Well ahead of the field, Humphreys sophomore Cassandra Jarzabek makes her way down the home stretch of her Pacific record-breaking 1,600-meter run. (Justin Schaefer/Special to Stripes)
After weeks of near-misses this season, Cassandra Jarzabek put her stamp Saturday in the Pacific track and field record book.
The Humphreys sophomore distance star and Far East cross country champion was timed in 5 minutes, 3.27 seconds in the 1,600-meter run during Saturday’s Korea league final meet at Blackhawks Field.
Jarzabek broke the record of 5:05.97 set last May 2 by former Far East track and cross country champion Jane Williams of Matthew C. Perry.
Wind, Jarzabek said, had been her bane in previous meets, when headwinds would slow her down on each lap. On Saturday, breezes and gusts held off enough that she could run the type of race she wanted.
“It made all the difference in the world,” Jarzabek said of the calm weather. Temperatures were in the low 70s under clear skies with good air quality.
“I don’t think non-track people realize how hard it is to run anywhere from two to eight laps fighting against the win,” Jarzabek said.
She said she also struggled on third laps during previous meets, particularly since she runs far ahead of most opponents. On Saturday, she devised a strategy that forced her to pick up speed on that lap.
“I had been planning on running an ‘internal move,’ where I switch gears the first 100 meters of the third lap and really push myself to pick up speed, to simulate how it would be like running next to others,” Jarzabek said.
“That allowed me to ride of the momentum I had the first 100 meters and close my third lap on pace to break the record.”
That makes two Pacific records Williams once held that Jarzabek has surpassed. Williams – who now runs for Division I Utah State – set the Pacific cross country record of 18:12.4 on Sept. 30, 2023 at Iwakuni; Jarzabek topped that with a 17:58.0 on Oct. 12 at Humphreys.
The wind did pick up later in the meet, averaging 25-mph gusts, and Jarzabek won the 800 and 3,200 but not at record pace. “I just tried to focus on what I can control,” Jarzabek said.
Jarzabek also helped the Blackhawks’ girls win the 1,600 relay as Humphreys won both the boys and girls team titles in Saturday’s finals.
Josef Brinkerhoff swept the boys sprints and Jahydan Johnson the girls, Jarzabek’s Far East cross country relay partner Joey Brown captured the boys 1,600 and 3,200 and Anna Johnston swept the girls hurdles.
Humphreys sophomore Cassandra Jarzabek, far right, pushes off the start line at the outset of the 1,600-meter run. Jarzabek was timed in a Pacific-record 5:03.27. (Justin Schaefer/Special to Stripes)
Kinnick's Annabelle DuBose and Jasmine Williams and Yokota's Camielle Dixon round the first turn of their 400-meter heat during Saturday's Kanto finals. Dixon finished third overall and also won the 100 and 200. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)
Kinnick’s Vincente Gomez finished eighth in the 110-meter hurdles. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)
Kinnick's Robert Parker won both the long and triple jumps and the 110 and 300 hurdles. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)
Kinnick's Justice Owens and Mia Bartram came in third and fourth in the 800. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)
Humphreys' Josef Brinkerhoff leads the back down the stretch. He won the 100 and 200 in the Korea finals. (Malaysia Burns/Special to Stripes)
Daegu's McKenzie Andrews and Seoul Foreign's Angus Kett make the first turn in the Korea finals 400-meter run. Kett finished first and Andrews third. (Malaysia Burns/Special to Stripes)
Humphreys sophomore Joey Brown finished first in the Korea finals 1,600 and 3,200. (Malaysia Burns/Special to Stripes)
Humphreys' Jahydan Johnson sprints to the finsh en route to sweeping the Korea finals 100 and 200. (Malaysia Burns/Special to Stripes)
Kinnick takes team titles, individuals shine in Kanto finals
At Yokota Air Base, Nile C. Kinnick swept the boys and girls team titles and several individual athletes sparkled during Saturday’s Kanto Plain finals at Yokota’s Bonk Field.
Red Devils hurdlers Erica Norman and Nina Gaudin posted top-three finishes, Leona Turner won the discus, Mya Bobbitt shined in the jumps and Robert Parker swept the hurdles and long and triple jumps. And the girls swept the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.
“Robert Parker had a day,” Kinnick coach Luke Voth said, adding that Parker and jumper Helsa Sokpoh “are really good athletes being good at what they do.”
Turner has posted top-three finishes in the shot put and discus throughout the season, winning the discus in the last four meets.
“Leona is talented as well as uber competitive,” Voth said. “She has some competition this season and that’s good for her. If her team needs her to rise to the occasion, you can bet she’s going to do everything in her power.”
One Kinnick senior star distance runner, Mia Bartram, ended up second to a rising Yokota freshman, Madeline Frost, who captured the 1,600 and 3,200 and took second in the 800.
The Panthers also got strong performances from sophomore Camielle Dixon, a sprinter who transferred to Yokota from Edgren. She won the 100 and 200 and came in third in the 400.
“Her mindset. And I think she’s really grown in her maturity,” Panthers coach and former Far East champion Danny Galvin said of Dixon.
“Day to day, even outside of practice, I can see that she’s really always thinking about her training and doing what she needs to do to be the best at what she does. She brings great confidence every time she races,” Galvin said.
Leading scorers keep piling up goals
Pacific girls goal-scoring leaders Alyssa Staples of Kinnick and Priscilla Ramirez of Perry continued to find the back of the net over the weekend in their latest matches.
Staples, a Red Devils junior, scored five times at Robert D. Edgren to run her Pacific lead to 40. Kinnick beat the Eagles 11-1 and 5-0 in their final regular-season matches. The Division I Far East Tournament is scheduled for May 19-21 at Humphreys.
At Iwakuni, Ramirez, a freshman, scored four times and has 39 goals on the season, with two regular-season matches left next weekend at E.J. King. The Samurai blanked the Cobras 4-0 and 5-0 in their home regular-season finales. Perry hosts the Division II Far East May 19-21.
