By Leonard COUTIN

The 47th annual Arcadia Invitational was held this past weekend affording many track and field enthusiasts an opportunity to witness some of the best athletes from Southern California and out of state.

Crescenta Valley High School Head Coach Mark Evans spilt his athletes and coaching staff to participate both in the Tigers Invitational in South Pasadena on Friday and the Arcadia Invitational.

Falcon Emmy Walker jumped 5-0 before dropping out of the competition Friday night. Her approach at the higher heights seemed to be off during this competition.

CV’s 4 x 1600m relay teams in both the boys and girls races faced Flintridge Prep for the first time. They are normally in separate school divisions. The Falcons team, consisting of Megan Melnyk, Haley Witzeman, Rebecca Mencia and Erika Johnson, were overrun by the Flintridge Prep team of Kate Evans, Natalie O’Brien, Lacy Coan and Sara Yoho. Flintridge Prep placed fifith (21:29.38) while CV took ninth (21:35.96).

CV’s team of Nick Beatty, Matt Manalo, Kyle Dickinson and Robert McNelis ran against Jack Van Scoter, Tyler Fong, Nikhil Poole and Alan Yoho of Flintridge Prep. Prep place placed third (17:54.44) while the Falcons took 20th (18:20.71). Yoho anchored his team and is well known for his championship win at the state cross country meet in Fresno this last season.

CV’s Gabe Collison got off to a rugged start, but was able to get back on course midway in the 3200m seeded race. He placed 13th (9:21.02).

Beatty was the first to run on Saturday morning in the 800m against Burbank Arsen Mkrtchyan. Getting tripped on the backside of the track, Beatty was forced to play catch up while Mkrtchyan claimed 10th in his heat at (1:59) and Beatty finished 14th in his (2:05.23). Sprinter Falcon Kayleigh Carrillo ran both the 200m and the 400m against a strong pack. Carrillo placed 21st overall in the 200m (25.45) and 17th overall in the 400m (57.32).

Although the conditions and track in Arcadia were perfect, the Falcons varsity boys and girls found themselves in harm’s way. Due to the great number of participants, runners had to step around, leap over and, in some cases, straddle their opponents during the start or hand off of their relay. In the distant medley, Beatty immediately was locked at the start as some of the runners fell to their knees and blocked his ability to get out strong. This jeopardized the other following positions. Team members Manalo, Armin Cardenas-Nunoand and Collison worked hard to put the team back on track.  Collison anchored and ran a very fast pace to take fourth place (10:28.10).

Melnyk equally felt the pressure of her 800m races as she was knocked around and tripped on the backside of the track affecting her expected pace. She ran 2:17.994.

  Leonard Coutin