In early April, the top Jesuit track stars traveled to the Arcadia Invitational in Arcadia, California. While there was plenty of success, one race stood out: the girls 4×1600 race.
The Arcadia Invitational was on Friday and Saturday April 5-6. The first invitational was held 50 years ago, with 23 schools and 6 track clubs participating. This year, 692 schools from all over had athletes qualify making this event extremely notable for its very competitive history. It is said to be “Home of the National Records”.
The Jesuit team did not have it easy getting to this point. Not only did it take a lot of time and practice, but they had to adapt to a new lineup from last year. The 4×1600 race is only raced at big invitational meets so this new team only had one similar previous experience this past year. They raced at the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York, and placed 6th. This wasn’t the same race as they did at Arcadia, so it was their first real time racing this event.
“Our main goal going into the race was to be tough and stay focused,” said Emma Bennett, a runner on both the 4×1600 team this year and last year. “We didn’t have any time or place expectations going in, and wanted to just do our best to keep moving up the entire time.”
This new team consisted of stellar athletes. Audrey O’neil, committed to Santa Clara University, Amalie Beil committed to Georgetown University, Maura O’Scannlain and Emma Bennett who came away with a brand new Oregon state record beating the previous time by 25 seconds, pulling away with a time of 20:25:80. They finished the event in second place with an incredible time of 20:25:80.
Junior Maura O’Scannlain felt surprised and excited after the race.
“It wasn’t till we were interviewed after the race that we were informed that we broke the state record,” O’Scannlain said. “If you watch the interview, you can see our surprised and excited reactions. It was a very special moment for our team.”
The Jesuit women’s 4×1600 team is now 2nd in the nation. Be sure to come out to the next track meet to watch all of these runners race.
