relay

Humble but hungry.

That was the mindset Calabasas’ foursome that took to the track at Hilmer Lodge Stadium for the Invitational girls’ 4×100 race Saturday at the 66th annual Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut.

In one of the meet’s marquee matchups, the Coyotes ran their fastest time yet — 44.48 seconds — to set a new meet record and avenge their loss to Fullerton Rosary one week earlier at the Arcadia Invitational.

“Taking that ‘L’ last week gave us motivation,” senior captain Marley Scoggins said after getting her team off to a good start with a blazing first leg. “We didn’t like that feeling.”

Speed ultimately wins races, but Coyotes coach Jeff Clanagan helped the cause by changing the order of his runners in hopes of building an early lead. He flipped Scoggins and Olivia Kirk (who led off seven days earlier) while Malia Rainey and Devyn Sproles ran the second and third legs. Adding an element of surprise proved to be an effective strategy.

“You always look at matchups and in a relay you want to get out first and force a mistake by another team,” Clanagan said. “Marley is our best starter off the blocks and I felt doing that might give us a mental edge. We kept it a secret right up until race time. I told my girls not to show our new order until you get on the track so Rosary won’t have time to talk to their coach.”

Scoggins, a Tennessee commit, was edged at the finish by Rosary’s Maliyah Collins at Arcadia, where Calabasas settled for second at 44.54 effort while the Royals circled the oval in 44.23, shattering the state record of 44.50 set by Long Beach Poly in 2004.

“I’ve run every leg at one time or another but I liked starting today — it felt more powerful putting us in front,” Scoggins said. “We’re trying to go 43 [seconds]. We can definitely drop time. For the first time this week we tried different hand-offs.”

Her teammates did the rest. Rosary was second in 44.94 and Steele Canyon took third place in 46.62.

“This is the first time I’ve anchored in a while and the girls gave me a lead like they always do,” said Kirk, a senior headed to Oklahoma. “I think the key was our determination. We knew we didn’t run our best last week and we wanted to come here and take our win.”

Calabasas has won two of three head-to-head relays with Rosary this spring, having clocked 44.95 to take the teams’ first encounter at the Mt. Carmel Invitational on March 28 in San Diego.

Next up for the Coyotes is a trip across country for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, an international meet where they will compete in prelims Thursday for a chance to make the finals Friday on the world stage.

“No U.S. team has beaten a Jamaican team in 20 years,” Clanagan said. “We’re hoping to change that.”

Two hours later, Rainey and Sproles were among the nine sprinters in the Invitational 100-meter dash, which also featured a pair of Rosary’s 4×100 runners, Justine Wilson and Tra’via Flournoy. Wilson prevailed by three hundredths of a second over Rainey in 11.65.

Collins demonstrated why she is one of the Southland’s top sprinters, taking first in the 200 meters in 23.25 — 30 hundredths of a second off the meet record set in 2002 by L.A. Baptist’s Allyson Felix.

Having clocked 39.70 to better its own state record at Arcadia seven days earlier, Servite broke the boys’ 4×100 relay Mt. SAC record for a second straight year Saturday as Jace Wells, Benjamin Harris, Jorden Wells and Kamil Pelovello ran the one-lap sprint in 39.98 after Jorden Wells, Harris, Jaelen Hunter and Robert Gardner got the baton around in 40.15 last year. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame came in second for the second straight year in 41 flat.

Torrance senior Nicolas Obimgba won the Invitational 100 meters in 10.24, three hundredths of a second off the meet record set last year by Mt. Miguel’s Brandon Arrington. Newbury Park senior Jaden Griffin (10.30) finished second, Jorden Wells (10.44) was third and Pelovello (10.64) was seventh.

Loyola senior Ejam Yohannes won the Invitational 400 meters in 46.29 after placing third in the event while battling sickness at Arcadia. His personal best (46.11) came three weeks ago at the Chandler Rotary in Arizona.

“A lot of these guys I’ve raced and beat before,” Yohannes said. “Early on I was feeling the effects from last week. I usually finish stronger but I’m still not 100 percent. I’m already primed to win CIF. I’m confident I can run 45 [seconds] or even a little lower.”

Tenth-grader Kaahliyah Lacy of San Jacinto Valley Academy, who won the girls’ 300 hurdles in 40.81 at Arcadia, clocked 39.93 to break the Mt. SAC record Saturday and doubled for first in the 100 hurdles in 13.65. JSerra junior Reese Holley was the 800-meter winner in 2:08.10 and Long Beach Wilson’s Clara Adams was first in the 400 meters in 53.13. Her teammates Brooklyn Fowler (54.33) and Brooke Blue (54.47) were third and fourth.

Adams did not race in the Invitational 4×400 relay but the Bruins won anyway in 3:49.55. JSerra was second in 3:52.77. In the boys’ 4×400, Yohannes ran the anchor leg as the Cubs finished second in 3:14.70 behind Fresno Central East (3:13.96).

Defending state high jump champion JJ Harel, who cleared 6-9 to win at Arcadia, was second with a height of 6-10 Saturday. Dean Guzman of Moorpark won at seven feet.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame junior Lillian Wilson won the girls’ shot put with a throw of 43-3.75 and took second in the discus (147-3) behind Lancaster Desert Christian’s Corynn Smith (152-8).

Having won the girls’ long jump and triple jump at Arcadia, senior AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley tripled Saturday, leaping 19-4 to win the long jump, spanning a distance of 41-7.5 for the the triple jump title then clearing 5-10 to win the high jump.

Cassidy Nguyễn from Los Alamitos won the girls’ pole vault at 13 feet and Aliso Niguel’s Dane Malloy won the boys triple jump at 48-5.

After record-setting performances in the 4×100 relays last weekend at the Arcadia Invitational, the Servite and Rosary relay teams will try to do it again on Saturday at the Mt. SAC Relays at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Servite relay team of sophomores Jace Wells, Jorden Wells and Kamil Pelovello and junior Benjamin Harris ran it in 39.70 seconds at Arcadia, the fastest in state history.

Rosary, which is the sister school for Servite, featured sophomore Tra’via Flournoy, senior Justine Wilson, junior Pfeiffer Lee and sophomore Maliyah Collins running 44.23, breaking Long Beach Poly’s 22-year-old state record of 44.50.

Coach Brandon Thomas works with both teams and said he wanted to support the track community by having both participate.

Defending state high jump champion JJ Harel will compete in his specialty after winning at Arcadia with a mark of 6 feet, 9 inches. He’s still only a few weeks into training because of a previous injury.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

There is a new “Fab Four” in the making and they are the Friars.

Servite’s 4×100 relay clocked 39.70 seconds Saturday at the Arcadia Invitational, breaking the state record it set at the same meet last year.

Sophomores Jace Wells, Jorden Wells and Kamil Pelovello and junior Benjamin Harris left runner-up El Cerrito (40.57) and third-place Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (41.02) far behind and later claimed their best is yet to come.

“We still want to drop more times in the coming weeks,” said Harris, who joined Jaelen hunter, Robert Gardener and Jorden Wells to run the event in 40 flat last year while also setting the meet record in the 4×200. “We work on passing the baton once a week and we’ll go back to the drawing board to make it even better. The most important thing is we got the stick around safely and finished the race healthy.”

“We have great chemistry — we all get along with each other,” added Pelovello, who handled the third leg Saturday for the defending state champions. “We’ll go back to the lab to see if we can do even better but what more can you ask for?”

After an hour’s rest, Harris had enough energy to take first in the 100-meter dash in 10.32 seconds — one hundredth of a second faster than his runner-up time last year.

Later, Pelovello (21.14), Jorden Wells (21.14) and Jace Wells (21.25) swept the top three spots in the 200 meters. The Friars pulled out of the 4×400 relay, but by then they had established themselves as the team to beat in the Southern Section.

Rosary’s Maliyah Collins (left) breaks the tape ahead of Calabasas’ Marley Scoggins in the girls’ 4×100 relay.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

So too did Fullerton Rosary, Servite’s sister school, in the girls’ 4×100 relay. Royals speedsters Tra’via Flournoy, Justine Wilson, junior Pfeiffer Lee and Maliyah Collins won in 44.23, breaking Long Beach Poly’s 22-year-old state record of 44.50.

“I’m in disbelief but I knew we ran something real fast,” said Collins, a sophomore who held off Marley Scoggins of Calabasas on the anchor leg. “Shout-out to Calabasas for a great race, but this is our spotlight. This is a proud moment for us and the boys.”

Rosary ran 45.57 last spring — the fourth fastest time in meet history — anchored by Wilson. On Saturday, the Royals posted the third-fastest national high school time ever.

Savoring the day’s successes was former UCLA All-American sprinter Brandon Thomas, who coaches both Servite and Rosary.

The opening relays set the stage for the most decorated runner of the meet, senior Quincy Wilson, who traveled across the country to put his talent on display.

Every eye in the stadium was fixed on Wilson as he knelt in the starting blocks awaiting the start of the 400 meters. When the gun sounded he accelerated from Lane 5 as if shot out of a cannon, picked up speed on every stride and circled the oval in 45.48 seconds — breaking the meet record as spectators watched in awe.

Olympian Quincy Wilson (center) cruises to victory in the 400-meter dash in a meet record 45.48 seconds.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The senior from Bullis School in Maryland gained worldwide fame as a 16-year-old in 2024 when he became the youngest male U.S. Olympic track athlete, helping the 4×400 relay team qualify for the finals in Paris.

The crowd roared when Wilson got introduced for the one-lapper, then the star closed the show by anchoring the Bulldogs’ 4×400 relay, which won in 3:09.14, the second-fastest all-time at Arcadia.

Wilson broke his own national indoor 400 record with a 45.37 effort at the New Balance Nationals last month in Boston. Now 18, he has won four straight national indoor titles. As he proved Saturday, he is not too shabby outdoors, either.

While Wilson drew the most attention, the 58th edition of the nation’s premier high school track and field meet also spotlighted many of the Southland’s finest athletes.

San Jacinto Valley Academy 10th-grader Kaahliyah Lacy, a distant cousin of Florence Griffith-Joyner, won the Invitational girls 300 hurdles in 40.81 while Arkansas-bound senior Braelyn Combe of Corona Santiago ran 2:05.12 to take second in the girls 800 meters, edged at the finish by Union Catholic’s Paige Sheppard.

Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez doubled in the girls’ triple jump (42-6) and long jump (20-3) and placed third in the high jump at 5-8. Julia Teven of Brea Olinda won with a height of 5-10.

Aliso Niguel senior Jaslene Massey, an Oregon commit who won the shot put at the Nike Indoor Nationals with a throw of 54-2.75 inches (sixth-best in U.S. high school history) and posted a national-leading discus mark of 188-7 at the Asics Irvine Invitational, won the shot put Saturday with a mark of 53-2 and also took first in the discus (182-2).

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior Josh Harel, the reigning state high jump champion, cleared 6-9 to win the event Saturday.

This is the weekend high school track and field takes center stage in Southern California. Quincy Wilson, who won a gold medal at the age of 16 at the 2024 Olympic Games, is coming from Maryland to compete in the 400 and two relays at the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on Saturday.

“I’m so fired up,” Servite coach Brandon Thomas said.

And Thomas isn’t running.

Servite’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams will have to deal with Bullis High and Wilson running the anchor leg in races that should have fans standing on their feet while listening to the oohs and aahs.

“From a competitive standpoint, they’re excited to compete against the country’s best,” Thomas said.

Servite’s 4×100 relay team sent a message on Saturday, becoming the first to break 40 seconds in California history, winning in 39.82 at Trabuco Hills.

It’s all a perfect setup, from the atmosphere to the stiff competition, to prepare for next month’s section and state championships.

There’s two Loyola High athletes, sprinter Zion Phelps and 400 runner Ejam Yohannes, who hope to use Arcadia as a springboard to continue their early success this season.

Zion Phelps of Loyola edges Emmanuel Pullins of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the 100 meters on Tuesday, winning in 10.56 seconds. Pullins rans 10.59.

(Craig Weston)

Phelps is in his first year of track after being a defensive back and receiver for the football team. He and Loyola’s new coach, Sharaud Moore, were having conversions during the fall.

“He swore up and down he was the fastest kid in the school,” Moore said. “Yeah, put your money where your mouth is.”

Said Phelps: “I told him, ‘Just wait.’ I knew I had that speed and wanted to prove it.”

He ran a wind-aided 100-meter time of 10.39 seconds this spring. Last week in a Mission League dual meet against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, he won with a time of 10.56.

Said Moore: “I was his harshest critic on the field.“We’re going back and forth and he was right. He’s s really fast.”

Showing his speed is legitimate will help with his football recruiting going into his senior year in the fall.

“Definitely this year has pushed my recruitment out there with my track times,” Phelps said. “I wanted to show the. I’m dedicated to this and being a multi-sport athlete. It will translate a lot.”

Yohannes, set to face Wilson in the 400, has an equally compelling story. He never played organized sports until joining the track team as a freshman. His parents came here from the small African country of Eritrea. His first name is Ethiopian.

He ran the 400 in 52.48 seconds as a freshman, focused more on having fun. Sophomore season he dropped to 50.75 and said to himself, “Wow, I’m fast.” He started getting serious.

“Now I wanted to be better,” he said.

An injury in January of last year didn’t let him get the foundation to run as fast as he hoped. He dropped to 47.69. Then Moore became coach, and Yohannes finally put in months of training to build a foundation.

“He comes in and kills me,” Yohannes said.

Then came the reward — 46.11 on March 21. In his final tuneup on Saturday, he ran 47.17 at the Red Rock Running Invitational.

“He’s a student and studies racing, training, race plans, athletes, programs,” Moore said.

As for facing Wilson, Yohannes’ attitude is bring him on.

“I’m excited to go out there,” he said. “It’s great competition. If I don’t believe I can win, nobody else can. If I don’t believe in myself, it’s over. I’m going to give my best. I might be crazy to saying this, but I think I have chance. He’s world class already in high school. He’s top of the line talent, It’s whoever wins on that given day. This is going to be unreal pressure knowing if I win, my name is out there. That puts me on the map. I can dream.”

Rich Gonzalez, the meet director for the Arcadia Invitational, remembers when LeBron James showed up at Pauley Pavilion in 2003 to play in a high school basketball tournament, filling the venue.

Now he’s pulled off the track equivalent with the announcement that 2024 Olympian Quincy Wilson, from Bullis School in Potomac, Md., is coming on April 11 to compete at the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

Wilson competed at the 2024 Olympic Games as a 16-year-old running a leg in the qualifying for the 4×400 relay and earning a gold medal when the team won in the finals. The 400 meters is his specialty, and he’s scheduled to run in that event along with the school’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams. That means he’ll get to face Servite, which has California’s best 400-meter relay team. It also means no one is going to leave the meet early since the final event is the 4×400 relay. Loyola, Servite and Long Beach Poly will be challenging Bullis.

Another star committed is from the girls ranks, Natalie Dumas from Eastern Regional High in Voorhees Township, N.J. She’s coming to try to break the national record in the 300 intermediate hurdles held by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Wilson is committed to Maryland and Dumas to Arkansas.

The meet begins at 5 p.m. on April 11. Tickets will go on sale this week.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.