Jordan Hasay duels in the 3200m in Arcadia (© Kirby Lee)
Chris Derrick and Jordan Hasay were selected as the athletes of the meet after posting meet record distance wins in the 41st Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on 11-12 April.
Derrick won the 5000m in 13:55.96 for the fastest U.S. mark ever in a High School only competition. Hasay outduelled Courtney Babcock to win the girls’ 3200m, 10:03.07 to 10:04.03.
The 5000m was a solo effort for Derrick, a senior at Neuqua Valley High (IL) who won the Footlocker national cross country title in December. Derrick closed with a 60-second final quarter to move into sixth on the all-time U.S. high school list.
In the girls’ 3200m, Hasay, a 1500m silver medallist in the 2007 World Youth Championships in Ostrava last July, won a spirited homestretch battle over Babcock, the top returning American high school runner in the 1600m. The times moved Hasay and Babcock into sixth and eighth on the all-time U.S. high school performer list.
Nico Weiler (GER) and Julian Purvis, gold medallists in the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava last July, also set meet records in the Pole Vault at 5.28m and 100m Hurdles in 13.59 secs, respectively, on a warm balmy evening in the 41st annual competition in the Los Angeles suburb that has produced 23 U.S. national records and 101 U.S. Olympians.
Meet record in PV for Weiler
Weiler, a foreign exchange student from Germany who has attended Los Gatos High in Northern California for the last two years, eclipsed a meet record that had stood since 1989. Weiler, who has a PB of 5.34, called the U.S. high school season merely training for the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland (8 -13 July).
“I am glad that I can jump like this in this part of the season and I think there are great things to come,” Weiler said.
Three wins for Purvis sisters
Sisters Julian and Ashton Purvis combined for three wins. Julian Purvis, a senior at Oakland St. Elizabeth, defeated Northern California rival Briana Stewart of Union City James Logan, 13.59 to 13.67, with both runners dipping under the previous meet standard of 13.71.
Ashton Purvis, a St. Elizabeth sophomore who was a 100m and 200 finalist in Ostrava, won the 100m in a wind-aided 11.54 and a the 200m in 23.54.
Other highlights
Akawkaw Ndiapagbor, a freshman at Long Beach Poly, had a hand in three victories winning the 400m in 53.43 and anchoring victorious 4x100m and 4x400m Relays. Ndipagbor attends the same school that produced 2004 World Junior 200m champion Shalonda Solomon and Bryshon Nellum, the 2007 Pan-American Games Junior 400m champion. Another Poly athlete, junior Joey Hughes, won the boys’ 400m in 46.97 at Arcadia.
In the 3200m, Luke Puskedra of Judge Memorial (UT) was a 8:46.40 to 8:48.00 winner over Dominic Channon (NZL).
In the girls’ 4 x Mile, a Saugus team of Anne Randall, Kaylin Mahoney, Nina Moore and Emily Dunn set a California state record of 20:10.76 for the No.3 U.S. mark.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
Click Here for Saturday Results
Click Here for Friday Results
