon – and rightfully so, what with his 1:52.2 anchor in the school’s winning 4x800 that most electrified the crowd. But there’s far more to this team, as evidenced by their winning shuttle hurdles relay and their runner-up spot in the 4x1 mile – just barely behind Danbury. Yes, it was a Loyola kind of night.
Even with his amazing feats as an age-group star in the youth ranks, Gedyon’s 800 leg in the 4x800 was a revelation. As he had battled tendonitis to start the spring, Friday marked his first outdoor meet of year. And to celebrate, a 3-second PR? Amazing! The performance invited comparisons to Michael Granville, whose national freshman open mark of 1:51.03 is just a second faster.
Gedyon has had a spectacular career as an age-group runner in summer track, and a very strong freshman harrier campaign last fall. But 1:52??
“It’s a big PR for me,” he said. “I was tired (at 400), because I usually don’t run against competition that good. But I just tried to stay with them and kicked with 200 to go, which is what I usually like to do. It was really tough.”
“He doesn’t like to lose,” said one of his coaches at Loyola, Dr. Meza. “In his Youth races, whenever he would kick, no one could go with him. Today, he heard footsteps and I think he was a little surprised.”
In the 4x1 Mile Relay, it looked like Danbury CT’s race to lose, what with the talented crew they enjoyed from cross-country and indoor track. In the 4x1 Mile at NSIC, they won impressively in 17:28.
But Friday, Danbury was back in the pack early. Valencia sent their best runner out in the opening leg, Talal Khan, and he hit 4:22, with the pack – including Danbury’s Justin Rau (4:26.5) back about four seconds. Crescenta Valley would take over in the second leg for awhile, but then the pack ate both up and Willow Glen’s Mohamed Abdalla would take over and lead at 8:44 after two legs, with Danbury at 8:49.6 with Matt Terry’s 4:23.1.
 | Rancho Verde's Ruben Danielsen over Colonie's Nick Santos in 1600 SMR.
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Danbury’s third, 4:13 1600 man Willie Ahearn, was next with the stick for the favorites and when he moved into the lead, it looked like the CT power would start running away with it. But Ahearn’s wheels weren’t moving quite this time and he couldn’t build a gap. After his 4:21.9, three other teams were within striking distance.
With Loyola anchoring harrier standout James Kostelnik, it looked like a good battle was to ensue and it did, with Danbury’s Parker Boudreau leading. Kostelnik made bids to pass, but the strong-finishing Boudreau (4:22.3) wasn’t having any of it. Finally, Kostelnik was broken and the CT team took it in 17:33.73, with Loyola just back in 17:34.57.
When it was all said and done, the Danbury crew could laugh about the tough battle. “This erases the painful memories of long flights,” joked Ahearn. More seriously, he added, “My main objective was just to catch the guy in front of me and hand off in first … Our team goal was not to run certain split times, but just to try and win.”
With Arcadia bridging the gap between indoor and Penn Relays, there hasn’t been much of a chance for the East Coast distance standouts to catch some down time, but they seemed unfazed about working hard from January to June (and with a long XC season preceding that). “Our secret is not peaking for any one meet,” said Ahearn.
Loyola, whose XC team was 8th at NTN last fall, got 4:25.0 from Gedyon, 4:24.0 from Andres Diaz, 4:22.6 from JP Slater, and 4:22.3 from Kostelnik.
The other fast set of the aforementioned 800s came in the sprint medley, where Rancho Verde CA’s Ruben Danielsen impressively passed Colonie NY’s Nick Santos in the final meters for a 3:26.60 to 3:26.79 victory. The clockings are the nation’s #1 and #2 times.
“It was pretty hard,” said Danielsen after his 1:52.1 anchor. “I didn’t know if I could catch him, but I just sprinted as hard as I could.” The final leg featured four lead changes between the two. Santos also destroyed his PR with a 1:51.7. Steve Norton anchored La Sierra to 3rd in 3:30.53 with a 1:52.9.
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