Girls repeat as relay winners, with boys becoming first California team to capture title; Carey improves on own T-44 age group world record in girls long jump

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

NAMPA, Idaho  – In a meet made for the indoors of the Pacific Northwest, Golden State athletes showed Friday that they can crash a party.

California teams made some history Friday night at the Nike Boise Indoor. More specifically, the Menlo i Greyhounds Track Club, comprised of athletes from Menlo High School in Atheron, Calif. – and a few from the surrounding region in the Bay Area – made history.

INTERVIEWS

Samira Kennedy, Claire Yerby, Alex McCusker and Kyra Pretre won the 4x800-meter relay in 9 minutes, 20.49 seconds, an improvement of more than three seconds from Menlo’s victory last year.

Menlo also became the first California team in meet history to repeat in the 4x800, and, a few moments later, Menlo’s  boys – Jeffrey Shao, Jack Glanville, Kamran Murray and Calvin Katz – became the first victorious California boys team in the event in 8:19.38.

In order to repeat, Menlo’s girls had to fend off Mondo Track Club, made up of girls from the standout distance program at Summit High in Bend, Ore. Mondo finished runner-up for the second year in a row in 9:35.17.

“We always just have a goal of run your hardest, do your best,” McCusker said. “But it was fun. We had a goal like, ‘Let’s try to stick with Mondo and beat them.’ And Samira went out there and killed it, and the rest of us just followed her lead.

“We raced our hearts out, and that’s all that matters.”

Kennedy, from nearby Castilleja School, went out quick and gave Menlo an advantage by running the first 800 meters in 2:19.4. Yerby, from Half Moon Bay, followed with a 2:19 leg, McCusker ran 2:23.9, and Pretre anchored in 2:17.9.

Pretre liked how the Menlo teams represented the Golden State.

“There’s a lot of great competitors in both track and cross country,” she said of California, “and so it’s kind of fun to come out here and make a statement about that.”

Perhaps inspired, the Menlo boys followed with a 10-second victory over Canyon Track Club.

“I think it gave us that confidence,” Murray said. “We’ve been training with them all year. We know the competition here is great, but if they could do their thing, we could do our thing. It was great seeing them give us lots of positive energy before the race.”

And there was plenty of positive energy that came from Northwest athletes, including one that is already elite ... and only in the eighth grade.

Mia Brahe-Pedersen of the Step Ur Game Up club – an eighth grader Lake Oswego (Ore.) Middle School – defeated a field of 156 other older competitors to win the 200 meters by more than second in 24.85 seconds.

She already has history here. Brahe-Pedersen stepped in and ran the opening leg of the winning 4x200 relay a year ago for Step Ur Game Up. She also had the second-fastest qualifying mark in the 60 meters Friday, with that final to be contested Saturday.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Brahe-Pedersen said. “I never expected to amount to any of these girls.”

Friday also held a nice moment for para-athlete Annie Carey of YMCA Team Idaho as she re-set her own world record for a T44 long jump. Her mark Friday was 15 feet, 4 inches (4.67m), beating her former mark of 4.49m set last summer. She also placed 10th overall.

The best part of resetting her own record?

“Definitely just hearing the official say, ‘You broke it. Congratulations!’” she said. “That’s amazing.”

Just one meet record fell Friday as Caleb Hagan of Step Ur Game Up and Sherwood, Ore., made the most of his final-heat duel with Kurtis Lee of Evergreen Valley High in San Jose.

Hagan won the event and the final 200 heat in 21.75, while Lee was second in the heat and the event in 21.94. Both marks were better than the previous meet record of 22.01, set in 2015 by Bryce Kirby, a Boise native who later competed at Boise State.

“It’s kind of surprising, honestly,” said Hagan, who also had the top qualifying mark in the 60, just missing setting a second meet record.

“I didn’t really come out to set records, and I just came out to do my best. I’ve never run on a banked track before, so to come out and execute and break the record, that’s just a plus.”

Allison Neiders of Northwest Pole Vault and Holy Names Academy in Seattle, outdueled club teammate Tessa Watkins to win the girls pole vault. Both girls reached 12-7.50 (3.85m) with both missing all three attempts at 4.00 meters (about 13-1.5), but Neiders hit 12-7.50 on one attempt, while Watkins needed three.

Neiders has vaulted 12-11.50 this indoor season, and she is chomping at the bit to break the 13-foot barrier.

“I've done it a couple of times in practice, but I’m really hoping for that official one soon,” she said.

Sophia Beckmon of Oregon City OR won the long jump with a leap of 18-8 (5.68m) on her second attempt. She was also the only athlete to better Brahe-Pedersen’s time in the 60 prelims.

Lacey Yates of Emmett ID won the weight throw, capping a long-awaited return from a broken foot suffered last year and subsequent surgery. Competing for YMCA Team Idaho, the lefty worked the left line and hit 45-4 (13.81m) on her final attempt.

The 2-mile saw convincing victories on both sides, as Jasper Fievet of Mondo Track Club and Summit OR won in a personal-best of 11:17.72, while Alaska Peak Performance’s Tristian Merchant, the 13th-place finisher at the Nike Cross Nationals in December for Anchorage Christian, won in a rout in 9:28.65.

Step Ur Game Up’s Rocco Marshall, from Wilsonville High in Oregon, won the long jump in 22-8.75 (6.92m), while Seth Tower of Central Kitsap WA and the Kitsap Fliers won the high jump in 6-4.75 (1.95m). Kade McCall of nearby Boise won the weight throw in 63-7.50 (19.39m), a personal best.

Savannah Taft of Step Ur Game Up, a senior at Tualatin OR won the high jump with a clearance of 5-3 (1.60m).

The Jackson Invite, the college portion of the meet, had a big moment early when BYU’s Elise Romney won the pole vault with a mark of 14-1.75 (4.31m), the No. 8 indoor mark in the nation this year.

The mark was a personal best by nearly five inches. It also broke BYU’s indoor record of 14-1.25 (4.30m), set in 2012 by Christen Botteron Guenther.

“Unreal,” Romney said. “I’ve been working at that height for a long time. I’ve done it a couple of times. To get it finally on my record officially was amazing.”