Coronado High School junior Lauren Gilhooly ran a big personal record in the 100-meter dash at the Arcadia Invitational last Saturday. Head coach Cameron Gary details the meet below.
4/6 Arcadia Invitational
- The Islanders had one athlete qualify for entry into the 2024 Arcadia Invitational, junior Lauren Gilhooly. The Arcadia Invitational is the top high school (only) Track & Field meet in the United States, if not the entire world. They have had 35 National High School Records set in this meet over the years. In addition, 203 athletes who competed in this meet went on to become U.S. Olympians. As they have athletes come from around the country (and sometimes from abroad), it is EXTREMELY difficult to get into this meet.
- Lauren competed in the Open division of the women’s 200m Dash, as well as the Seeded division of the 100m Dash. In most high school meets, the 100m Dash precedes the 200m Dash. But given that Lauren participated in the Open section of the 200, which took place in the daytime, then later competed in the evening section (when the faster “Seeded” and “Invitational” heats compete), it was a departure from what she is accustomed to.
- Lauren struggled in the 200m race, finishing third in her heat and 11th overall in the Open division. She ran 24.82s into a 0.9 m/s headwind. This time would have been her PR (and a CHS school record) prior to this season. But it was a disappointing race for her regarding her execution. She felt this was a race she really should have won.
- Lauren regrouped and faced a very tough field in the 100m Dash later that evening. There were five states represented among the competitors in her race (Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Mississippi, and California). Lauren competed in this meet (Open division) last year at her former high school… And false started. At the time of first offering, the starter’s pistol misfired. The athletes regrouped and the race restarted normally.
- Lauren got a good start and was in second place at the halfway point of the race. She then passed the leader and went on to pull away from the field, winning the race by about half a meter in a wind-legal (1.0 m/s) time of 11.70 seconds, eclipsing the previous school record held by former Islander standout Alysah Hickey (11.87s in 2018). To give perspective on the quality of this race… The LAST place finisher ran a time of 11.96 seconds. This time would rank 25th in the entire state of California. Lauren now ranks 7th among California high school women and has the fastest wind-legal time in the San Diego CIF Section (eclipsed by the 11.69s wind-aided time by Madison’s Amirah Shaheed).
Here is the video of the race from RunnerSpace: www.arcadiainvitational.org
Here is the post race interview by RunnerSpace: www.arcadiainvitational.org
