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Memorable 3,200-Meter Performance by Abby VanderKooi at Desert Dream - Last Hurrah

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jun 14th 2020, 3:43pm
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Muskegon Western Michigan Christian sophomore dominates second half of distance race, runs personal-best 10:02.56 to highlight final night in Arizona; Sommers succeeds again in pole vault, clearing 13-7, with Hansen taking 800

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – Three days before competing in the 3,200 meters at the Desert Dream - Last Hurrah, Abby VanderKooi went out for a run in the Arizona heat, got lost and turned a 3-mile trot into a 5-mile journey.

Perhaps it was then that the Muskegon Western Michigan Christian sophomore got any confusion out of her system. On Saturday night, VanderKooi was in control from start to finish, winning convincingly and turning in one of the fastest 3,200 times ever run on Arizona soil.

VanderKooi won in 10 minutes, 2.56 seconds, a Michigan sophomore class record, breaking away from a strong field on the third lap and cruising to the win at Poston Butte High.

RESULTS | PHOTOSINTERVIEWS

Her performance highlighted the third day of the meet, which was the first full-fledged track and field meet in the country following a nation-wide sports shutdown in March due to fears over the COVID-19 virus. Again on Saturday, spectators were limited, masks were omnipresent and social distancing was a theme of the meet.

VanderKooi led a mixed night for the winners. While her performance was eye-popping, Paige Sommers of Westlake, Calif., didn’t get the mark she sought, though Carlee Hansen and Makayla Long had especially impressive days.

VanderKooi was better than even she expected Saturday.

More known for cross country prowess – VanderKooi placed third at the Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego last December – she destroyed her outdoor personal best by 30 seconds and set a new overall PR, indoor or outdoor.

“That’s my overarching goal for track, definitely to break 10 (minutes in the 3,200),” she said. “I didn’t realize I was going to be that close, especially since it seemed so easy the first bit. That was exciting.”

And perhaps that’s the biggest surprise. Temperatures did dip down into the high 80s in this southeast Phoenix surburb Saturday night, but it’s a far cry from Michigan or San Diego.

VanderKooi felt like her Thursday run, in which she went farther than she wanted, prepared her for the unfamiliar conditions.

She broke away from the pack at about 1,200 meters and strikingly built a dominant lead.

“I was like, ‘I need to go in the front or stay here,’” VanderKooi said, “and I’m not content being here.”

Junior Grace Ping of Desert Vista High in Arizona was second in 10:25.45; sophomore Ella Borsheim of Bellarmine Prep in Washington was third in 10:29.49.

The other marquee girls event of the day had figured to be the pole vault, which featured Sommers, the top vaulter in California, and the top vaulter in Arizona, Taylor Starkey.

Sommers won the Vaulter Club Vaulter Magazine Big Red Barn Meet in Menifee, Calif., last week after taking three cracks at 14-8.50 (4.48m) a would-be national record – but a similar competition Saturday did not materialize.

Still, Sommers won with a 13-7 clearance (4.14m) while the University of Kansas-bound Starkey, who is from nearby Casteel High in Queen Creek, Ariz., tied for second at 13-1 (3.98m) with junior Windsor Roberts of Tri-Valley Downs in Illinois.

“Today my step was under the whole time, so I was struggling with that, trying to get it back, and then that really affected me,” Sommers said. “My last jump at 14, I was just hitting, like, nine feet, where I should be taking off at 11, so that was kind of the problem the whole time.”

Last week, Menifee offered a raised runway, where Saturday was not. But Sommers said that wasn’t an issue.

“I do prefer raised runways; I just think it’s more exciting,” she said. “If my step is on, it’s on, and that’s how usually the meet goes good or bad.”

Sadie McMullen, a recent graduate of Valor Christian in Highlands Ranch, Colo., won the long jump after competing Friday night and jumping 19 feet (5.79m). Much of the rest of the competition went Saturday, and the mark by the Wyoming-bound McMullen held up for the win.

“The long jump was originally going to be scheduled for Friday night, but I’m flying out (Saturday) afternoon,” she explained Friday. “Thankfully, (meet organizers) were able to accommodate me and my other teammate and let us jump today.”

McMullen’s mark wasn’t a personal-best but wasn’t far off, it’s 19-5 (5.91m). But Long, who is entering her senior year at Perry High in Gilbert, Ariz., did make a personal best with a huge throw of 48-3.50 (14.71m), which topped her previous best in competition by more than eight feet.

Hansen of Woods Cross, Utah, followed her runner-up finish in the mile Friday with a win in a strong field in the 800 in 2:11.55, just off her personal best of 2:10.83 from 2018.

Her finishing kick held off runner-up Ainsley Erzen (2:12.22) of Carlisle, Iowa, and third-place Marianne Mihas (2:13.20) of Latin School in Chicago, Ill.

“It’s fun to go to these meets because you get to test your kick and where my limits are with that,” Hansen said. “You know, experiment like when is kicking too early, too late. I felt like that was good.”

In the 300 hurdles, Fresno State-bound Daylee Dunn won in 45.46 seconds, before placing sixth in the 400 minutes later, behind winner Kate Jendrezak of Eastside Catholic, Wash., who ran 54.48.

Dunn said she plans to complete in both basketball and track. Dunn played wing at Richmond Salesian High, helping her team reach the regional final.

And in the final individual event of the meet, Anna Gibson of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and the University of Washington, won the women’s mile in 4:40.59. As a high schooler, Gibson was a state champ and a fourth-place finisher in the Nike Cross Nationals in 2016.

Washington teammate Allie Schadler, a graduate of Rio Rico High in Arizona, took second in 4:41.79.



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