ARCADIA — A section record each weekend seemed to be the trend until the Arcadia Invitational Saturday.
Four marks that will go into the record books — and maybe one more.
Fans who arrived late saw Mt. Miguel High School junior Brandon Arrington trim .02 seconds off his two-week-old 200-meter record by winning the event in 20.35 seconds.
Sticking around to the very end in the cool of the night proved fruitful: the Carlsbad girls 4×400 relay team finished second but took down the Cathedral Catholic record of 3:47.63 set in 2015 by running 3:46.95.
Early birds saw San Diego High’s Anisa Bowen-Fontenot crush her own record by winning the 100-meter hurdles in 13.16 seconds, obliterating the 13.54 she ran in Texas at the Clyde Littlefield Relays.
A little later, Carlsbad’s Morgan Herbst edged ever closer to a sub-40 second time, suffering a rare loss in the 300-meter hurdles despite collecting a personal best 40.26.
The maybe?
This is one of the few meets in the nation offering an extremely competitive mile run and La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey jumped into her favorite event, finishing second in 4:41.92.
Meet officials had automatic timing in three spots — the 1,500, 1,600 and mile — but dissecting the two shorter races is always very time-consuming and Dailey was anxiously awaiting the official 1600-meter time.
That 4:41.92 converts to a 4:40.28 for 1,600 meters, but records can’t be considered based on conversion times. If it could, it would better the 4:40.29 section record run by Eastlake’s Jaelyn Williams a year ago.
Four and maybe five records is a major haul, though.
Arrington wore a big smile when asked what he thought of the 200-meter victory and record.
“No limit,” he said.
Indeed, watching him pull away from Reed (Nev.) High’s JT Thompson (21.08) and Anaheim Servite’s Benjamin Harris (21.17) was impressive, especially Harris because he figures to be the primary challenger at state.
Earlier, Arrington had an unusually slow start in the 100-meter dash but once he got rolling, even electric-starting Harris couldn’t hold on as the Matador won in 10.32 seconds — just ahead of Harris’ personal-record time of 10.33.
“I might have stumbled at the start but I just wanted to relax,” said Arrington. “This time I ran to win—I didn’t worry about my time.”
Bowen-Fontenot, the senior version of the brother-sister act, was thrilled with her time.
“Now I want to break 13 seconds — I want to run 12.80 something,” said the fast-finishing Caver, who was aided by a 1.8 meter per second wind, well under the allowable 2.0 mps.
“I know I was behind early but I never panic. All of those girls were ready to show out but so was I. The first four hurdles felt weird but then I pushed it like I always do. I wanted a 13.1 here and I got it. I’ll clean up some things before state.”
While Morgan Herbst was upset by Georgia’s Jasmine Robinson — 39.81 to 40.26 — she was still happy with the time that now puts her on the brink of breaking 40 seconds. She certainly was ready later in the evening when the Lancers broke the 10-year-old 4×400 relay mark.
Rayne Hawkins ran a 56.31 first lap for Carlsbad but well-balanced Long Beach Wilson was up to the challenge, taking a huge 9-second lead during Jillian Herrera’s 1:03.38 second lap for Carlsbad.
But the Herbst sisters were ready, with Morgan closing the gap with a 53.51 split and Makenna Herbst doing her best, clocking a 53.76 last 400 to bump the Cathedral Catholic foursome of Olivia Firsching, Claire Hobrock, Hannah Labrie-Smith and Dani Johnson to No. 2 on the list.
L.B. Wilson’s winning time was 3:42.08.
Mind you, several San Diego Section athletes were impressive without setting records.
Makenna Herbst took down international standout Boh Ritchie from New Zealand to win the girls 800 in 2:05.05, Del Norte’s Paige Echsner won the pole vault at 12 feet, 11 inches, San Diego freshman Jasir Fontenot was second in the 110-hurdles in 13.79 and San Marcos’ Caleb Reese ran the fastest Open Division time ever in winning the short hurdles in 13.99 seconds.
Sage Creek’s Josiah Bowman, whose state-leading 1:50.39 in the 800 withstood all challengers, ran in the Open mile, winning in 4:10.16, which would have placed fourth in the Invitational.
“The mile isn’t my best event, but I wanted to run one,” said Bowman. “I didn’t think I belonged in the Invitational race.”
As for Dailey, it still might be another day or two before she finds out if she is the section trend-setter in the 1,600.
