Golden Eagles break a pair of records, set two new ones

Mountain Vista produces impressive sweep of 4x1,600 and distance medley relays on opening night in Arizona; Long Beach Poly sweeps 800 sprint medley relay titles

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Mountain Vista CO enjoyed one of the most impressive days in the history of its cross country program in November when its girls team won the NXR Southwest Regional and boys team placed sixth in Casa Grande, Ariz.

When the Golden Eagles returned Friday to Arizona to compete on the opening night of the 77th NIKE Chandler Rotary Invitational, they produced one of the most impressive showcases in meet history.

Mountain Vista swept boys and girls 4x1,600-meter relays, in addition to setting meet records in both genders in the distance medley relay at Chandler High's Austin Field.

The Golden Eagles became the second school to sweep boys and girls distance medley relay titles in the same year, following Long Beach Poly in 2015.

"It means a lot. We wanted to come out here and not just make it about the individuals," Mountain Vista coach Jonathan Dalby said. "We don't get too many relay chances in Colorado, except for the 4x800 at the state meet, so we wanted to make the most it. I'm glad some good competition showed up to push our kids."

Having already won both 4x1,600 relays and the boys distance medley relay, the Golden Eagles trailed Long Beach Poly for the first nine laps in the girls DMR. But freshmen Jenna Fitzsimmons, Kara Lucyk and Sarah O'Sullivan remained within striking distance of the Jackrabbits throughout, allowing sophomore Caroline Eck to stay in contact with Poly anchor Brenda Rosales on the 1,600-meter anchor leg.

Eck produced an impressive surge in the final 100 meters and managed to get past Rosales using the inside lane, not only securing the Golden Eagles' victory in 12 minutes, 23.11 seconds, but breaking the meet record of 12:28.31 set last year by Centennial NV.

"I knew I was making up ground, but I didn't think I would ever get that close to her," Eck said. "I kept chipping away, hoping I would get there. I never thought of myself as being the anchor, but it's fun to have all your teammates putting in the work and you just put the cap on it."

Mountain Vista had a much easier time of it in the girls 4x1,600, with senior Mauren Fitzsimmons, junior Hannah Brown, senior Lauren Soares and freshman Jessica Barich winning in 21:53.20, 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Xavier College Prep AZ.

"We got lucky with a young, talented group of girls coming in this year," Dalby said. "It's exciting to see their progress and have them moving in the right direction."

The Golden Eagles needed another clutch anchor leg on the boys DMR to prevail by a 10:31.02 to 10:32.38 margin over Americas of El Paso TX. Carter Dillon, Sheldon Hafner and Caden Foster kept Mountain Vista in front, setting up senior Joshua Romine on the anchor. Americas anchor Brian Lujan pulled even with Romine with 75 meters remaining, before the Golden Eagles standout sprinted to the finish to break Long Beach Poly's 2015 meet record of 10:48.0.

Ethan Rouse, Justin Lund, Shayan Zarrin and Weston Hart won the boys 4x1,600 for Mountain Vista in 18:28.84.
In addition to the 4x1,600 relays being added to the meet schedule for the first time, so were the 4x200 and 800 sprint medley relays.

Long Beach Poly swept the 800 sprint medley relays, with Aaron Shampklin, Tariq Harness, DeAngelo Chester and Zion Bowens winning the boys title in 1:34.44, the fastest time in California this year.

Jaelyn Predium, Zhane Smith, Ariyonna Augustine and Kenya Payne won the girls sprint medley in 1:49.38 for the Jackrabbits.

Kiara Russell, Lauren Miller, Jahdai Jones and Claire Donner of Buena AZ captured the girls 4x200 relay in 1:46.85. James Johnson, Tre Harley, Randall Jubilee and Savon Scarver of Centennial NV won the boys 4x200 in 1:27.37.

Among the highlights of the open session was Volcano Vista NM junior Jericho Cleveland winning the boys 3,200 in 9:18.11. Cleveland's time was the fastest ever run in open session, lowering the 2009 standard of 9:47.30 by Carlos Martinez of Dobson AZ, and No. 10 overall in meet history.

Chandler Prep sophomore Olivia Mountain ran the fastest girls 3,200 ever in the open session, clocking 11:44.03, breaking the record of 11:56.76 by Janeth Garcia of Arcadia AZ in 2012.

Junior Kate Evans of Horizon AZ delivered the best girls 1,600 open session performance in meet history with her 5:21.69, lowering the 2015 standard of 5:28.16 by Katie Lloyd of Catalina AZ.

Queen Creek AZ freshman Taylor Cotter set an open session record in the girls 800, prevailing in 2:23.89, eclipsing the mark of 2:24.78 from last year by Samantha Deane of Verrado AZ.

Desert Vista AZ junior Emma Mccutchen ran the fastest girls 300 hurdles of all-time in the open session with her personal-best 46.08, lowering the 2011 standard of 47.74 by Andee Shelton of Verrado AZ.

Tucson Magnet AZ swept both 4x100 relays, setting a girls open session record by clocking 49.06, with the boys just missing another record with their victory in 42.88. Neysia Howard of Tucson Magnet also eclipsed the girls 100-meter dash open session standard by running 12.29, improving on the 2014 mark of 12.53 produced by Nastasia Peevy of Marcos de Niza AZ.

Ronnie Terrell of Mesa AZ broke the open session record in the boys 100 with his 10.97 effort, lowering the standard of 10.98 established last year by Erin Portillo of Eastwood TX.

Justice Stokes of Williams Field AZ set an open session record in the boys 110 hurdles, winning in 15.08, breaking the 2014 mark of 15.10 by D'Angelo Foster of Higley AZ.