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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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Saugus girls cement status as all-time CA distance squad
Friday Girls Story by Dave Devine
Photos by John Dye
 When you mentor a girls cross country team which is lauded as one of the best in California history, your mind can’t help but wander toward other challenges that might be possible for such a balanced stable of distance talent. For Saugus CA coach Rene Paragas, those musings included the possibility that his harriers might put together a 4xMile relay capable of challenging the California state record of 20:20.38 held by a loaded 2005 Corona del Mar team.
“I mentioned it at the beginning of winter training,” Paragas said Friday at the Arcadia Invitational, after his young squad had laid waste to the California mark and climbed to #3 all-time on the US prep lists, “that they could take a shot at the 4xmile record. It gave us something to shoot for, something to be motivated about –but we didn’t really talk about it until the last week.”
The plan heading into Arcadia was to separate Saugus’ two biggest guns—freshman Kaylin Mahoney and senior Katie Dunn—and try to stay with the pack through the early going. After junior Annie Randall cranked a 5:05.6 to open, Saugus didn’t need to worry about hanging with the pack.
“I was hoping we’d be a little bit behind after the first leg,” Paragas said, “so Mahoney could go after them, but we ended up being right with the leaders.”
 Cruising through 880 in 2:32, Mahoney opened up a 75-yard lead with her 5:03.8 carry, threatening to propel the California squad so far ahead that a serious record assault would be compromised by the isolation. Senior Nina Moore (above) made quick work of her leg, rolling a 5:07.9 PR and looping past an eager Dunn four times, with Dunn shouting encouragement the entire way.
When Dunn (left) took the stick, the clock read 15:17.2 and the state record seemed within reach. When she floored a 2:26 opening 880 and looked to have plenty left in the tank, an infield onlooker turned to a friend and said, “The state record is gone.”
And indeed it was. It helped that Dunn, who loves to pursue, had lapped runners to track down.
“I was just counting down the laps,” she said after the race. “When I heard I ran a 69 [first quarter], I was like, ‘I’m going to be in trouble,’ and after I went through in 2:26 I thought I could do this.”
“She’s such a competitor,” Coach Paragas said of his anchor. “She’s super tough, she works really hard…I wouldn’t want anyone else on that anchor.”
For a team with great balance but no bona fide superstar, the 4xMile was the perfect fit on the opening night of the Arcadia meet.
“Doing the relays is a lot better,” Dunn confirmed. “You have that team like you do in cross country. It really works for us, knowing we can do it as a team.”
For Paragas and his squad, pairing an all-time California track mark with the recognition they received for their blazing team times in cross country was a sweet accomplishment for an April evening. “It’s something we’ve kind of wanted, so to do it on our first try is a good deal.”
Other teams fight through challenges for Friday wins
For two of the winning girls relays Friday, it wasn’t so much about pursuing records as it was about overcoming obstacles to succeed in spite of setbacks.
The Westfield VA girls 4x800 squad had to make a last-minute switch in their lineup after teammate Kerry Hartman arrived in California feeling ill and only got sicker.
“One of our regular 4x8 girls was really sick today,” Westfield anchor Tasia Potasinski said, “so we had an alternate who’s normally a two miler, sometimes a miler. She was really nervous, but she pulled through.”
That stand-in, Melissa Devecchia, took the baton with a 20-meter lead over Xavier Prep at the start of the third leg, and proceeded to open a wide margin through the first lap-and-a-half of her carry. Great Oak CA’s third leg was having a super run, however, and by the final handoff she’d drawn the two squads even at the exchange.
That’s where Potasinski took over.
Her team from Northern Virginia hadn’t traveled all the way to California to cede the victory, and even though a 67 opening 400 failed to shake her Great Oak pursuer, the Westfield senior closed the door with a driving final lap that secured a comfortable 9:21.86 victory.
“I was a little nervous,” she allowed after the race, “but I knew we’ve been working hard all season, and I usually have a great kick, so I just tried to utilize that at the end.”
James Logan High of California was also counting on an anchor with a big kick, but sprint star Thandi Stewart (right) had to play it conservative after a lingering hamstring injury troubled her during the pre-race warmup.
“My leg had been bothering me before,” Stewart said after the race, “so I didn’t come out full speed, because I knew my leg was going to hurt. I ran about 85% down the backstretch, and then just sprinted in as hard as I could.”
Stewart’s teammates had gotten her the baton with a slight lead, and Stewart, despite her ailing hamstring, took care of business from there. With her right thigh tightly wrapped, she nonetheless turned a 54.9 anchor bringing home her team in a US#1 1:44.51.
California crowds the medal stand
In the longer 1600 Sprint Medley, the girls of Long Beach Wilson CA nailed their own US#1 with a third leg who opened things up and an 800-meter anchor by Christina Smith that shut the door on a 4:00.97 effort which left them just shy of the Arcadia meet record.
Smith, who heard the meet announcer relay the information that her team was on record pace, did everything she could to slip under four minutes with her drive down the homestretch.
“I could hear them announcing it,” she said, “and my dad was yelling at me to use my arms—I was just trying to drive hard. It wasn’t quite enough.”
Although they fell short of the meet mark, the Wilson girls only added to a host of California teams crowding the trophy stand. In addition to Saugus, Logan and LB Wilson, St. Mary’s Academy CA blazed a 1:37.86 to win the girls 4x200 and San Marcos CA managed to take the Shuttle Hurdle Relay from the seeded section, topping Muir CA’s 64.04 Invitational winner with their 63.30 from the previous heat.
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