Newbury Park’s Young prevails in memorable battle with Valor Christian’s Sprout to produce top two 3,200 times in meet history; Williams sets Oregon state 200 record in split decision in sprints with Grubb, Foster secures pair of wins for Clovis North

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Nico Young is on a roll that hasn’t stopped since cross country season. In fact, things just seem to keep getting better for the Newbury Park High School senior.

Young had the boys performance of the evening Saturday, setting a meet record and taking the national lead in the 3,200 meters, outdueling Cole Sprout of Valor Christian in Highlands Ranch, Colo., to win in a blistering time of 8 minutes, 40 seconds at the 52nd Arcadia Invitational.

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“It’s really amazing,” Young said. “I’m very excited for all the opportunities I’ve had, and just working hard this whole cross country season .. and this track season. I just feel good about it.”

Young and Sprout (8:40.73), who placed fourth and third, respectively, at Nike Cross Nationals in December, engaged in a memorable, race-long duel that turned into a dead sprint in the final 200 meters.

Young sat on Sprout’s shoulder for much of the race before overtaking him in the final lap and holding the lead through the finish. Both marks, in fact, would’ve broken the previous mark (8:41.46) held by St. Joseph Notre Dame CA graduate Cooper Teare from 2017.

The strategy worked perfectly, as Young’s ability to shadow Sprout and never lose him paid off.

“It was really hard,” Young said. “He’s such a phenomenal runner that I was trying to just keep up with him. At some points, he would surge and I would just have to go with him. It was constantly a mental game of who wanted to go and who didn’t want to go.”

Young’s split in the final 400 was 59 seconds.

“It was a grind,” Sprout said. “I could tell he was coming up behind me and I just started giving everything I had, but leading the first seven laps definitely took it out of me.

“It was fun,” he added. “Nico’s a super-talented guy, so it’s just fun to race against him.”

Young was a Southern Section winner and state champion in Division 2 in cross country before his top-five finish at NXN. That kind of capper to his season, he said, certainly helped en route to Saturday’s victory, along with running 3:48.74 in the 1,500 on March 9 at the Occidental Distance Carnival and 8:13.31 in the 3,000 on Feb. 23 at the Rossi Relays.

“I think it played (into it) a lot,” he said. “It was definitely that confidence boost.”

There were many solid performances Saturday, though Young’s 3,200 victory was the only meet record set. There was also just one double winner on the boys’ side, which came from Clovis North CA junior Caleb Foster, who won the long jump with a leap of 25 feet, 1.50 inches (7.65m) and anchored his team’s 4x100 relay, which won in 41.29.

The long jump mark was a personal-best.

“It’s great, honestly,” Foster said, when asked how winning at Arcadia feels. “I just can’t explain it. I just can’t take the smile off my face.”

Benson Tech OR junior Micah Williams, who was part of the Team USA 4x100 quartet that won the gold medal in the IAAF World U-20 Championships in July in Finland, won a thrilling boys 200 race in 21.03 seconds, with the finish separating the top three by just .04 seconds.

Williams also won the 60 meters (6.60 seconds) on March 10 at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet, a mark that was No. 3 all-time for a high schoolers.

Saturday’s 200 time was an all-time best for an Oregon high school athlete, bettering the 21.13 time set in 2007 by Salem McKay’s Ryan Bailey, who went on to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London.

None of that, though was a thought for Williams. Neither was the fact that he was running his first 200 of the season.

No, this personal best very well may have been fueled by a close loss to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame CA senior Christian Grubb in the 100 (10.40 to 10.49).

“I was just mad because I lost in the 100,” Williams said. “I just wanted to run and show who I am.”

As Williams represented Oregon, Corey Moore represented Nevada with a big, final throw off 200-11 (61.23m) in the discus. Moore’s previous best was 193-3, but he set a personal best three times during the competition. And he wore the big smile afterward.

“I was very excited,” Moore said. “I’ve been working for it for a very long time. I chose the perfect time to do it. It was a great competition.”

The middle distances also contained strong performances Saturday. Valencia senior Kai Wingo rallied from near last at the halfway point to win the 800 in 1:52.45.

In the 400, Justin Robinson of Hazelwood West MO won in a time of 46.22 seconds, the top quarter-mile time in the nation this year, and No. 4 all-time for the Arcadia Invitational. He also ran 21.06 to place second behind Williams in the 200.

“I feel good about it,” Robinson said. “I feel like I was good enough to make it here, and I’m good enough to compete and win it.”

St. Pius X Catholic GA senior Matthew Harris earned an improbable win by avoiding a traffic accident in the 300 hurdles, staying upright after California standouts Reyte Rash of Martin Luther King and Harvard-Westlake’s Brayden Borquez collided in lanes 3 and 4. Running in lane 8, Harris won in 37.23.

Upland CA junior Namir Hemphill won the triple jump for the second consecutive week, and for the second consecutive week, he had to do it with successive jumps due to time constraints with other events. Hemphill, who also won at Trabuco Hills last week, overtook Allam Bushara of Fort Collins CO on his final jump with a mark of 48-5.50.

Daniel Viveros of Bakersfield Liberty CA truly survived a test of the best in the country, as he won the shot put with a mark of 66-9. The event boasted the Nos. 1,2 and 4 performances in the country with top-ranked Viveros, No. 2 and Saturday runner-up Tanner Duffin of St. Pius X Catholic (65-11.25) and third-place finisher Jeff Duensing of Anaheim Esperanza (64-5.50).

Other invitational winners Saturday were Stockton St. Mary’s junior Jamar Marshall in the 110 hurdles (13.87), Helena MT junior Trey Tintinger in the high jump (6-11), Loyola CA in the distance medley (10:12.05), Long Beach Poly CA in the 4x400 (3:16.28), Lodi CA senior Samuel Wright (16-1) in the pole vault, and Chase Rivera of The Bolles School FL won the mile in 4:11.24.