Birnbaum edges Simmons 8:34.10 to 8:34.14 to set National Federation mark, leading 16 athletes under 8:50 and contributing to 44 overall sub-9 boys efforts; Riggs runs 9:52.66 to eclipse Frias’ meet record from last year, as nine female competitors produce sub-10 performances

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

ARCADIA, Calif. – She had enough to think about after running a meet record and achieving her own spectacular success. But Irene Riggs still understood the bigger picture.

After winning the girls invitational 3,200 meters in 9 minutes, 52.66 seconds and leading a parade of girls to finish in under 10 minutes – nine to be exact – it was a night to remember Saturday at the 55th Arcadia Invitational.

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“That’s pretty much one of the first things I said, was regardless of the outcome, I knew that this was going to be a really great event and I wanted to be part of it,” said Riggs, who already knows about making history at the eight-lap distance, setting the junior class national outdoor 2-mile mark by clocking 9:50.72 in June, in addition to running 9:45.97 for an indoor 3,200 in February on the oversized 300-meter track at the SPIRE Institute in Ohio. 

Saturday’s 3,200 for both genders saw eye-popping times that left even the most knowledgeable of track enthusiasts shaking their heads.

Along with the nine girls to break 10 minutes, Riggs – a Stanford commit from Morgantown High in West Virginia – eclipsed the former Arcadia Invitational mark of 9:55.50 set by Mira Costa’s Dalia Frias last year and has the No. 2 high school mark in the nation this year to Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt (9:51.49).

The boys’ side was even more impressive, with 23 runners besting nine minutes and seven setting new records for their state. Rapid City Stevens of South Dakota senior Simeon Birnbaum won in 8:34.10, easily the top time in the nation this year, and a National Federation High School record, taking down the 2008 mark of 8:34.23 achieved in 2008 by German Fernandez of Riverbank High in California.

Both winners had similar plans to get out quick and don’t look back. And it worked.

Riggs took a huge lead and did have to stay ahead on the final lap of the hard-charging sophomore Hanne Thomsen of Santa Rosa Montgomery High in California, who finished second at 9:55.31.

Prior to Saturday, Riggs, the Nike Cross Nationals and USATF U20 cross country winner, was one of 31 female athletes in the U.S. to run sub-10 in an outdoor 3,200.

Now she’s one of 39.

“You know, the crowd was great; they were super loud and the announcer is really enthusiastic,” Riggs said. “I think I heard him say that she was coming, so I just tried to hold it off and stick out for the win.”

Colorado played a huge part in the 3,200 history, with four athletes – all Nike Cross Nationals All-Americans – producing sub-10 performances. Prior to Saturday, there had only been five sub-10 marks achieved in meet history.

Pomona senior Emma Stutzman was third in 9:56.34, Liberty Common junior Isabel Allori was fourth in 9:56.82, Air Academy junior Bethany Michalak secured sixth in 9:57.86 and Valor Christian senior Brooke Wilson took ninth in 9:59.49.

California had two more competitors supporting Thomsen by eclipsing the 10-minute barrier, with Oaks Christian junior Payton Godsey – who then turned around and ran a leg of the Lions’ 4x400 relay – finishing fifth in 9:57.77 and La Costa Canyon’s Gioana Lopizzo placing seventh in 9:59.08.

Ciara O’Shea of Madison Central High in Kentucky lowered her own state record to earn eighth in 9:59.18.

The tandem of Tatum David from Richland County (10:00.71) and Grace Schager of Glenbard North (10:03.27) both just missed joining Katelynne Hart among Illinois athletes who achieved a sub-10 effort at Arcadia.

Abby Faith Cheeseman, a sophomore from Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn., enjoyed a significant personal-best 10:06.63 to round out the top dozen female finishers. There were 16 sub-10:30 efforts in the invitational girls race, one shy of matching the meet’s all-time mark, which had been achieved in 2015 and again last year.

Birnbaum went out quickly and had just enough at the end to edge runner-up Daniel Simmons of American Fork High in Utah. Simmons, the runner-up at the Nike Cross Nationals, was second in 8:34.14.

“The pace was just feeling too unattainable, I didn’t know if I was going to make it,” said Birnbaum, who lowered his own South Dakota state record.

“And then with, like, 800 to go, I was like, ‘Two minutes, that’s all it’s gotta be, pretty much, I can handle any amount of pain for two minutes.’ So I just made that switch, and, with 100 to go, I was just, ‘I am the best when it comes to 100 to go,’ and I just kept saying that. And I pushed myself to the level of complete exhaustion.

“It was so much pain, but crossing the line makes up for it.”

Simmons set a new Utah state record by 10 seconds. It was formerly held by Casey Clinger, another American Fork standout.

“I felt like I put my best effort out there,” Simmons said. “That’s all I wanted. The placement was just a cherry on top. I was after the effort and the memory.”

Rocky Hansen from Christ School in North Carolina was third in 8:34.78, a new state mark by more than 12 seconds and a third sub-8:40 performance after there had only been two in meet history, both achieved last year.

Connor Burns of Southern Boone County in MIssouri was fourth in 8:41.67, also a new state record in the 3,200.

All four marks are top-15 all-time by prep competitors, and add in Noah Jenkins of Herriman High in Utah placing fifth in 8:43.19, and there’s five in the top 20.

Liam Heninger, a senior at Mountain View High in Utah, placed sixth in 8:44.20 and Patrick Koon of Leon High set Florida’s new 3,200 mark by almost three seconds with his 8:44.95 performance.

Zack Munson from Sehome High in Washington was eighth in 8:46.41, Long Beach Millikan junior Jason Parra was ninth in 8:46.50 and Jo Jo Jourdon from Olympus High in Utah grabbed 10th in 8:46.87.

Weston Brown of Bozeman High also achieved a Montana all-time state mark of 8:48.24 to finish 14th.

There were 16 sub-8:50 efforts in the invitational race, nearly double the previous record of nine in 2017. And there were an additional 19 sub-9 performances in the boys seeded 3,200, a race won by Pierre Attiogbe of St. Albans School with a District of Columbia record 8:49.82, lowering the previous standard by more than 10 seconds.

Teammates Will Brunner (8:59.25) and Porter Middaugh (8:59.28) from Battle Mountain High in Colorado took the top two spots in the boys rated 3,200, contributing to a total of 44 sub-10 performances Saturday.