The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Long Beach Wilson was out at the 57th annual Arcadia Invitational this weekend, where they took home five wins with a handful of personal-bests.
The Wilson girls’ relay teams were of the more dominant groups of the weekend, taking home wins in three of their five invitational races. The girls found wins in each the 4x200m, 4x400m, and the shuttle hurdles. They also placed second in the 4x800m and the 1600m sprint medley.
“Arcadia is a big meet but it’s just the step in our road to a state championship,” said co-head coach Shannon Fisher. “I think our kids performed pretty well, especially the girls. I think almost all of the girls PR’d so I think overall it was a pretty good weekend for us.”
The Bruins found a new personal-best in the girls 4x800m, which Fisher was most impressed with from the weekend. Elisa Rodriguez, Kimani Tindal, Shirayah Lewis Williams, and Riley Jones finished that race in 8:58.70, their first time crossing the sub-nine minute mark. JSerra finished ahead of them with an 8:53.85.
“I knew they could go under nine if they were pushed,” Fisher said. “In Texas, they went nine flat and took second place. So with a couple more weeks of training and with JSerra out here I knew that we were going to have a good time so I was definitely impressed with the 4×800 for the girls.”
Loren Webster, Saniah Varnado, Alene Washington, and London Weston started things off on Friday in the 4x200m with a 1:38.28 first place finish. Long Beach Poly finished behind them in second by just a tenth of a second, setting up an exciting event when the pair of rivals meet again later this season.
Washington, Varnado, Brooke Blue, and Kaylin Edwards ended the night with Wilson’s most dominant victory, winning the 4x400m with over four seconds to spare ahead of Carlsbad. The Bruins finished in 3:42.08, three seconds off their personal-record.
“I keep rotating the order because after the first couple of legs we haven’t been really getting pushed,” said Fisher of his girls’ 4x400m team. “I thought maybe here we would get some pressure but we didn’t. We’ll probably have to have some practice against the boys.”
Webster also had a success story in the girls’ long jump invitational, winning Wilson’s only solo event of the weekend. Webster jumped 19-10 on her second attempt to set a new season record.
“She’s getting back up to the mark she should be jumping,” Fisher said of Webster. “She’s a talented jumper and I think she’ll go further than she did here. She kind of got off mark for a minute but she seems to be getting back on pace so her performance this weekend was pretty good.”
The Bruins had a school record broken on Friday night in the girls’ seeded 3200m, where Nadia Mejia ran a 10:46.13. Mejia finished nine seconds faster than the previous Wilson record that was set by Erica Sumi in 1991.
Wyland Obando was among Wilson’s standout solo runners after finishing in second place in the 800m invitational. Obando ran a new season-record with a 1:50.45 and was the top California finisher. Florida’s Joseph Socarras won the race ahead of Obando with a 1:47.66.
“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Obando said of the finish. “This was around the same time I ran at state, so just being here this early [in the season] motivates me to go past that 1:50 mark and be one of the top runners in Cali.”
Wilson had a handful of other runners in solo invitational events, including Kaedyn Burroughs in the boys’ 400m. Burroughs set a personal-record in fourth place with a 47.30. Kaylin Edwards finished fourth in the girls’ 300m with a 41.70, and Brooke Blue finished seventh in the girls’ 400 with a 55.27.
Fisher was pleased with the results after the weekend, and says that its all in preparation for the CIF and state meets ahead of them.
“Depending on the times that we run here at Arcadia it gives us kind of an idea of the direction we’re heading in towards the end of the year. The times we’re running now are faster than we normally run at this time in the season so we’re looking pretty good. Hopefully we can keep that same progression as we get closer to the state title.”
For the full results of the 2025 Arcadia Invitational, including the seeded, open, and rising stars results, click HERE.
Long Beach Wilson’s Invitational Results:
Friday:
Girls’ 4x200m Relay Invitational: 1st, 1:38.28, (L. Webster, S. Varnado, A. Washington, L. Weston)
Girls’ 4x800m Relay Invitational: 2nd, 8:58.70, (E. Rodriguez, K. Tindal, S. Lewis Williams, R. Jones)
Boys’ 4x800m Relay Invitational: 18th, 8:07.86, (J. Kicherlow, E. Jackson, C. Obando, J. Pitri)
Girls’ 1600 Sprint Medley Invitational: 2nd, 3:58.60, (L. Webster, B. Fowler, B. Blue)
Boys’ 1600 Sprint Medley Invitational: 1st, 3:22.91, (K. Burroughs, C. Chatman, K. Burroughs, W. Obando)
Girls’ Shuttle Hurdle Invitational: 1st, 58.98, (J. Sanders, A. Washington, S. Varnado, K. Edwards)
Saturday:
Boys’ 800 Invitational: Wyland Obando, 2nd, 1:50.45
Girls’ 400 Invitational: Brooke Blue, 7th, 55.27
Boys’ 400 Invitational: Kaedyn Burroughs, 4th, 47.30
Girls’ 300 Hurdles Invitational: Kaylin Edwards, 4th, 41.70
Girls’ 4x400m Relay Invitational: 1st, 3:42.08, (B. Blue, A. Washington, K. Edwards, S. Varnado)
Boys’ 4x400m Relay Invitational: 4th, 3:16.27, (W. Obando, K. Burroughs, K. Burroughs, C. Chatman)
Girls’ Long Jump Invitational: Loren Webster, 1st, 19-10.00
Girls’ Triple Jump Invitational: Journii Spencer, 8th, 38-09.50
