The Scoop: New Nation Leaders & All-Time Lists Rewritten

Mar 26, 2023

* Xai Ricks won the 800m title at APU Meet of Champions with a nation-leading time of 1:49.19

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APU Meet Of Champions Contained Thrilling Performances

In Azusa, the APU Meet of Champions hosted a handful of the nation's eye-catching performances.

The boys 800m consisted of a battle between Newbury Park's (CA) Aaron Sahlman and Long Beach Poly's (CA) Xai Ricks. Sahlman went out aggressively and added some separation between him and the rest of the field as he clocked a sub-52 second 400m split.

Then with 120m left to go, Ricks reached in deep for another gear and took on the NAU commit, clockin ga nation-leading performance of 1:49.19.

"I was trying to stay close in striking distance, attack the last 200m and just go," Ricks told MileSplit after his performance.

Sahlman finished second with a 1:50.86 and Tarron Johnson of Vista Murrieta (CA) was third in 1:50.93.

"This wasn't a bad race," Sahlman told MileSplit. "I went out in 51 low and I died the last lap, which is fine. I got second to Xai Ricks and he played that race perfectly. He sat right behind me and out kicked me which is super good. That's almost what I did to my brother last year so I'm super proud of him."

BOYS 800 METER RUN FINALS	
PLACE	ATHLETE		TEAM	RESULT	WIND	H#
1	Xai Ricks	11	Long Beach Poly (SS)	1:49.19		1
2	Aaron Sahlman	12	Newbury Park (SS)	1:50.86		1
3	Tarron Johnson	12	Vista Murrieta (SS)	1:50.93		1
4	Ambodai Ligons	11	Cathedral (SS)	1:51.54		1
5	Gabriel Rodriguez	11	Great Oak (SS)	1:51.79		1
6	Noah Ray	12	Buchanan (CS)	1:51.97		1
7	Lamarr Kirk Jr.	12	Long Beach Poly (SS)	1:53.15		1
8	Juan Juarez	10	Liberty (SS)	1:53.43		1

There was another nation-leading performance that came from the meet in California. Carter Spradling of Clovis East (CA) clocked an 8:51.62 to grab the victory in the 3,200m. Meanwhile, Matthew Donis ran the third-fastest time in the nation with his second-place finish in 8:52.91. Grant Morgenfeld of Palo Alto (CA) was the third-fastest runner that day as he stopped the clock in 8:56.31. Six of the top performances from the APU Meet Of Champions currently are ranked in the top 10 in the nation.

Another notable performance also includes Ventura's (CA) Sadie Engelhardt. The sophomore won the mile in a 4:41.06. Three seconds behind her was Oaks Christian's (CA) Payton Godsey with a 4:44.13 and senior Allura Markow of Dana Hills (CA) came in third with a 4:44.56 performance.

In the boys race, Brayden Seymour of Newbury Park won the title in a US No. 7 performance of 4:08.05 to take the title. Ryan Thomas was second in 4:09.36 and Anthony Fast Horse was third in 4:10.16.