Great Oak girls set 4x800 meet record, win fourth straight 4x1,600, with Wolfpack boys rebounding from 4x800 setback to Loyola to secure three in a row in 4x1,600; Georgia’s Jessica Drop takes 5,000

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Six national high school leaders, one meet record and an inspired performance from a rising Georgia sophomore highlighted Friday’s schedule at the 60th Mt. SAC Relays at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif.

Programming Note: You can watch the live Webcast here of the meet Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The USATF.TV broadcast and on-demand videos will only be available for USATF.TV +PLUS subscribers. Subscribe here.

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Sandra Pflughoft, Arianna Griffiths, Tori Gaitan and Fatima Cortes helped Great Oak CA not only lower the fastest time in the nation this year in the girls 4x800-meter relay, but produce the best performance in meet history.

Great Oak clocked 9 minutes, 3.31 seconds to win for the first time since 2014 and eclipse the 2011 mark of 9:03.77 set by Harvard-Westlake CA.

The same quartet returned for the Wolfpack to also secure victory in the 4x1,600 in a national-leading 20:06.96, helping Great Oak become the first girls team to win four in a row since a group from Mexico achieved the feat in 1993-96.

Great Oak’s Gavin Korby, Chris Verdugo, Tyler Tickner and Carlos Carvajal helped capture a third straight win in the boys 4x1,600 in a national-leading 17:25.02, also the first program in meet history to accomplish the feat.

Loyola CA prevented a sweep of the four relays by Great Oak, with Konnor Paris, Anthony Stone, Corey Kumamoto and Mason Ratkovich running a national-leading 7:45.77 to prevail over the Wolfpack (7:46.26) in the boys 4x800. It was the first Mt. SAC title for the Cubs since 2012.

The first four automatic berths to compete June 8 at the Brooks PR Invitational in Shoreline, Wash., were awarded to winners of the high school miles and 3,200 races. Four more will be presented Saturday in the 100-meter dash races, 100 hurdles and 110 hurdes.

Saugus CA senior Mariah Castillo, third at Nike Cross Nationals, secured a return trip to the Pacific Northwest by winning the mile in a national-leading 4:45.24.

Oak Ridge CA senior Maddy Denner ran slightly faster than North Rockland NY sophomore Katelyn Tuohy in the 3,200, taking over the top time in the country at 10:08.01 with a significant victory over reigning state champion Claudia Lane of Malibu (10:18.68). Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West IL still boasts the national lead at 9:52.02.

Volcano Vista NM senior Jericho Cleveland lowered his own national leader to prevail in the boys mile in 4:09.42.

El Camino Real CA senior Justin Hazell emerged victorious by a 9:00.60 to 9:00.61 margin over Burroughs CA senior Jagdeep Chahal to earn the automatic berth in the boys 3,200.

Georgia sophomore Jessica Drop became the first collegiate female since 2013 to win the women’s invitational 5,000, clocking 15:38.57, the No. 3 mark in NCAA Division 1 this season.

Former Oklahoma State star and ASICS professional Chad Noelle secured victory in his outdoor opener in the men’s 1,500, clocking 3:44.07 to lead six athletes within 0.75 of each other.

International standouts earned victories in the remaining invitational races, with Japan’s Yui Fukuda holding off American Charlene Lipsey 4:16.64 to 4:16.76 in the women’s 1,500.

Aimee Pratt ran the second-fastest 3,000 steeplechase this year by a British athlete and elevated into the top 20 in the world with her 9:54.16 performance.

Portugal’s Altobeli da Silva won the men’s 5,000 in 13:37.02, just ahead of Campbell’s Amon Kemboi (13:37.48) and BYU’s Rory Linkletter (13:37.98).

Dutch athletes Simon Grannetia and Noah Schutte from Portland finished first and third in their 3,000 steeplechase section in 8:43.94 and 8:47.53, with Australia Kale Adams of NCAA Division 2 Adams State (Colo.) winning his section in 8:45.23.