Premier stars in the Santa Clarita Valley put their talents on display on one of the biggest stages in high school track and field, the Arcadia Invitational.
Six Foothill League programs were well-represented over the weekend at the prestigious meet and nearly all of them delivered performances to match.
Canyon junior Jordehn Gammage hit a new personal record time in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles after finishing second in 14.21 seconds, a top 10 time in the state this season. Gammage also set a personal mark in the 300-meter hurdles in 38.15 seconds, where he finished third.
Cowboys teammate Mikaela Warr finished fourth in the 100-meter dash invitational with a finishing mark of 11.68 seconds. Warr, a San Diego State University commit, finished third in the 200-meter dash in 24.33 seconds and also ran anchor for the girls’ 4×100-meter relay behind Briana Bartone and freshmen Emoni Wright and Alaya Graves-Hogains. The Canyon quartet finished fifth in 46.79 seconds.
The latter three, along with Keziah Webster, ran to a fifth-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay in 3 minutes and 56.35 seconds.
Canyon senior Saul Jimenez fell just shy of his PR in the boys’ 800-meter run, finishing with bronze in 1:55.79.
In throws, Sacramento State commit George Stansell finished top 10 in both shot put and discus. Stansell fired off a 48-foot, 1-inch throw in shot put while reaching 153 feet and 8 inches in discus.
For Valencia, Brian Bonner continues his impressive sophomore campaign with a 10.64-second, third-place finish in the seeded 100. Bonner also ran anchor behind Bryton Cole, Deandre Kermah and Ronald Bruner in the boys 4×100, where the team ran a 42.97.
Competing in the heptathlon unattached was Texas commit Meagan Humphries. The Castaic senior got off to an incredible start on day one, with four dominating wins in Friday’s events.
Humphries won the 200-meter dash in 24.18 seconds, topped the 100-meter hurdles in 14.16 seconds, hit her usual but nowhere near PR mark 5-foot, 6-inch to win the high jump and, lastly, had a 31-foot heave in shot put.
The senior’s 14.16-second finish in the hurdles was enough to break the Castaic and Foothill League record, adding yet another feat to Humphries’ high school career.
The future Longhorn was on pace to destroy the meet record for total points in heptathlon but a slight injury on Friday left Saturday uncertain. Humphries was unable to go on Saturday but is alright now, according to her father and coach Will Humphries. Sitting out Saturday at Arcadia wasn’t an easy decision for the Coyote but her health and being ready for state down the line remain the priority.
For Golden Valley, junior Nyah Fields hit a huge leap of 34 feet and 5.5 inches on her first attempt of the day in triple jump. Addae Ma’at also soared in the triple, hitting a mark of 45 feet and 1.5 inches.
Junior Kiera Donovan had a strong day in throws with a 38-foot, 0.5-inch heave in shot put along with a chuck of 131 feet and 10 inches in discus.
Antonio Moore also ran well in the 110 hurdles, finishing in 15.10 seconds.
For West Ranch, senior David Farag flew 43 feet, 5 inches in the triple jump.
For Saugus, Lucia Pearson, Victoria Jamison, Makenna Blum and Madison Kasahara finished seventh in the girls 4×1600-meter relay with a mark of 21:39.73.
The Centurions also saw Sebastian Peraza, Caleb Fredericks, Henry Saywell and Adrian Cantu race to an 8 minute and 16.37 second finish in the boys 4×800-meter relay.
Foothill League dual meets conclude on Thursday as the following weeks entail league preliminaries and finals.
For now, Golden Valley heads to Canyon, Valencia hosts West Ranch and Castaic welcomes Hart on Thursday at 3 p.m.
