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On the biggest stage, Long Beach track and field athletes showcased their talents last weekend as they competed at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational.
With 692 schools represented, Long Beach Poly, Wilson and Millikan came away with huge wins and some history–in all, 36 entries from Long Beach competed and brought home seven wins.
The star of the weekend was Poly freshman Ben Harris who etched his name into the Arcadia Invitational history books as he won the 100 Invitational with a time of 10.38. With the victory Harris became the first freshman to win the 100 in at least the last 25 years, according to meet officials.
With a star-studded group to his left and right, Harris’ only goal was to beat his best time this season – 10.4 – and he did just that defeating Mead’s Dominick Corley by a hundredth of a second. Corley currently has the top time in the 60 meter and is ranked top three in the 60 meter and 200 meter.
None of that mattered to Harris as he locked in with the race about to start.
“All I cared about was focusing on what I needed to do,” Harris said. “I knew who I was up against, but when we got set it was about me, I didn’t look to my left or my right. I was focused on what I needed to do.”
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Harris did just that, driving as long as he wanted to before popping up and finishing strong with a large contingent of Jackrabbit athletes and fans cheering him on.
“It was great to have my teammates behind me,” he said.
Wilson also proved themselves and impressed in the 1600 sprint medley Invitational flight as Andrew Johnson, Ky’zir Burroughs, Kaedyn Burroughs and JT Kraemer won with a time of 3:27.72.
“We knew we would compete,” Kraemer said. “We had the second fastest time in the nation at the Texas Relays.”
The Bruins weren’t done there as Tarynn Maroney, Loren Webster, Brooke Blue and Juanita Shotwell took first in the 1600 sprint medley Invitational with a time of 4:01.90, a new nation-leading time. Wilson’s girls’ shuttle hurdles won the Invitational in 1:00.49 to set a new nation-leading mark as well with Jamiyah Sanders, Alene Washington, Saniah Varnado, and Kaylin Edwards grabbing the win.
The weekend also saw the return of Xai Ricks to competition for Poly, as the Georgia commit helped Poly to an 800 sprint medley relay win in the seeded flight, with Jaylen McNeil, Harris, and Juju Johnson.
After returning from an injury, Ricks was glad the young guys were able to give him a lead and he knew he just needed to finish.
“I’m not back to where I want to be,” Ricks said. “But the guys gave me the lead and I knew I had to finish.”
Ricks wasn’t done there as he led a major comeback win for Poly as they won the 4×400 meter relay seeded race with a time of 3:19.56.
Millikan’s Duke Hemsley won the Rising Stars Shot Put division with a heave of 51-06.
Poly (19 entries, 3 wins)
BOYS
100 Invitational: Benjamin Harris, 1st, 10.38
110 Hurdles Open: Lynnox Newton, 10th, 14.79
4×100 Invitational: Dawson, Harris, McNeil, Johnson, 4th, 41.74
4×400 Seeded: Smith, Shufford, Armstrong, Ricks, 1st, 3:19.56
800 Sprint Medley Invitational: McNeil, Harris, Johnson, Ricks, 1st, 1:30.99
GIRLS
200 Open: Nevaeh Lewis, 18th, 25.22
200 Open: Jaylin Hunter, 19th, 25.23
400 Open: Jaylin Hunter, 8th, 57.02
400 Open: Nevaeh Lewis, 11th, 57.25
800 Open: Shirayah Lewis-Williams, 35th, 2:19.93
3200 Seeded: Avery Peck, 22nd, 10:44.08
100 Hurdles Open: Anise Becker, 12th, 15.00
300 Hurdles Open: Anise Becker, 7th, 44.61
4×100 Invitational: Holland, Hunter, Brooks, Lee, 7th, 49.99
4×400 Seeded: Holland, Hunter, Stokes, Lewis, 2nd, 3:52.39
800 Sprint Medley Invitational: Brooks, Lee, Lewis, Holland, 2nd, 1:46.64
4×100 Shuttle Hurdle Invitational: Becker, Massey-Gramata, Denison, King, 3rd, 1:01.66
High Jump Invitational: Jillene Wetteland, 4th, 5-6
Shot Put Invitational: Mai Ricks, 6th, 40-11.5
Wilson (8 entries, 3 wins)
BOYS
4×200 Seeded: Johnson, Harris, Burroughs, Burroughs, 3rd, 1:28.94
4×800 Invitational: Kicherlow, Obando, Obando, Ruiz, 11th, 8:03.64
1600 Sprint Medley Invitational: Johnson, Burroughs, Burroughs, Kraemer, 1st, 3:27.72
GIRLS
4×200 Invitational: Webster, Edwards, Maroney, Varnado, 3rd, 1:38.68
4×800 Invitational: Bryant, Jones, Tindal, Maahs, 16th, 9:51.10
1600 Sprint Medley Invitational: Maroney, Webster, Blue, Shotwell, 1st, 4:01.90
Distance Medley Open: Jones, Washington, Shotwell, Maahs, 19th, 12:44.24
4×100 Shuttle Hurdle Invitational: Sanders, Washington, Varnado, Edwards, 1st, 1:00.49
Millikan (7 entries, 1 win)
BOYS
3000 Invitational: Jason Parra, 18th, 8:14.31
3200 Invitational: Jason Parra, 23rd, 8:47.47
4×1600 Seeded: Ransom, Ramirez, Cobabe, Wechsler, 23rd, 18:47.46
Shot Put Rising Stars: Duke Hemsley, 1st, 51-06
Shot Put Open: Duke Hemsley, 15th, 48-02
Discus Rising Stars: Duke Hemsley, 12th, 144-09
GIRLS
3200 Seeded: Nadia Mejia, 33rd, 11:18.11
Lakewood (2 entries)
GIRLS
100 Open: Amaya Rice, 22nd, 12.22
200 Open: Amaya Rice, 14th, 24.99
