ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, April 10–11 — Thrilling races are the norm at Arcadia, and so are national records, so it seems. New Jersey’s Union Catholic covered both during Friday’s Blazing Batons sprint medley relay.
Union Catholic used 200m shifts from Sydney Chadwick and Abriyah Thompson, then a 53.83 400 split from frosh Abigail Robinsky before handing off to junior standout Paige Sheppard.
Running solo, Sheppard went out in 60.86 before closing in 63.22 (2:04.12). Union Catholic finished in 3:47.35, besting by 0.30 the standard set by Rush-Henrietta (New York) in 2015.
The next evening, Sheppard used her strength to hold off the charge of Braelyn Combe (Santiago Corona), as both negative-split, to win 2:05.07–2:05.12. Their splits — Sheppard’s 64.03/61.04 and Combe’s 64.02/61.10 — spoke to the tense battle throughout.
Just as Servite had done on the boy’s side, Rosary Academy (Fullerton) has taken its baton flights to new heights. Since Rosary is the sister school of Servite, it shares the same coach, Brandon Thomas, so it’s no surprise the Royals are a dominant force to contend with in the sprint relays.
The team of Tra’via Flournoy, Justine Wilson, Pfeiffer Lee and Maliyah Collins had combined the night before (albeit not in the same order) to take the 4 x 200 in 1:34.29.
Now the foursome was ready to kick off the festivities with a thrilling ride around the oval, but not without being pushed to the brink by California rival Calabasas (Olivia Kirk, Malia Rainey, Devyn Sproles, Marley Scoggins), and Maryland’s Bullis, for which frosh sensation Mya Arrendell ran second leg.
At the gun, Kirk had the advantage over Flournoy, with Bullis’ Kennedy Brown close. Kirk to Rainey was smooth, as was Flournoy to Wilson.
Rainey and Wilson were even at 200, as Arrendell made up ground. Around the bend, Sproles gave Calabasas anchor Scoggins a meter advantage over Rosary’s Collins at the final exchange.
Collins roared down the homestretch and caught Scoggins with 50 left on the way to a 44.23 finish. That made Rosary the No. 2 all-time school and broke Long Beach Poly’s 22-year-old California record. Calabasas was 2nd in 44.54, with Bullis 3rd in 44.82.
Arrendell would exact her revenge in the 100 and 200. First she took the century in a windy 11.27 (2.8) over Aster Jones (Roosevelt, Portland, Oregon) at 11.31. Kirk dashed in 3rd with 11.33.
In the deuce, Arrendell again prevailed over Jones, 23.17–23.47, with Naiaja Sizemore (Vanden, Fairfield, California) next in 23.56 ahead of Kirk (23.67).
Arrendell’s night, however, was not done, as she still had the 4 x 400 looming and a duel with none other than Sheppard and Union Catholic. As it turned out Sheppard ran third leg and handed off to UC junior Abriyah Thompson more than 2 seconds ahead.
Arrendell, receiving the baton second, was not deterred by the 20-meter deficit Thompson built around the first curve. The long strides of the Bullis closer eventually brought her even with the tiring Union Catholic anchor and with 200 left Arrendell pulled ahead to a 3:38.72–3:39.02 victory off a 52.64 split.
Of coming back for the 100 to start her 3-win stretch after a disappointing 4×1, Arrendell said, “It was honestly like a learning moment because everyone here’s been running indoor since a while, and this is only our second outdoor meet, second time ever running this exact team. So we just knew there were mistakes, but we also knew there was things that went well and we looked at the pros against the cons.”
She continued, “Actually, I don’t run the 100, I was just doing it for fun. I used to do it when I was younger, kinda stopped to focus more on the 400, but honestly it could become part of my main rotation. I came in here just knowing to run my race and not to let my competition distract me.”
Upset of the day went to soph Kaahliyah Lacy (San Jacinto), who took down multi-talented favorite and soon-to-be Razorback Natalie Dumas of Eastern Regional (New Jersey). Lacy won by more than a second, 40.81 to 41.89.
Jaslene Massey’s impressive throws highlighted field action. The Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo) senior won the shot in a PR 53-2 before adding the discus title with 182-2.
ARCADIA GIRLS RESULTS
100(2.8):1. ***Mya Arrendell (Bullis, Potomac, Md) 11.27w; 2. Aster Jones (Roosevelt, Portland)11.31w; 3. Olivia Kirk (Calabasas) 11.31w.
200(2.2): 1. Arrendell 23.17w; 2. Jones 23.47w; 3. Sizemore 23.56w; 4. Kirk 23.67w.
400: 1. *Clara Adams (Wilson, Long Beach) 53.51; 2. *Kennedy Brown (Bullis) 54.58.
800: 1. *Paige Sheppard (Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, NJ) 2:05.07; 2. Braelyn Combe (Santiago, Corona) 2:05.12; 3. **Grace Smith (Claremont) 2:08.22.
Mile: 1. Chiara Dailey (La Jolla) 4:41.92; 2. *Abigail Anstett (Visitation, Washington, DC) 4:44.25; 3. *Kamilah Salim (West, Torrance) 4:49.51.
3200: 1. Abigail Hennessy (Academy, Westford, Ma) 9:50.84 <9:54.27>; 2. *Ruby Ihmels (Century, Bismarck, ND) 9:59.06 <10:02.54>; 3. Gabbie Bishop (Providence, Rogers, Ar) 9:59.64 <10:03.12>; 4. Sundara Weber (Sandwich, Il) 10:00.10 <10:03.59>; 5. Addy Ritzenhein (Niwot, Co) 10:00.13 <10:03.62>.
100H(2.1): 1. Rebekah-Jhade Garrett (North Canyon, Phoenix) 13.39w, 2. Imani Galera-Young (Chandler, Az) 13.62w,
3. Taylor Foster (Brearly, New York City) 13.66w, 4. Kassidy Hopkins (Bullis) 13.82w.
300H: I–1. **Kaahliyah Lacy (San Jacinto) 40.81; 2. Natalie Dumas (Eastern, Voorhees, NJ) 41.89.
II–1. *Sydney Chadwick (Union Catholic) 42.05.
Relay Events
4 x 100: 1. Rosary, Fullerton 44.23 (5 HS) (#2 school) (Flournoy, Wilson, Lee, Collins);
2. Calabasas 44.54 (10 HS) (#6 school);
3. Bullis, Potomac, Md 44.82.
4 x 200: 1. Rosary 1:34.29; 2. Wilson, Long Beach 1:34.52; 3. Bullis 1:35.47; 4. Culver City 1:38.28.
4 x 400: 1. Bullis 3:38.72 (Arrendell 52.64); 2. Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, NJ 3:39.02; 3. Rosary 3:45.30.
4 x 800: 1. JSerra, San Juan Capistrano 8:50.32; 2. Santiago, Corona 8:50.97; 3. Claremont 8:56.56; 4. Wilson 9:03.81; 5. Union Catholic 9:07.66.
4 x 1600: 1. Lone Peak, Highland, Ut 19:57.70 <20:05.00>; 2. ThunderRidge, Highlands Ranch, Co 20:30.70 <20:37.84>; 3. Cathedral, San Diego 20:32.46 <20:39.61>.
800Med: I–1. Poly, Long Beach 1:44.17; 2. Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo) 1:45.69. II–1. Consumnes Oaks, Elk Grove 1:45.52.
SpMed: 1. Union Catholic 3:47.35 HSR (old HSR 3:47.65 Rush-Henrietta [Henrietta, NY] ’15) (Sydney Chadwick, Abriyah Thompson, Abigail Robisky 53.83, Paige Sheppard 2:04.08);
2. Wilson 4:04.06.
DisMed: I–1. JSerra 11:52.42; 2. Oaks, Westlake Village 11:52.76; 3. Cathedral 11:53.79.
4 x 100H: 1. Centennial, Las Vegas 1:00.47.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Julia Tevin (Olinda, Brea) 5-10; 2. *Lisa Richards (Union, Roosevelt, Ut) 5-8.
PV: 1. Lydia Townsend (Marsh Valley, Arimo, Id) 13-8.
LJ: 1. AB Hernandez (Jurupa Valley, Mira Loma—transgender) 20-3w (19-11); 2. Ellie McCuskey-Hay (St Ignatius, San Francisco) 20-3; 3. Kira Gant Hatcher (St Mary’s, Berkeley) 20-3w.
TJ: 1. Hernandez 42-6w (42-4); 2. Daniela Hughes (Los Altos) 41-¼; 3. McKenzie 40-9¼; 4. Hatcher 40-5¼.
SP: 1. Jaslene Massey (Niguel, Aliso Viejo) 53-2; 2. Kiera Sam Fong (Pine View, St George, Ut) 46-5½.
DT: 1. Massey 182-2; 2. *Maddison Davis (Atkins, Winston-Salem) 159-5; 3. Fong 153-7.
