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ARCADIA, CA- The biggest and the baddest invitational in the country took no shorts over the weekend, especially on Saturday evening with a myriad of elite-level performances that will keep the track and field heads ringing for a long time. The select few entrants from Illinois made some significant noise.
Early morning session-
If 9 am is your cup of tea on the west coast, the mile was the starter-up race. Caroline Schoen (Sr., Homewood-Flossmoor) scratched from the opening day 3200m to concentrate on the 1600 and 800-meter runs. She competed in two races during the open session: ran the mile and 800- 5:16.75 and 2:25.76- visibly upset after her second race, Schoen was offered some words of encouragement.
Will Kozlowski (Jr., Chicago Lane) and Grayden Rill (Sr., Oak Park Fenwick) competed in section 2 of the open mile. A slow opening pace forced Kozlowski to change his plan and take over the chores of leading. A sluggish 2:12 at the halfway point put a sense of urgency in the field which massively dropped a negative second half. The winner was Jayden Hernandez (Jr., Gondinez, CA) in 4:19.67. Koz clocked a personal best 4:19.76 and state leading time unofficially (4:18.2 at 1600); Rill came home in 4:22.70.
Mid-Day offerings-
Caleb Levy (Sr., Gurnee Warren) indicated that his intention was to drop a serious time in the 1:51-1:52 range. Levy instead produced a time that he should be proud of in 1:53.32, The opening pace had him with the leaders in 55 secs and in position that most runners desire. The final verdict was a second place finish in the open division.
Angela Alozie (Sr., Homewood-Flossmoor)- The team's top all-purpose speedster exercised her right to compete. In the first race, she clocked a personal best 12.48 in the 100m; 25.52 (IL#5), and 400m in a PB 56.77 (IL#1).
The Invitational feasts-
The 3200s were the main event as they usually are under the lights. For the boys, Friday night's "super slow" sections were a forecast for Saturday, especially after section 1 winner Trey Despain (Sr., Pine View UT) ran 9:13.01. As we moved on to the seeded section which has been often labeled as the non-prime time realm, this may have been the fastest-ever non-championship or invite section in high school history. A total of 19 boys broke 9:00! That's right this happened in the penultimate race and the winner Pierre Attiogbe (Sr., St. Albans School, DC) clocked a big PB 8:49.82. Owen Forberg (Sr., Oak Lawn Richards) was in the race and placed 28th with a personal best 9:17.44.
All of the stars of the sport aligned right before the start of the invitational with elite runners Craig Engels and Benjamin Rai on the sidelines and hyping up the kids. The 800m winner Aaron Sahlman of Newbury Park ran just a few hours prior with a national leading 1:49.07 and was unofficially commissioned as the unofficial pacemaker. He placed 8th in last year's record-breaking race. So this field was expected to be just as good if not better with the likes of Connor Burns (Sr., Southern Boone), Daniel Simmons of American Fork UT, and Simeon Birnbaum (Sr., Rapid City SD). Right away the opening pace was fire with Sahlman leading the charge. He would step off the track after dropping 4:18 for the first mile. It would be a tussle with the aforementioned names and a few others. Eventually, Birnbaum sneaked across the finish line first in a new national federation record 8:34.10. A total of 23 boys cracked 9:00 bringing the total to 42 under 9:00. Included in that number was Ethan Hogan (Jr., Columbia). He took 16th in 8:49.61 and copped the final medal in his state-leading mark that should stand throughout the season. Hogan hit the first mile in 4:24 and he knew he was on to something. "With two laps to go, I felt I could break 8:50!"
For the girls, it was a record-breaking time for the winner Irene Riggs (Sr., Morgantown WV) who used a blistering 4:48 first mile to keep the intruders away. She would on to win in 9:52.66. Top aces Tatum David (Sr., Olney Richland County) and Grace Schager (Sr., Glenbard North) made the trip a memorable one. They fought with the best of them, placing a very respectable 10th (10:00.71) and 11th (10:03.27). They learned something new about themselves- pain tolerance and perseverance. We will see them both under 10:00 sometime this season. Tucked down the line was Mia Kotler (So., Chicago Latin), running 10:46.13.
Alice Mihas (Sr., Chicago Latin) competed in two throwing events: 15th - SP (37-0.5), 11th- DT (121-1)
Javaris Ambrose (Sr., Harvey Thornton) continued his big meet tour with another high level performance. In flight two competing against other heavyweights, Ambrose connected on a 61-2 to take the silver medal.
