SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior pole vaulter Maddie Pelfrey, junior middle distance runner Kayla Towne and three relay teams will represent St. Francis at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational track meet, which takes place at Arcadia High School all day Friday and Saturday.
Pelfrey will make her second straight appearance in the pole vault, Towne will run the 800 meters, while eight runners – including Towne – will compose the Troubadour foursomes in the 4x800, 4x1600 and distance medley relay in a meet that features athletes from 690 schools across 36 states. The SF distance runners in the three relays are Sarah Charles, Grace Dunham, Paige Quigley, Ryann Strawn, Kelsey Sutch, Pamela Vargas, Daphne Witherell and Towne.
Billed as the "Home of National Records," the Arcadia Invitational has featured 33 U.S. records and more than 200 Olympians since its inception in 1968. Awards are presented to the top finishers in each event, while coveted meet souvenirs are issued to all participants in the Invitational heats and flights.
Information on the Arcadia Invitational, including links to a live webcast, is available at www.arcadiainvitational.org. Record Timing will provide live results at rt.trackscoreboard.com/meets/4723/events.
Details of the five St. Francis entries are listed below:
SEEDED 4x800 RELAY
Event time: 5:25 p.m. Friday
St. Francis entrants: Kelsey Sutch, Paige Quigley, Ryann Strawn, Pamela Vargas
2022 Arcadia winner: Cathedral Catholic (9:38.92)
Won LeFebvre Relays at 9:59.74 with foursome of Dunham, Witherell, Sutch and Towne, beating Arcadia qualifying standard by 0.26 seconds... Season bests by Sutch (2:27.04), Strawn (2:33.50) and Vargas (2:35.54) took place at the Delta League Center Meet No. 1 (Mar. 22)... Quigley has not run the 800 this year in part due to early-season injuries, but her best is 2:37.61 in SF's 2021 dual with Cosumnes Oaks... St. Francis last competed in the 4x800 at the 2021 Arcadia Invite, with Tatiana Cornejo, Hanna Hekkanen, Sutch and Towne compiling a 9:31.87 – good for fifth in the meet and third in the school record book.
INVITATIONAL 4x1600 RELAY
Event time: 8:36 p.m. Friday
St. Francis entrants: Grace Dunham, Daphne Witherell, Kelsey Sutch, Kayla Towne
2022 Arcadia winner: Buchanan (19:56.08)
Qualified using the aggregate qualifying standard of 21:14.00... Season-best 1,600s by the four runners are: Dunham (5:10.49), Witherell (5:19.40), Sutch (5:26.99) and Towne (5:03.69)... Dunham and Witherell hit their SBs at Dublin Distance Fiesta (Mar. 18), Sutch at Oakmont's Glenn Poole Invite (Feb. 25), Towne at Bella Vista's Bronco Distance Carnival (Mar. 24)... Sutch's PR is 5:24.91, set at the 2022 Dublin meet... Towne ranks eighth in school history, second in Sac-Joaquin Section behind only Whitney's Katie Kopec (4:56.60)... St. Francis last fielded a 4x1600 squad at 2021 Arcadia Invite, with Tatiana Cornejo, Hanna Hekkanen, Claire Silva and Towne going 21:08.08, 2nd in the meet and 2nd in school history... The 2019 crew of Cornejo, Cate Joaquin, Haley Silva and Isabelle Fauria won the Arcadia Invite with a 20:20.82, four seconds faster than Great Oak, and by far the school record.
OPEN 800 METERS
Event time: 10:25 p.m. Saturday
St. Francis entrant: Kayla Towne
2022 Arcadia winner: Tessa Buswell, Poway (2:09.54)
Towne ranks 44th in California, third in Sac-Joaquin Section, tops in Delta League at 2:17.03, set at Stanford Invitational (Apr. 1)... Becomes first Troubadour to compete at Arcadia in 800 since Ariane Arndt on the Varsity race with a then school-record 2:10.05 in 2015... Finished 2nd in 800 at Delta League (2:22.16), 3rd at SJS Division I (PR 2:16.98), 9th at SJS Masters (2:19.22, 2:18.55 in prelims) as a sophomore... PR of 2:16.98 ranks 6th in school history... First hit Arcadia standard with 2:18.56 at Delta League Center Meet No. 1, then cut more than 1.5 seconds at Stanford two weeks later.
INVITATIONAL POLE VAULT
Event time: 4:15 p.m. Saturday
St. Francis entrant: Maddie Pelfrey (Sr.)
2022 Arcadia winner: Amanda Moll, Capital (14-04.00)
Pelfrey ranks No. 1 in the Sac-Joaquin Section, 18th in California at 11-9... Set school record of 12-6 at 2022 Delta League Champion after clearing 11-6 in five previous meets as a junior... Won Delta League title, then finished third at each of CIF-SJS Division I and SJS Masters meets, both with 11-6 marks... Committed to UC Santa Barbara... Finished 18th (10-7) at 2022 Arcadia Invitational Open flight... Missed first weeks of 2023 season due to injury, then has surpassed at least 11-0 in four straight meets: Ponderosa's Ron Ruptier Invite, Delta League Center Meet No. 1, Bella Vista Pole Vault Carnival and Granite Bay Field Festival.
INVITATIONAL DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY
Event time: 7:23 p.m. Saturday
St. Francis entrants: Grace Dunham, Sarah Charles, Ryann Strawn, Daphne Witherell
2022 Arcadia winner: JSerra Catholic (11:49.24)
Qualified for meet with a 12:24.38 at Stanford Invitational, run by Dunham, Charles, Towne and Witherell... Dunham's 800 and 1,600 PRs are 2:24.36 and 5:10.49, respectively... Charles hit 59.58 at Rocklin's Thunder Invite on Mar. 25, becoming the first Troubie to break the one-minute barrier since Isabella Fauria in 2018... Witherell's 1,600 best is 5:19.40... St. Francis finished second in the DMR at the 2019 Arcadia Invite, with Fauria, Cate Joaquin, Alexys Jones and Haley Silva running a 11:51.90.
