Barker prevails in 1,600 at home in dress rehearsal for 3,200 at Arcadia Invitational; Garden Grove Pacifica’s Lewis and Huntington Beach Edison’s Sheldon rule the ring, with Barbarie, Juarez, McCorvey, Packard and Rubio also victorious

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. – It ended with a lot of rain. But during the rain and especially before the rain, there were some solid performances Friday and Saturday at the Trabuco Hills Invitational and Distance Carnival.

The best performances came Friday under cool, but dry conditions for the Distance Carnival, which included the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters, as well as the shot put and discus events.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Garden Grove Pacifica High senior Zach Lewis set a personal-best mark in winning the shot put in 61-4 (18.69m), No. 2 in the state this year and best in the CIF-Southern Section. He followed that up by also winning the discus with a mark 174-7 (53.21m). He also had another throw that would’ve been close to his Southern Section-leading mark of 179-9 (54.78m), but it was ruled a foul, a decision with which he disagreed.

“Of course I’m happy with the PR in shot,” Lewis said. “Then in disc, I’m not completely happy with it, but 174 is something you can’t really be mad about. I’ve been in a more heavy lifting cycle recently and now for Arcadia (Invitational). I’m going to go a little lighter this week. And I hope to hit some PRs.”

Like in the boys throws, one athlete swept the girls throws as Huntington Beach Edison senior Alexa Sheldon threw 42-11 (13.08m) in the shot, which is the fourth-best mark in the state this year (breaking her own school record) and 139-1 (42.39m) in the discus, which is just short of her state No. 7 mark of 141-3 set earlier in the week.

“With the 141, I thought it was a fluke and the wind built it up, because we had really good wind going in (for a dual meet against Fountain Valley),” Sheldon said. “So when I threw the 139, (I said) ‘Actually it’s not a fluke.’ Now it’s kind of equal in both (shot and discus). Last year, it would’ve been 100 percent shot (is the better event), but now maybe it’s both.”

Friday’s invitational running events included two extremely close finishes in the final two boys races as Lancaster’s Issaiah McCorvey held off Savanna’s Matthew Galindo 9:18.13 to 9:18.18 in the 3,200 and Redondo Union’s Alex Barbarie edged Trabuco Hills’ Ryan Stanley 4:17.68 to 4:17.72 in the 1,600.

Liberty Winchester junior Juan Juarez had a particularly impressive performance in winning the invitational 800, setting a PR of 1:52.82, the fourth-best mark in the state this season.

“I am so happy with that time,” Juarez said. “At first, I was thinking about taking out with the No. 1 guy and I did. I came (first lap) in 54 (seconds). I felt really good at the 600. I thought, ‘you know what? I’m going to pass him at the end. It felt great.” 

The No. 1 runner was Ambodai Ligons of Cathedral, who had the No. 3 mark in the state entering the race (1:52.21), but faded and finished third (1:54.77). Dylan Juback of Trabuco Hills was second (1:54.08). 

Trabuco Hills junior Holly Barker owns the No. 2 mark in the state this year in the 3,200 and will be running that event at Arcadia. But instead of running in that event in her home meet, she ran the 1,600 as training and won in 4:55.12.

“Recently I’ve been trying to get into 16s and 800s in duals,” Barker said. “Just to get my legs moving at a faster pace than I’m used to. Just practicing the 16 and 8 gives me a good sense of what I can prepare myself to handle in the 32.”

With Barker not competing in the 3,200, it gave Huntington Beach freshman Sydney Rubio an opportunity to take home the first-place medal in that event and she did with the No. 8 mark in the state (10:37.83), winning by nearly 40 seconds. Her goal was to go under 10:40, with the hope to go under 10:30 by the end of the season.

JSerra junior Anne Elise Packard, who was an alternate on the Lions’ 4x800 relay that finished second in the state last year, won the invitational 800 with a time of 2:11.59, the eighth-best mark in the state this year.

“It’s all about setting up for Arcadia next week where I really want to attack the 800,” Packard said. “I’m very happy with where I am now.”

Saturday’s rain resulted in scratches from many top athletes, but not all of them.

Among the winners were M.L. King’s Jaden McKee, who is the state leader in the boys pole vault (16-7) and won the competition at 15-6 (4.72m). 

Among Saturday’s girls events, Newport Harbor’s Natalie McCarty won the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.18 seconds, just 0.12 behind her time that ranked as the No. 8 in the Southern Section this season.