It's Time To 'Go The Distance'!
With meets
like the Camarillo Classic, the Distance Meet of Champions,
& the Bay Area (Piedmont) Distance Festival, the multi-lap action
will
be hot and heavy this weekend! Also, the Percy Knox Invitational and
the Bay Area Blast-Off have plenty of big-time talent on board!
If you're a distance runner
or a distance fan, this is a very big week on the statewide calendar
for you! Some of the most enjoyable distance meets on the schedule are
on tap, providing excellent chances to face outstanding early-season
competition as well as golden opportunities to achieve superb qualifying
times for the upcoming mid-season blockbuster meets!
The action
is headlined by Saturday's Camarillo Classic and the Camarillo Distance
Classic on the preceding day. We're still awaiting official entries
for the meet, but it appears some big-name programs such as Cabrillo,
La Sierra and Camarillo will be among those participating. The big names
at Camarillo will hit the track in headlining individual action on Saturday.
FootLocker Girls National Champion Jordan Hasay of Mission College Prep
will tackle the 1600m and Nike Indoor Nationals Two-Mile champion Michael
Coe of Cabrillo will partake in the 3200.
A bit deeper
south on the map, the ever-popular Arroyo/APU Meet of Champions Distance
Classic at Azusa Pacific University will be the site where thousand
of teens will gather in an attempt to break the unofficial world record
(!!) for the most sub-5:00 1600s for boys and sub-6:00 1600s for girls.
But the big elite performance highlights could come in the 3200-meter
runs, where West Covina's Diego Mercado, Murrieta Valley's Patrick Milloy
and Mike Munoz, Clovis' Mikel Thomas and Big Bear's Chad Hall help comprise
a very deep list for the eight-lap challenge. On the girls' side, All-American
caliber runners such as Saugus' Shannon Murakami, Glendora's Christy
Adamyk, and Newport Harbor's Whitney Blue lead another deep cast, all
chasing some hot times in the cool Glendora air!
The northern
end of the state counters with the vastly popular Piedmont/Bay Area
Distance Festival! it's another endless carnival of distance heats,
with each seeded by progressively faster athletes, thus culminating
with a flourish in each event! The especially notable event could be
the boys 800m, with Acalanes' Joey Thomas, DeLaSalle's Tom Cox, Piedmont's
Mark Ceraldi and Shasta's Austin Fritzke.
The Bay Area
Blast-Off at UC Berkeley should be another dandy, with such headlining
names as newly crowned Nike Indoor Nationals pentathlon champion David
Klech of California in San Ramon, Valley Christian's dash flash Krystal
Carter and Dominique Hunsicker, Benicia's Amber Purvis, Hercules' Jamesha
Youngblood, Salesian's Jahvid Best, Skyline's Cameron Island, and San
Ramon Valley's Brandon Adams. Speed galore!!! This is both a small collegiate
meet and plenty of HS action, so a day full of fun for everyone!
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