St. Francis relies on late surge from Fauria to secure victory; Valor Christian lowers Colorado state record in shuttle hurdles relay, with Bullis, Homewood-Flossmoor, Great Oak and Long Beach Wilson also earning impressive wins

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

A healthy Isabella Fauria, a motivated Haley Silva and a pair of fearless freshmen in Cate Joaquin and Tatiana Cornejo wound up being the ideal combination for St. Francis Sacramento CA to produce one of the most memorable moments in program history Friday at the 52nd Arcadia Invitational.

On a night when elite programs Bullis School MD, Homewood-Flossmoor IL and Valor Christian CO all came to Arcadia High to showcase their strengths in the sprints and hurdles, St. Francis stood up to the challenge against its California rivals in the greatest endurance test the meet has to offer by rallying to win the girls 4x1,600-meter relay in a nation-leading 20 minutes, 20.82 seconds.

Fauria, who was sidelined last season by injury, overcame an 11-second deficit on the anchor leg to help the Troubadours not only smash their own program record, but produce the No. 10 performance in meet history and elevate to No. 19 all-time in the state.

St. Francis coach Aaron Rios decided to place Joaquin and Cornejo on the first two legs, with Buchanan CA opening with Corie Smith and Amanda Dolberg, and Great Oak CA countering with Brianna Weidler and Audrey Dang.

Buchanan senior Meagen Lowe opened a gap on the third leg against Silva – the only remaining member of last year’s lineup that placed 13th at Arcadia in 21:44.05 – and Great Oak’s Arianna Griffiths, forcing Fauria and Wolfpack senior Fatima Cortes to hunt down freshman Kaylee Elliott, the Bears’ anchor, over the final four laps.

Cortes grabbed a brief lead with 300 meters remaining, but Fauria remained poised and made her first decisive move with 200 meters left and then surged again to pull away in the final stretch to punctuate the comeback.

Great Oak placed second in 20:24.83, with Buchanan taking third in 20:29.63, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Valor Christian also delivered one of the most impressive performances in meet history in the 4x100 shuttle hurdles relay, with sophomore Maddy Ortman joining seniors Lizzie Waters, Destiny Grimes and Anna Hall in lowering their own state record to 58.44 seconds to prevail against defending champion Upland CA (1:00.38).

Hall anchored in 13.7 seconds for Valor Christian, which took over the national lead and improved to No. 5 in meet history.

Bullis repeated in the 4x200 relay, with Sarah Walbrook, Sierra Leonard, Lauryn Harris and Leah Phillips prevailing in 1:38.28 to hold off Long Beach Poly CA (1:39.36). Phillips was the lone returning member of last year’s victory.

Although Great Oak was denied a third consecutive victory in the 4x1,600 relay, the Wolfpack produced a nation-leading 9:10.24 to repeat in the 4x800 relay, with Cortes and Griffiths returning from last year’s lineup to team up with Aubrie Nex and Kendall Harrison to prevail against Mission Viejo CA (9:11.31).

Homewood-Flossmoor’s Ashanti Denton, Akela White, Trelyn Newkirk and Alicia Adams won the 800 sprint medley relay in a program-record 1:45.57.

Kennedy Barrett, Maya Bryson, Naomi Kilson and Rachel Glenn secured victory in the 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:03.06 for Long Beach Wilson. The Bruins improved from second last season in 4:04.50.

Granada Hills CA freshman Sofia Abrego ran the fastest 3,200 time of all three girls sections on opening night, clocking 10:35.79. Davis UT senior Ellie Lundgreen produced a 32-second improvement on her personal best to win her seeded section in 10:36.32.

Through four events in the girls heptathlon, Xavier Prep AZ senior Jada Sims led the competition with 3,007 points, followed by Westmont CA senior Jessica Swalve with 3,001 points. Both athletes improved from their previous-best first-day scores by more than 200 points.