Erica Schroeder of San Marcos challenged herself with a mile-800 double at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational and finished second in the invitation mile and third in the 800 on a rainy, cold Saturday night.
Schroeder fell just short against Arizona’s Allie Schadler in a thrilling finish in the mile. Schadler hit the finish line in 4:51.24 and Schroeder in 4:51.60. On the last last, Schadler ran a 1:05.038 and Schroeder a 1:05.64.
It was the second meet in a row Schadler edged out Schroeder in a race. Last week the Rio Rico High senior runner beat the San Marcos junior in the 800 at the Stanford Invitational.
Schroeder, the defending CIF State Champion in the 800, finished behind 2015 state meet finalists Jacqueline Hill of Etiwanda and Cassie Durgy of Huntington Beach in the Arcadia 800. Hill, a junior who finished third at last year’s state 800, was timed in 2:09.992, Durgy, a senior, clocked 2:10.262 and Schroeder came in at 2:11.023.
“This was a difficult double to run,” San Marcos coach Marilyn Hantgin said. “Erica only had about an hour rest between them. She ran smart, confident, and with a lot of heart.”
In other San Marcos results on Saturday, the 4×100 relay team of Allie Jones, Olivia Jones, Jenny Nnoli and Carolyn Weisman came in 11th in 49.48; Allie Jones was 11th overall (third in her heat) in the 100 hurdles (15.32); Nnoli finished second in her heat and placed 13th overall in the 100 (12.40) and Devon Block-Funkhouser won her heat in the 300 hurdles and was 13th overall in the 300 hurdles (45.90).
“The conditions were less than ideal, but we ran some really gutsy races and I am so proud of how they represented San Marcos High School,” said Hantgin.
Hunter Clark of Dos Pueblos ran a season best of 9:22 in the rated 3200 meters.
“He has only run faster than this once before, and that was at last year’s Channel League Finals where he finished as league champion,” said DP coach Josh Christensen.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.