Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt highlighted her record-breaking junior year by doing what she does best Saturday night in Clovis: breaking another record and adding a few more titles to her collection.
Even without the red cape, “Super Sadie” set a new standard for the 1,600 meters in the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High, finishing with a national lead of 4 minutes, 32.06 seconds to break the state finals record. 4 to break. :33.45 She sat last spring. She joined Polly Plumer (1980-82) of Irvine University, Kira Jorgensen (1987-89) of Vista and Christine Babcock (2006-08) of Woodbridge as the only girls to win three consecutive 1,600 titles. Engelhardt could become the first four-time state winner next year.
Engelhardt set the pace from the start, completing the first lap in 66 seconds, the second in 68 seconds, the third in 69 seconds and the final in 66 seconds, beating runner-up Braelyn Combe of Corona Santiago by more than six seconds.
“I wanted to spread out and keep it a fair race,” Engelhardt said.
It was Engelhart’s sixth first-place medal in an individual state event — she has won two in cross country and three in track (she won the 800 as a sophomore, making her the first woman to reach that state meet “double” since Pleasant Hill’s Kathy Costello won the mile and 880-yard races 49 years ago).
“The first lap was almost like a time trial mentality,” Engelhardt said of her 1,600 effort Saturday. “I wanted to see how I felt in the first round and go from there. I really wanted to get 4:26, but I didn’t know if today was the day.”
Instead of defending her state title in the 800, she joined teammates Melanie True, Tiffany Sax and Aelo Curtis to win the 4×800 relay in 8:57.21 – a California girls record. The Cougars foursome entered as the top seed after winning the Southern Section Masters Meet in 9:02.57, but they needed a superhuman effort from Englehardt on the anchor leg to prevail Saturday. A dropped baton during the final change left her 100 meters behind in third place when she was given the baton, but she steadily closed the gap on the leader Santiago and took the lead into the final corner, winning by almost three seconds.
“Part of my thinking was that you only have to do the 4×800 twice, but I also like to run with my teammates,” said Engelhardt, who could attempt to break the state record of 2:02.04 held by Amy of Harvard-Westlake next season to chase in the 800. Weissenbach in 2011.
In the boys 4×800 relay, San Clemente broke its own meet record from last year by 52 hundredths of a second in a victory in 7:38.07.
Santa Barbara’s Andreas Dybdahl defended his 1,600-meter crown, clocking a time of 4:08.23, edging fellow seniors Anthony Fast Horse (4:09.32) of Ventura and Felix Ibzan (4:10.33) of Beckman .
Niya Clayton won the girls 100 meters at last year’s state finals and showed her speed during the final leg of the 4×100 on Saturday to edge Long Beach Poly’s Brooklyn Lee by 11 hundredths of a second and help Oaks Christian win in a state final . -leading time of 45.67 seconds. Later, Clayton placed sixth in the 100, which Canyon Country Canyon senior Mikaela Warr won by six-thousandths of a second over Gardena Serra’s Mia Flowers in 11.41.
“We looked at the tape from yesterday and saw that our handoffs were a little off and I didn’t quite make it through the finish line,” Clayton, a senior, said of the Lions’ 46.33 effort to take first place in their qualifying heat Friday. “After I won the 100 last year, I thought ‘what now?’ But this is my last run in high school, everyone pulled together and I got to run with my sister [Imani] So what could be better?”
After a thrilling qualifying round Friday in which six boys posted personal bests in the 100, San Diego Section winner Brandon Arrington Jr., a sophomore from Mt. Miguel, sprinted in 10.33, beating Granada Hills senior Jordan Coleman (10.43) and Bakersfield sophomore Jalen Ford (10.48). Coleman, the City Section 100 and 200 champion, also finished second in the 200 in 21.04 behind Arrington, who matched his time of 20.55 from Friday.
After clearing a personal best of 7 feet 0½ inches to win the boys’ high jump, Birmingham senior Deshawn Banks celebrated by doing a few celebratory somersaults for the crowd after a spirited duel with Sherman Oaks Notre Dame sophomore JJ Harel, who came second at the age of 6. -10.
“For me, getting a PR was a bigger deal because I’ve been trying to get over 7 feet clear all year,” said Banks, who finished fifth at last year’s state meet and took first in the event at Arcadia and Mt. SAC in April. “I was excited to jump against the sophomores. I stayed focused on the end, clapped and went through my routine.”
Culver City senior Morgan Maddox, who posted top qualifying times in the 200 and 400, finished second to San Diego Madison’s Amirah Shaheed in the 200 and was third in the 400. Canyon’s Jordehn Gammage won the boys’ 300 hurdles in 37.35.
Ventura senior Valentina Fakrogha shot 5-8 to win the girls high jump and Vista Murrieta senior Alyssa Alumbres won the triple jump 40-11. Loren Webster of Long Beach Wilson jumped 20-5¼ to win the long jump.
After winning the shot put last year with a throw of 44¾ to win state, Notre Dame junior Aja Johnson settled for second Saturday with a 46-8¾ effort, much better than the 44-2¼ she posted in qualifying on Friday for second place. Earlier Saturday, Johnson won the discus with a personal best of 158-10 on her fourth throw.
Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan ran the final lap in 57.12 seconds to win the boys’ 3,200 in 8:43.12 in a fast race that saw 17 runners break nine minutes. Defending champion Rylee Blade of Santiago placed third in the girls’ race in 10:06.26. Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake won in 9:57.11.
Wilson placed first in the final event, the 4×400 relay, in 3:41.40 to take the girls team title with 36 points. Ventura finished second with 30 points and Vista Murrieta was third with 23.
Poly senior Poly scored 33 points in claiming its first title since 2011, with Clovis North (28) finishing second and Wilson (27) third.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
