STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman Alyssa Gutierrez won the girls' 3,200-meter race with a personal-best 10 minutes, 23.34 seconds, while Jasleen Gandhoke and the distance medley relay squad posted the No. 2 performances in school history, highlighting a small crew of St. Francis athletes on the first day of action at the Stanford Invitational track & field meet at Cobb Track & Angell Field Friday.

The meet, which consists of a mixture of collegiate and high school events, continues on Saturday.

Gutierrez improved her 3,200 PR by more than four seconds from the 10:27.63 she ran at this year's Bronco Roundup Distance Carnival. The 10:23.34 outraced runner-up and local favorite Brooke Oliveira of Castilleja, who crossed in 10:34.74. Gutierrez remains third in school history but now moves less than a quarter of a second away from Lauren LaRocco, who went 10:23.10 at the 2014 state meet. Cate Joaquin holds the SF program benchmark of 10:20.97 from the 2022 Arcadia Invitational.

Gutierrez led for the entire race, running the first lap in 71.88 seconds to stay well in front of Vista Del Lago's Brenna Mannion (1:15.13). That lead expanded to more than eight seconds after 800 meters, 15 seconds at the one-mile mark and more than 17 seconds with two laps remaining. Gutierrez came home with a 1:17.79 final lap to easily hold off Oliveira, Mannion and Berkeley's Carina Nottingham.

In the next girls' high school event, Gandhoke finished third in the 400 hurdles at 1:04.66. That times ranks second in school history behind only Elizabeth Hennessey, who went 1:03.88 at the 2017 Stanford Invite. Hennessey went on to run at UC San Diego. The 400-meter version of the event is rare for high school, which opts for a 300-meter variation. However, it often appears at meets hosted by colleges and universities to reduce the setup for meet staff. Gandhoke last competed in a 400 hurdles race for her Revolution Express club at the 2024 AAU West Coast meet.

Then shortly after the long hurdles, the foursome of Sophia Kadel, Alexa Randall, Bianka Bagatelos and Halle Welch compiled a third-place time of 12:03.82 in the distance medley relay. This moves the 2026 Troubies into second in the school record book, behind only the 12:14.96 run by Isabella Fauria, Joaquin, Sophie DeBenedetti and Claire Silva at the 2019 Arcadia Invite.

The Troubies continue action at Stanford, starting with Gandhoke in the high jump, which begins at 10 a.m. St. Francis also has a 4x100 relay prelim at 11 a.m., Gutierrez in the 1,600 at 11:30 a.m., with Gandhoke in the 100 hurdles prelim at 12:01 p.m. The short relay and hurdles finals run at 1:26 p.m. and 3:32 p.m., respectively. A link to RecordTiming's live results is available at GoTroubies.com.

2026 STANFORD INVITATIONAL
Cobb Track & Angell Field (Stanford, Calif.)
Events with SF entrants only • Winner plus SF finishers listed

GIRLS' 3,200 METERS - 1. Alyssa Gutierrez, St. Francis, 10:23.34... 11. Miya Menza, 10:59.09.

GIRLS' 400 HURDLES - 1. Soleil Warner, St. Ignatius, 1:00.42... 3. Jasleen Gandhoke, 1:04.66

GIRLS' 4K DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY - 1. St. Francis-Mountain View, 11:59.68... 3. St. Francis-Sacramento (Kadel, Randall, Bagatelos, Welch), 12:03.82.