Santa Cruz girls join Great Oak boys in running national-leading DMRs, along with Santa Rosa’s Carter and Clayton Valley’s Jackman in the 400 hurdles 

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

While the distance medley results Friday during the first day at the 43rd Stanford Invitational showed a mix of winners, it’s hard to think anyone in the event’s top teams walked away disappointed at Cobb Track and Angell Field.

Great Oak’s boys and Santa Cruz’s girls each roared to national-leading times in the distance medley in performances that highlighted the high schools portion of the invitational. The first day also produced national-leading marks in both 400-meter hurdles, an event not often run at the high school level in California.

Great Oak’s boys DMR win in 10:10.64 emerged out of an intense three-way battle in the final lap of the 1,600-meter anchor leg of the relay, when senior Carlos Carvajal came from behind as the Wolfpack edged Bellarmine College Prep (10:11.30) and Dublin (10:11.40) for the win. Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau anchored for Bellarmine and Loic Scomparin for Dublin.

“We knew, this whole week, we’ve been preparing for Bellarmine and Dublin to come out here and push our pace,” Carvajal said. “We just tried to hang on as best we could, get the baton as close to them as possible and just finish as strong as possible.

“I just kept telling myself throughout the race, ‘Just hold on; just hold on and save up for that last lap.’”

For the girls, Santa Cruz’s Oregon State-bound senior Mari Friedman also did just that. She held off Great Oak junior Fatima Cortes on the anchor 1,600 to win in 11:51.30. The teams traded leads during the race, and the Wolfpack’s time of 11:54.17 would have also been a national No. 1.

“I was really planning on trying to relax the first 800 and really go the second 800,” Friedman said. “(Coach Greg) Brock was telling me to make my last lap the fastest. They didn’t give me much room to cover and I got a little excited. As I felt her getting closer and closer to me, I got more energy, and with 800 meters to go, I just gave it my all.”

In all, nine high school events ran Friday with a full slate scheduled for Saturday. Clayton Valley's Aidan Jackman was most impressive with his 400 hurdles win in 52.85, which lowered the nation’s top mark in the event by nearly three seconds. Santa Rosa’s Kirsten Carter also set a new standard for girls in the event with a win in 1:02.18.

“Going into the race, I had to make sure I had a set pattern I was comfortable with,” Jackman said. “Normally, in the 300 (hurdles), I would go 14 steps between hurdles, but I didn’t know if I could last 400 meters at that pace, so I switched to 15.”

St. Mary’s Berkeley’s Malcolm Clemons didn’t get a national mark but did match the state’s best wind-legal long jump with a leap of 24-5.50. Chula Vista Eastlake’s Jalyn Jackson also hit that mark earlier this year.

Most impressively, Clemons cleared 24 feet on five of his six jumps, which bested Great Oak senior C.J. Stevenson, who set a school record and finished second in 23-10.25.

“My first jump, I came out knowing I could jump for 24-5, because I jumped it earlier in the season,” said Clemons, referring to practice. “And I just executed with that jump.”

In the long distances, Malibu’s Claudia Lane ran her first 3,200 of the season, winning fairly easily in 10:24.72 after Mission Viejo’s Kelli Hines stuck near Lane for the first mile.

Lane was happy to have the competition following only a month of training after being sidelined with illness.

“I know it was going to push me,” Lane said. “In league meets, and kind of like in some other meets, when I don’t have someone pushing me in the 3,200, its kind of hard to keep pace, even if it is easy.”

Larkspur Redwood’s Liam Anderson easily won the boys 3,200, just missing Carvajal’s state-leading time of 9:06.10 with a mark of 9:08.93. He conceded it was a tad slower than his goal but “good enough.”

Kimball’s Jaala Downs also came close to the state lead with a win in the girls long jump in 19-2.

Gilroy’s Logan Flores won the pole vault in 15-0.25.