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2005 Arcadia Invitational
Girls Invitational Event Previews
Girls Shot Put Event #37
With eleven of the the top twelve throwers in the State for the 2005 season in attendance, the statewide pecking order will sort itself out in the ring here this evening! Two-thirds of the DyeStatCal All-State Pre-Season first team (of nine) will battle with a couple of great new stars to the event! Julie Dufresne (Harbor, Santa Cruz) won the K-Bell Meet with a fine 44-02.75 in mid-March, with April Phillips (Poly, Long Beach) 44-03 from last year and 43-00 thus far in 2005. Sarah Robles (San Jacinto) 43-10.5 and Shauntay Breauz (Miller, Fontana) 43-07 are the upstart newcomers to the elite level this season hoping to challenge the State’s best and take home medals this evening! Sarah Barber (St. Josephs, Lakewood) was eighth at state last June (Phillips was fourth) and has a 43-03 this season in winning the Covina invite. Nashay Trice (Silverado, Vicorville), at Muir HS in Pasadena last year is out to 43-00 this season. This is the type of field where someone will bust loose with a big throw and it should be a very spirited competition!
Women’s High Jump #38
Another very strong group will compete here with a ton of folks with 5-08 or better efforts during their career. Desirae Gonder (Stockdale, Bakersfield) was 5-10 last year and is one of the nation’s top dozen returnees along with her State runner-up finish from last June. Jamie Klages (Coronado) (5-08 jumper) and Khristina Curtis (Tustin) (5-07) tied for fifth in that June competition, with consistent Jasmin Day (Costa Mesa) (5-08) eight in State in 2004. Great all-arounder Lauren Collins (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) has jumped 5-08 this year, with Michelle Johnson (Los Gatos) joining her over that height this season. Laurie Roberts (Menlo Atherton, Atherton) was 5-08 last season to add to the dizzying potential of this field.
Women’s Triple Jump #40
Do not step out for a soda with the young lady who heads this field on the runway! Brittany Daniels (Merrill West, Tracy) has achieved about all a prep athlete can during their career with an All-Time High School record of 44-11.75 last year (breaking the old record by over 10 inches!) and participation in last Summer’s Olympic Trials, where she was a fine ninth placer finisher! Long-standing records are in danger wherever Brittany travels on her “farewell prep tour” as a senior this year! Ke’Nyia Richardson (Holy Names, Oakland) stunned this winter with a new soph National Indoor best of 41-01.5, with the talented Bay Area athlete probably the future of the event nationally! Jamesha Youngblood (Hercules) shocked with what would hold up as the top ninth grade effort in the entire nation here last year at 40-01.5. Decontee Kaye (Logan, Union City) was 39-08.75 indoors in winning the Nike Indoor National Championships, and looks ready for the 40 foot barrier, with Seqoiya Peggese (Poly, Long Beach) 39-07.75 during the winter undercover season in a runner-up effort at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. Tracey Stewart (Logan, Union City) was 40-01.5w (39-03.75) last year and will add depth to the superb field. Again, Brittany Daniels is a stunningly talented high school athlete whose power and grace in the jumping events is an amazing viewing experience, so do not miss this event!
Women’s 400m Relay #45
The Great North-South baton match-ups that start the roll up to June’s State Meet always begins here, with the tension surrounding the 4x1 relay great preparation for the big meets down the road. Thrills and spills abound, with probably at least one of the favorites not able to complete successfully the three baton exchanges in the event! From the North come powers James Logan (Union City) (45.58 last year in a State meet runner-up effort), a dynamite crew back again for 2005, and Merrill West (Tracy) 46.84 to win the Stanford Invitational (and third in last year’s State Meet!). Rancho Cucamonga (47.07 last weekend to win the Pasadena Games), steadily improving Kennedy (La Palma) (47.37), and Southern California’s newest powerhouse, St. Mary’s (Inglewood) 47.64 will keep the action rolling from the south!! Mt. Pleasant (San Jose) 47.66 and Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 47.98 have also run under 48 this year to make this a deep, competitive start to our running evening!
Women’s Invitational Mile Run #46
The Distances are always an Arcadia highlight, and with a super group of California runners battling some of the best from around the nation, a classic four-lapper can develop here. Briana Felnagle (Bellarmine Prep, Tacoma, Wash) was a State 800-1600 winner at 2:10.44 and 4:47.71 after early spring mono, and she had a super fall cross-country season. State meet 1600m sixth placer Anne St. Geme (Corona del Mar, Newport Beach) (4:49.84) and a load of 2005 Golden State flyers will challenge! Alex Kosinski (Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills) 4:54.42 in the Stanford Mile is the nation’s most improved middle distance runner since cross-country, with Evelyn Wing (Valley Christian, San Jose) 4:54.45 in that Stanford race off to a super 2005 spring start! Oregon’s Analiese Chapa (Central Catholic, Portland) was 4:56.13 for a mile last year, with Felnalge’s teammate, super frosh Nicole Cochran (Bellarmine Prep, Tacoma) a super JO 1500m winner at 4:33.54 for 1500 meters. State 3200m leader Nicole Pennes (College Park, Pleasant Hill) and improved Ariel Wright (Bishop O’Dowd, Oakland) 4:58.92 mile are others who will battle for a medal, and keep your eyes on Shannon Murakami (Saugus) who raced an unpressed 4:57.50 to win a week ago at the Pasadena Games and Krystal Duke (Clovis) who has dominated area action this spring!
Women’s Pole Vault #47
Thirteen of the State’s top fourteen Vaulters will be in attendance for this event! Allison Stokke (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) continues to sky, with her latest meet a week back featuring a new National Soph Class record of 13-05.75, marking her as the #6 All-time US prep in the event and the #4 All-Time Golden Stater. With the Orange County lass going higher each week, there should be no reason to not continue to move up the all-time ladder this weekend!! Kate Mattoon (Rancho Bernardo, SD) was third in State last year and has improved to 12-03 this campaign, with Taylor Franklin (St. Francis, Mountain View) fourth in that June competition and a 12-00 best–Franklin’s teammate from the CCS vault factory at St. Francis, Natasha Barthel, has the State’s #3 mark this spring at 12-05. Tori Pena (Edison, Huntington Beach) was seventh at State last year, with a 12-02 2005 best. Other 12-footers in the field are Rachel Simmons (Rocklin) (12-02) and Lyndly Tamura (Huntington Beach) 12-01. Keep an eye on this one, as the depth for those medal spots will be tough and Stokke one of the nation’s hottest prep athletes at the moment!
Women’s Discus #52
A talented and deep field will battle here. The State’s top eight throwers will battle with Alaska’s Alana Looten (Lathrop), a 141 footer in the event. Lefefeisefa Toeaina (Pittsburg) had her lifetime best of 151-02 in a runner-up effort here last year and went on to place in the runner-up position at State. Margaret Giuffre (Thousand Oaks) was fifth in that State Meet competition last year, witha 138-05 Camarillo Relays win in mid-March this year. Sarah Robles (San Jacinto) has a 142-07 this campaign in Inland Empire action, with Jillian Sola from powerhouse Arroyo Grande 140-07 in early March. Danielle Thu (Monte Vista, Spring Valley), a super all-around thrower and one of the nation’s best Hammer tossers, is #2 Statewide at 139-02 off her Mt. Carmel Relays win back a week. Nikki Awaa (Brea Olinda, Brea) 137-06, Tara Ross (Mission Viejo) 137-00, and Olivia Raya (El Modena, Orange) 136-08 are over 135 feet coming in!
Women’s 100 Meter High Hurdles #54
Some superbly talented young ladies will battle here!! Kimyon Broom (Serra, Gardena) was fourth in last year’s State meet with a 13.87w (14.06 wind legal) best that marks her as among the top fifteen in the entire nation! Meia Tezeno (Hercules) was one place behind at Sacramento last June with a 14.14w (14.51) best, and a 14.55 win at Stanford a week back! Leslie Mercado (Diamond Ranch, Pomona) was seventh in June’s State contest with 14.11w (14.42) bests and a good start to 2005! Shana Woods (Poly, Long Beach), the world’s best all-around athlete for her age, was 14.05 last year in the event and has run 14.0 hand-timed this year, with other events on the platter at last June’s State Meet for the Jackrabbit star. Jalissa Williams (Muir, Pasadena) was impressive in a 14.29 Pasadena Games win. Keep an eye on for talented frosh, Jackie Coward (West, Knoxville, Tenn), who was among the top eight in the nation this past winter indoor season on the clock with some big wins over the 55m and 60m hurdle distance indoors. Great all-arounder Lauren Collins (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) 14.41 last year is another who hopes to battle for a medal in this talented field.
Women’s 100 meter Dash #58
Kristina Davis (Logan, Union City) is off to a fine start in 2005, with a Nation-Leading 11.80 win at Stanford in late March. Kandi Bonty (Monroe, LA City - 11.85w last year joined Davis as a State Finalist. Yasmin Woodruff (St. Mary’s, Inglewood) stepped right up from the age-group ranks and handled a top group in the Pasadena Games blazing a super 11.84 frosh clocking! Khrystal Carter (Valley Christian, San Jose) was the Stanford runner-up in a fine 11.90. Great all-arounder Mindy Neely (Dos Peublos, Goleta) was 11.94 in winning the Don Green Invite, with Jeneba Tarmoh (Mt. Pleasant, San Jose) bursting forth this winter indoors and having the State’s #5 time outdoors at 11.98. Janice Nsor (Kennedy, La Palma) took late March’s Mt. Carmel Invite at 12.03w, with Lekeisha Lawson (Victor Valley, Victorville) 12.06w second there, and Shana Solomon (Poly, Long Beach) 11.86 for fifth in this meet last year. A talented balanced crew will sort out statewide bragging rights in this contest!
Womens 800 Meter #60
US Prep History’s deepest field ever over two laps races here! The most high-schoolers ever under 2:10 in one race is six–well, there are five talented athletes in this group who have done that a number of others teetering on that 2:10 barrier ready to break through. Heidi Houle (Moutain View, Orem, Utah) led the nation indoors at 2:07.00, but Latavia Thomas (West Catholic, Philadelphia) was 2:07.10 in taking the National Scholastic Indoors race (where Houle finished fifth). Libby Jenke (Menlo School, Atherton) was 2:07.47 behind Houle’s best, with a third in the NSIC contest won by Thomas. Shannon Leinart (Eureka, Mo) is the midwest’s top two-lapper at 2:08.76, with Brianna Felnagle (Bellarmine Prep, Tacoma, Wa) 2:08.67 in winning the 2003 Golden West Invitational. Emily Dunn (Esperanza, Anaheim) looks ready for a big-break through with one of California’s best ever dual meet 800 times at 2:10.17, with Evelyn Wing (Valley Christian, San Jose) 2:11.71 in 2005, and Christine Whalen (Mitty, San Jose) 2:10.85 last year and an eighth place finish at State. Keep an eye out for Stacy Slight (Cody, Wyoming) 2:12.59 last year and sub 5:00 miler Lyndsay Harper from Albuquerque, New Mexico. A good early pace will give us prep history’s deepest ever two lap event!!
Women’s Two Mile #61
Another stunningly deep prep distance field will battle here! Nicole Shappert (Pope Paul II, Boca Raton, Fl) 10:27.98 for third in this two mile last year, Natasha LaBeaud (Folsom) 10:24.57 for 3200m, and Morgan Schulz (Smoky Hills, Aurora, Colo) 10:33.80 for sixth here last year are among the top eight in the nation returing on the stopwatch! Annually one of the nation’s deepest distance events, a veritable flood of top athletes will be challenging the top pack. Whitney Anderson (Summit, Breckenridge, Colo) was fourth in the December Prep Cross-Country Individual Nationals, with a 10:35.88 from last year on the track. Lauren Saylor (Buchanan, Clovis) was fourteenth in that national prep harrier championship, with Alma Escobar (Corona) seventeenth there (and 10:47.21 on the track), Tori Tyler (Gunn, Palo Alto) twenty-seventh in that December contest and 10:49.11 on the track, and Brook Lademan (Peninsula, Rolling Hills) at thirtieth and 10:48.88 for 3200m on the oval. Midwesterner Meredith Snow (Eureka, Mo) 10:45.1, Nicole Pennes (College Park, Pleasant Hill) 10:48.6 (2005), Brittany Morreale (Peninsula, RH) 10:49.52, and Katelyn Calvelli (Sir Francis Drake, San Anselmo) 10:49.54 give us nearly a dozen with personal bests of under 10:50 in the field. Depth, Depth, Depth - should be “personal best” city in this contest!!
Women’s Invitational 400m #64
Another absolutely cranking event will be this one lap sprint! Nicole Leach (West Catholic, Philadelphia) has US History’s #2 All-Time Indoor 400m clocking at an amazing 52.19! She certainly does not rate a pass here, with Bianca Knight (Ridgeland, Mississippi) the country’s fastest ninth grader last year at 52.96 in winning the National JO Title! 2005 National Leader outdoors Sa’de Williams (Rancho Cucamonga) 53.30 looked very strong in that effort with seemingly something left in reserve for a race such as this!! Myra Hasson (Gardena) has had a fabled career locally, with the State’s third placer from last June and top returnee from that event needing to back down from no one with her 53.90 personal best! Shakara Lott (University City, San Diego) was fifth in State last year with a 54.56 beat, with Fairfield’s Keisha Baker a place back from that competition with at 55.46. Super all-arounder Mindy Neely (Dos Pueblos), whos abilities range from a sub 12 second 100m dash to 19 foot plus Long Jump should end far up in the medal hunt here! Danielle Watson (Carson) 55.36 was a state finalist last June, with Amber Purvis (Benicia) a fine age-group star wading into the elite prep ranks here.
Women’s Invitational Long Jump #66
It’s “bombs away” as one of the best groups in recent state history will gather to sort out this bounding contest! Two absolutely stunning female athletes head the show with good reason to check this pit action while the running events swirl around them. Shana Woods (Poly, Long Beach) is the world’s top all around athlete for her age with the top multi-event heptathlon score for anyone at her level in the world last year. She hopes to compete in the World Youth “under-18" championships this summer in Morocco and bring back a gold medal there! She is at the prep elite level in about a half dozen events, with a State title last year in this event and a personal best indoors last month in the National Scholastic Indoor Pentathlon event at 20-10 that lead the nation indoors for the season! Brittany Daniels (Merrill West, Tracy) is the National Record holder in the Triple Jump at 44-11.75, a towering effort that took down the old prep record by over 10 inches. She is a 20-07.75 Long Jumper, and was second in state to Woods last year with victory taken away on Woods’ final jump of the competition. Daniels handled Woods indoors this year at the Simplot Indoor Games 20-05 to 19-11.5 so the duo does have a history! Graceful, powerful, and near majestic in their efforts these two young ladies really bear watching this evening as two of the best athletes in US prep history! They will have competition! A ton who mark their efforts as among the country’s best are in hot pursuit! Shelese Ruffin (Beaumont) was fifth at State with a 20-02.25w (19-10.75 wind legal) best, with Danielle Watson (Carson) sixth in that contest with a 19-03.5 best. Kristin Holmes (Claremont) was seventh from last June’s state affair with 19-02w (19-00.5) bests. Mindy Neeley (Dos Pueblos, Goleta) was 19-04.75 last year, with Decontee Kaye (Logan, Union City) 19-03 already this year, and Markita Berry (El Camino, Oceanside) 19-03 last summer in JO action! Walnut’s Andrea Allmond was 19-01.25 (19-04.25w) last year, with Shevell Quinley (Merrill West, Tracy) 19-01.25 indoors this winter. No prep competition in California history has ever had so many 19-footers taking part - as the evening goes on keep an eye on this hot pit event on the track’s south side!
Women’s Invitational 300m Hurdles #73
State Meet placer and local favorite Kiani Profit (Muir, Pasadena) is among the nation’s top dozen athletes in the event at 42.79, with Shevell Quinley, another great all-arounder from Coach John Harvey’s Merrill West of Tracy program, 43.14 last year with state meet participation. Marissa Smith (Valley View, Moreno Valley) was 42.6 last season at this distance with Felisha Ankton (Benicia) 43.54 a State meet competitor last June. Kimyon Broom (Serra, Gardena) was 44.2 in 2004, with Ashika Charan (Claremont) one of the nation’s top all-around athletes, among the top fifteen returnees nationally in the Heptathlon at 4381, some real potential here, and Genelle Ives (Dana Hills, Dana Point) 43.20 two years ago back healthy again! A lot of fast people will take part here!
Women’s Invitational Distance Medley #74
A ton of great teams are entered here with some athletes well rested from competition earlier in the evening or held out of individual events to concentrate here. A flock of teams have the potential to go under the magic 12 minute barrier. Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) leads the state on the clock at 12:06.15 from their Stanford win, but a flock of others will press them! Corona del Mar has sub 4:50 1600 star Anne St. Geme and sub 5:00 star Hilary May to go along with fine sprinter Melissa Swigert, with Nicole Pennes (4:55.74 1600) leading always strong College Park. Oakton, Virginia has a super tradition with Danielle Light sub 5 minutes indoors this winter for 1600m. Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) was second behind O’Dowd, with Placer (Auburn) third in the Stanford Distance Medley in late March, with Ventura rounding into shape after a super Fall Cross Country season–Emily Spiker is right at 5 for 4 laps with Molly Bailey 11:03 for 3200 in track. Fountain Valley, another of the nation’s best teams this fall in Cross-Counry, has Crystal Reed leading, with super depth and they look fresh for this relay.
Women’s Invitational 200 meters Event #76
Another dynamite group of female speedsters will battle here. Powerful Bianca Knight (Ridgeland, Mississippi) is simply the finest young sprinter in US History, with a stunning 23.06 National Frosh Record last summer in Junior Olympic action. She was the Nike Indoor National Champion at 200 and second at 400 meters this winter, so she is ready to roll! Sa’de Williams (Rancho Cucamonga) more than eased into the outdoor season with nation-leading 400 (53.30) and 200 (24.08) efforts at the Pasadena Games in late March, with Sa’de taking Bianca at the Nike Indoor Championship affair over 400m earlier that month. Add to the mix Shana Woods (Poly, Long Beach), with the super all-arounder the nation’s #4 returning 100m dasher last year in her spare time at 11.62, moving in here for a little speed work over half a lap! Kandi Bonty (Monroe) just missed a State Finalist spot last June, with Khrystal Carter (Valley Christian, San Jose) fourth in the National Scholastic Indoors this winter at 24.35 and Jeneba Tarmoh (Mt. Pleasant, San Jose) sixth there with a 24.39 indoors best this winter! Shana Solomon (Poly, Long Beach) was 24.35 last year for a half-lap, with super frosh Yasmin Woodruff (St. Mary’s, Inglewood) 24.69 already this year. Keep an eye out for Kristina Davis (Logan, Union City) National 100m leader at 11.80 stepping up here! Super field!!
Women’s Invitational 1600m Relay #82
We will be shutting down the stadium in fine style with the top squad in the rest of the United States this winter, West Catholic of Philadelphia, the Nike Indoor Champs at 3:41.96, rolling in to face California’s best! Rancho Cucamonga was a super 3:43.08 in late March at the Pasadena Games, with the contest possibly coming down to Nicole Leach (National indoor leader 400m at 53.04) for WC and Sa’de Williams (National outdoor leader at 53.30) on the anchors!! Merrill West (Tracy) was the Stanford winner and raced 3:46.68 in 2004. Fairfield returns the heart of a 3:48.01 squad, with Mitty, a super 9:10.96 4x800 relay at Stanford and St. Mary’s a 47.64 short relay group waiting to gather together in style for this longer baton event. Always a cooker to end the evening in what should be another super affair in 2005!!
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