Duke-bound Jirak from Star Valley in Wyoming improves personal-best performance by a point to prevail with 4,920 in the heptathlon, with Rutledge of Carson High in Nevada rallying with strong second-day effort to secure decathlon victory with 6,058 points

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

ARCADIA, Calif. – The weather might not have been ideal by Southern California standards for the first day, but it was just fine for two multi-event athletes from Nevada and Wyoming.

Tristan Rutledge of Carson High in Nevada won the boys decathlon with 6,058 points and Valerie Jirak of Star Valley in Wyoming won the girls heptathlon with personal-best 4,920 points to highlight the return Friday and Saturday of the Arcadia Multis at the 56th Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

RESULTS | EVENT VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS

Friday’s weather had temperatures that dipped into the low 50s by the end of the night with wind and occasional rain. Saturday was warmer and clearer.

“My whole week of my last training it was blizzarding,” Jirak said.

“The wind helped in the 100 because we had a +2.5 tailwind,” Rutledge said. “It threw off my high jump a lot, my step was off. It ended up evening out.”

Rutledge took the lead for good by winning the ninth event, a javelin throw of 144 feet (43.90m). He entered the final race, the 1,500 meters, leading Brevin Egbert of Utah’s Sky View High by nine points and Braylon Noble of Soquel High in California by 41 points.

Noble took second, Rutledge was third and Egbert was fourth in the race, giving Rutledge the victory by 35 points over Noble (6,023) and 57 over Egbert (6,001).

Despite the win, Rutledge found plenty of room for improvement.

“I haven’t been able to train a lot because of some nagging injuries,” Rutledge said. “I got here, did my best. I had some subpar events but I ended up pulling it off in the 15.” 

What results were a disappointment?

“High jump, because I only went 5-6, which is six inches off of what I should’ve done, and pole vault, I was like three feet off what I should’ve done. Other than that, it was pretty OK,” Rutledge said.

One event that was a positive result was the 100 meters, when he finished in 11.38 seconds, good for 778 points, his most in any event.

The girls competition was not nearly as close as Jirak, who is headed to Duke in the fall, won by 381 points over Katie McGuinness of La Canada (4,539).

“I’m coming off my best indoor season. I was able to put everything from that season into this meet. I’m just focusing on the throws now,” Jirak said.

Jirak’s total was one point better than the fifth-place score she had in June at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

“I’m super excited because with my long jump, I was two feet below my PR. so just being excited to figure out how I’m going to hit that (PR) and that will push me over the 5,000 (point) barrier,” Jirak said.

Part of the reason for the large margin was the fact that the girls competition lost opening day leader and Texas-bound Meagan Humphries of Castaic High in California. After the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200 meters, Humphries led by a margin of 3,243 to 3,040 points over Jirak entering Saturday.

But her father Will Humphries indicated Saturday morning that she endured a knee injury while warming up for the shot put Friday and was in too much pain to continue in the heptathlon.

Jirak was very disappointed with Humphries’ withdrawal from the remainder of the competition.

“It’s very sad because I had her right there pushing me all the way,” Jirak said.

Jirak’s best score came in the 100 hurdles, when she finished second to Humphries with a time of 14.56 seconds, good for 901 points. Jirak capped the 800 with a victory in 2:20.16.

Tia Brown of Palo Verde High in Nevada took third with 4,445 points.