SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis will send senior distance runner Grace Dunham, freshman jumper Jasleen Gandhoke, and two relay squads to the 56th edition of the Arcadia Invitational track & field meet, held this Friday and Saturday at Arcadia High School.
Known as the "Home of National Records," this year's meet features athletes from 692 schools, including 362 from outside California. A total of 35 national records and 203 U.S. Olympians have come from the event's vaunted history. The meet consists of different levels, with Open, Seeded and Invitational being the most prominent.
Dunham will run the Open mile run on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., while Gandhoke will compete in the Open high jump at that same time.
The Troubadours also entered a Invitational 4x800 relay, which will feature four among the group of Dunham, Emma Dobson, Ryann Strawn, Kelsey Sutch, Kayla Towne and Pamela Vargas. That crew will race at 5:37 during Friday's evening session. Then a St. Francis 4x100 crew will compete in the Saturday 10:16 a.m. Open race. The short relay will consist of four of the following: Gandhoke, Caitlin Hafenstein, Colleen Medina, Kyah Pickett, Alexa Randall and Lucia Vicio.
Dunham, a UC Davis signee last fall, ranks eighth in school history in the 1,600 with a 5:02.27 at last year's Sac-Joaquin Section Masters meet. That time converts to a 5:04.02 in the mile, which would rank fourth in SF annals. Tatiana Cornejo, now a Cal Poly sophomore, holds the Troubie mile record of 5:00.28, set at the 2022 Arcadia meet.
Gandhoke already sits in a tie for fifth in school history with her 5-foot-3 leap at the first Delta League center meet earlier this season. She, Kamryn Carter (2019) and Karen Lysaght (1978) are the only ninth graders in program history to clear 5-3.
St. Francis has run the 4x800 relay in one meet this season, compiling an 9:58.76 at the LeFebvre Relays in early March, although the team's qualifying time is based on last year's CIF-SJS Masters crew: Towne, Dunham, Daphne Witherell and Sutch posted a school-record 9:26.91 to finish second behind only Whitney.
The Troubies went 50.15 in the 4x100 relay at the Delta League center meet to earn a spot in Arcadia. That March 21 foursome comprised Medina, Pickett, Randall and Hafenstein.
Live results are available via Record Timing at https://www.rtspt.com/events/arcadia/2024/. Live video can be found at https://www.arcadiainvitational.org/eprofile.php?event_id=63&do=videos&video_id=387519.
56TH ARCADIA INVITATIONAL MEET SCHEDULE
Arcadia High School
Events with SF entrants only
FRIDAY, APR. 5
5:37 p.m. - Girls' 4x800 Relay Invitational
SATURDAY, APR. 6
9:30 a.m - Girls' 1 Mile Run Open
9:30 a.m. - Girls' High Jump Open
10:16 a.m. - Girls 4x100 Relay Open
