Several local track and field athletes stood out at the Arcadia Invitational over the weekend.
One of the biggest meets in the country for high school track and field welcomed athletes from 690 schools from 36 states.
Castaic junior Meagan Humphries has taken the sport by storm this season. Humphries topped the podium in the triple jump invitational with a leap of 39 feet, 9.5 inches, the third-best jump in the country this year. The junior also took home silver in the high jump, clearing the 5-foot, 8-inch bar while also flying in the long jump to a mark of 19 feet, 2.25 inches.
Humphries planned on just taking one jump in the triple, to focus on the high jump. However, the junior hit a personal best mark of just over 38 feet. Humphries kept bumping up her personal record en route to the 39-foot, 9.5-inch first-place mark.
“Going into Arcadia I was hoping to PR in long jump, either tie or outright take the state lead in high jump, and in triple I was really just hoping to PR,” Humphries said in a phone interview. “I was very surprised with my performance in triple. High jump and triple were going on at the same time so I wasn’t really focused on triple. I was originally planning to take one jump and go back to high jump … I was shocked to say the least.”
Humphries was joined in jumps by teammate Regan Thompson, who finished second in the high jump open with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches.
Canyon sent 13 athletes to Arcadia and also had some stellar results. The Cowboys’ girls 4×100-meter relay team broke their own school record with a 47.38-second mark to finish sixth in the invitational.
Sprinter Mikaela Warr finished the 100-meter dash in 11.75 seconds, the new third-best time in the state.
“We are very proud of the girls,” said Canyon head coach George Velarde via text. “They continue to improve and encourage the other girls to do their best.”
Hart’s Laura Brennan and Golden Valley’s Kiera Donovan battled in shot put. Brennan reached a mark of 39 feet, 3 inches, while Donovan was just behind her at 38 feet, 10 inches.
Saugus’ underclassmen team of Lucia Pearson, Makenna Blum, Annika Mark and Sydney Kasahara finished second in the women’s 4×1600-meter run. The group took home silver with a time of 21 minutes, 34.72 seconds.
Golden Valley freshman Marley Scroggins stunned sprinters in the 200-meter dash open with a 24.87-second finish. Nevaeh Williams also ran well in sprints, finishing the 100 in 12.33 seconds.
The Foothill League athletes will return to league play this week before heading to league preliminaries on Friday, April 21, at College of the Canyons.
Humphries will aim for a clean sweep in jumps, and is the favorite in the 200, with the top time in the event in California.
“I’m definitely happy with the result of the meet overall but like I said before, there were some mixed emotions,” Humphries said. “As much as I love sprinting events, it was kind of refreshing to have a meet purely focused on the jumps.”
