ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, April 05–06 — It wouldn’t be Arcadia if distance races didn’t dominate pre-meet headlines. Not that others didn’t deserve heraldry, but the depth of the 3200 fields was nothing but astonishing, and after all was said and done, the end did justify the means.
Last year’s runner-up Daniel Simmons (American Fork, Utah) wanted nothing more than to take the victory he was deprived of by ’23 HS AOY Simeon Birnbaum. Birnbaum’s homestretch drive highlighted what many thought was the greatest 8-lap race ever.
Newly minted indoor 2M record holder and Foot Locker champion Drew Griffith (Butler, Pennsylvania) and Jason Parra (Millikan, Long Beach) led the massive 38-man field through 1600 in 4:22.
Simmons led by a hair over Griffith at 2000 and continued his lean margin through 2400 with Los Angeles Cathedral’s Emmanuel Perez joining the fray. Nathan Neil (Bozeman, Montana) was also in the mix, moving into 8th behind Simmons, Perez, Griffith, Patrick Koon (Leon, Tallahassee), NXN champion JoJo Jourdon (Olympus, Salt Lake City) and Josiah Tostenson (Crater, Central Point, Oregon).
At the bell it was Simmons, Griffith, Perez, Neil, Simmons’ American Fork teammate Ben Jaster, and Ryan Pajak (Ringgold, Monongahela, Pennsylvania).
Simmons opened it up down the backstretch, and with Griffith going wide, allowed Neil a clear path to move up in lane 1.
With 200 left, Neil was within an arm’s length of Simmons and had the momentum. Entering the homestraight, Simmons was not going to let history repeat itself and found an extra gear. He held off Neil’s furious 57.16 final circuit and finished in 8:34.96 with a 57.52 of his own, 0.36 ahead of Neil’s 8:35.32. Griffith was next in 8:37.43, followed by Pajak (8:38.02), Jaster (8:38.34) and a slew of others.
A relieved, yet ecstatic Simmons said, “It was so fun, actually. Not just running alone like in a 5K kind of race, it was just like there were dudes all around me the whole time and I was in the moment the whole race.”
You could say that again. In total, 28 broke 8:50 across 2 races (27 invitational, 1 seeded), while 69 broke 9:00 across 4 races (37 in the invitational race, 20 seeded, 11 rated and 1 in the open). Whew!
Other action saw Long Beach Poly frosh Benjamin Harris post a windy 10.38 to win the 100 and Vance Nilsson (Gilbert, Arizona) sweep the hurdles, taking the 110s in 13.54 and the 300s in 36.29.
ARCADIA BOYS RESULTS
100(2.1): 1. ***Benjamin Harris (Poly, Long Beach) 10.38; 2. Dominick Corley (Mead, Spokane) 10.39.
200(1.5): 1. **Brandon Arrington (Mt Miguel, Spring Valley) 20.76.
400: 1. Ronnie Kendrick (Liberty, Henderson, Nv) 46.46.
800: 1. Patrick Hilby (Central Catholic, Aurora, Il) 1:49.47; 2. Noah Nielson (American Fork, Ut) 1:49.86
Mile: 1. *Corbin Coombs (Organ Mountain, Las Cruces, NM) 4:07.15; 2. Zach Hillhouse (Pleasant Grove, Ut); 3. *Charlie Vause (Rio Rancho, NM) 4:08.23.
3200: 1. Daniel Simmons (American Fork) 8:34.96 <8:37.95> (x, 11 HS);
2. Nathan Neil (Bozeman, Mt) 8:35.32 <8:31.31> (9, x HS);
3. Drew Griffith (Butler, Pa) 8:37.43; 4. Ryan Pajak (Ringgold, Monongahela, Pa) 8:38.02; 5. Ben Jaster (American Fork) 8:38.34; 6. Ethan Edgeworth (Cold Springs, Bremen, Al) 8:38.49; 7. *Josiah Tostenson (Crater, Central Point, Or) 8:39.89. 8. JoJo Jourdon (Olympus, Salt Lake City) 8:40.46; 9. Emmanuel Perez (Cathedral, Los Angeles) 8:40.47; 10. *Owen Powell (Mercer Island, Wa) 8:41.03; 11. Porter Middaugh (Battle Mountain, Nv) 8:41.05;
12. Will Conway (Floyd Central, Floyds Knobs, In) 8:41.18; 13. Dane Eike (Valor, Highlands Ranch, Co) 8:41.40; 14. Patrick Koon (Leon, Tallahassee) 8:41.47.
(best-ever HS-time-for-place: 6–38)
(69 broke 9:00 across 4 races)
110H(1.5): 1. Vance Nilsson (Gilbert, Az) 13.54; 2. Karamoko Sacko (Northfield, Denver) 13.78; 3. Myles McFarland (Consumnes Oaks, Elk Grove) 13.88.
300H: 1. Nilsson 36.29.
4 x 100: 1. Rancho Cucamonga 41.32; 2. Parkland, Winston-Salem, NC 41.32.
4 x 200: 1. Rancho Cucamonga 1:27.48.
4 x 400: 1. Cathedral 3:16.28.
4 x 800: 1. San Clemente 7:50.22; 2. JSerra, San Juan Capistrano 7:50.28.
4 x 1600: 1. American Fork 16:47.66 (2 HS);
2. Marist, Atlanta 17:19.45.
800Med: 1. Poly, Long Beach 1:30.99
SrMed: 1. Wilson, Long Beach 3:27.72.
DisMed: 1. San Clemente 10:13.20; 2. Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach 10:13.78; 3. Great Oak, Temecula 10:5.05.
4 x 110H: 1. Brophy, Phoenix 61.76.
HJ: 1. Deshawn Banks (Birmingham, Lake Balboa) 6-9.
PV: 1. Taylor Searle (Home, Queen Creek, Az) 17-0.
LJ: 1. Trevor Rogers (Acalanes, Lafayette) 24-4.
TJ: 1. Karson Gordon (Episcopal, Bellaire, Tx) 50-8; 2. Reece Grosserode (Pius X, Lincoln, Nb) 48-5.
SP: 1. *Benjamin Shue (Bergen, Oradell, NJ) 63-9¼; 2. *McKay Madsen (Clovis North, Fresno) 63-6.
DT: 1. Shue 200-3; 2. Madsen 197-5.
Dec: 1. *Tristan Rutledge (Carson, Carson City, Nv) 6058.
