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Arcadia Invitational
4/8/00 at Citrus College, Glendora CA
WorkSeek.com Flo-Jo Memorial Arcadia Invitational
Highlights
by John Dye
A spectacular meet in a spectacular setting -- 10,000 banked seats, enthusiastic crowd, mountain backdrop, sunny afternoon turning to a cool evening, great athletes, on-time meet management, expert announcing, barbecued chicken, corn on the cob.
An amazing 282 performances met DyeStat Elite cutoffs for top 100 national ranking in the 2000 outdoor season, including 14 US#1 marks to date and 40 top 3 US performances. The depth of talent was especially striking in the 3200 meter races, where 36 runners met the DyeStat Elite cutoffs, 18 boys better than 9:26.6 and 18 girls better than 11:09.6. Click for list of 282 Arcadia performances meeting DyeStat Elite cutoffs.
Here are some highlights and personal impressions:
Girls DMR - San Lorenzo Valley coach Rob Collins brought his team to Arcadia gunning for the national record, if not here then at the Penn Relays 3 weeks from now. On their best times, the record of 11:43.53 (Irvine CA University 1982) is well within reach.
Here is the lineup and Coach Collins' target times:
1600m Alexandra Barrientos 4:40
1200m Raquel Barrientos 3:37-3:40
400m Lindsay Scharborough 58
800m Shiloh Whiting 2:20
In the event, these projected times held up except for the star, Ale Barrientos, who had to run two 1600s just over 2 hours apart, and had to catch a stubborn Manhattan Beach CA Mira Costa team in the last 2 laps. After SLV splits of 3:42.5, 57.9, and 2:19.7, Mira Costa still led by 30 meters as Ale Barrientos took the baton for the anchor 1600 meters. It took two laps for Ale to run down the leader and then pull away comfortably in the end with a time of 4:55.6. This was 9 seconds slower than Ale's winning time 2 hours earlier in the open 1600 meter. But SLV's winning DMR time of 11:55.68 was 11th best on Jack Shepard's all-time US list and just 12 seconds away from the record. So you have to assume that with a fresh Ale Barrientos, SLV is right on target to beat the record. Mira Costa's 12:03.55 for second was also 2nd best in the US this year.
Rickey
Harris - It takes a lot to satisfy the Centerville VA star, and he came back
from each race shaking his head.
A 13.51 US#1 hurdle win? No. He ate too much and felt heavy. He won't be pleased until he goes under 13:30 (which would merely put him in top 3 all time company).
A 47.04 US#2 400 meter win over Nike Indoor Classic champion Anthony Ewers? No. The pace was too slow.
The Outstanding Male Athlete of the meet award? Well, maybe we did see a smile on his face then.
The 110 meter hurdle race was run twice. The first time, the starter's
gun gave off an audible click before it fired. Half of the field including
Harris relaxed expecting a recall. Harris got going when he realized there
was no recall and still ran 13.91. After hearing several complaints from
runners, meet officials decided to rerun the race after four 100 meter finals. (Harris,
white jersey in center, wins rerun below)
Lashinda Demus - (below) voted Female Outstanding Athlete of the meet, and also a tough person to please. The US Women's Prep Athlete of the Year in 1999, Demus is aiming at the US record in the 300 meter hurdles (40.18 by Leslie Maxie, 1984). She "only" got 40.97 here, and Doug Speck asked her afterward when she would get the record. "I'm trying -- every day," Demus said.
Later in the evening, Demus ran a dazzling anchor in the 4x400 meter relay. Demus took the baton three seconds behind, with the crowd wondering if Berkeley would upset US record holding Long Beach Wilson. Could Demus pull it off? The answer was quick. Demus ran down the Berkeley anchor in less than 200 meters and had her own 30 meter lead at the top of the stretch to remove all doubt. It was a 52+ anchor split and Long Beach Wilson's 3:44.23 time was the second best this year after its own 3:43.62 at the Pasadena Games. The Wilson A team had to run fast to top the Wilson B team, which won the seeded race earlier in 3:51.41, a top 10 US time in its own right.
After
a close packed first half run in 5:16, the methodical Siraki took a lead that
just kept growing throughout a 5:02 second half. At the end she looked as
if she could run it again. Runner up Sara Bei finished 12 seconds behind
Siraki and Michelle dela Vina 18 seconds. Siraki said she ran a 5:05
second half recently and her coach told her if she picked up the first half she
could break 10:20. He was right. Siraki was respectful of the
competition. "I was scared. These girls were all at nationals
and travelled so far to come here." Siraki meanwhile had to come only
30 minutes on the freeway from Glendale, but she travelled furthest the fastest
on the track.
Girls
400 - This was an upset by Cerritos Gahr soph Angel Perkins, (left)
recent winner of the National Scholastic Indoor, of the great Monique Henderson,
San Diego Morse junior. With 100 meters to go Henderson came up
alongside poised to win, but Perkins met the challenge. "I told
myself not to fight it - just relax," Perkins said. It was her first
victory over Henderson, and the two should meet often again. Asked by a
reporter what effect it would have on Henderson to know Perkins could beat her,
Perkins said, "If she thinks the same as me, she will just go back to
practice and work harder to try to win next time." Stay tuned.
Girls
200 - Berkeley senior Aisha Margain beat Perkins and was asked if
this was her biggest win to date. "Wait until I see the
time." The time was 23.85. "Oh, yeah, that's a PR,"
said Margain. She and Perkins 23.93 are 1-2 in the country after this
race.
Boys
1600 - A 58 second last lap gave Anaheim Esperanza sr Ryan Bousquet a
stirring victory (left) in a hard fought race. Only 5 seconds
separated the first 8 finishers. Bousquet's 4:09.37 is best in the US this
year.
Girls
800 - Corona del Mar sr Elizabeth Morse (right) was
"ecstatic" at breaking 2:10.
The US indoor leader became the US outdoor leader with a front running 2:09.40.
Girls Triple Jump - Blessing Ufodiama, Long Beach Poly sr, took the national lead with a leap of 41-1.75 +1.9.
