Spotlight Is Thrown to Arrhenius at Arcadia

When it came to marquee matchups at the Arcadia Invitational track and field meet at Arcadia High on Saturday, Niklas Arrhenius and Sean Shields lacked the name recognition of Alan Webb and Ryan Hall or Monique Henderson and Angel Perkins.

Yet those two athletes produced the most noteworthy competition in a meet loaded with them.

Arrhenius, a senior at Mountain View High in Orem, Utah, set a national record of 234 feet 3 inches in the boys’ discus to crush the mark of 225-2 set by Kamy Keshmiri of Reno (Nev.) in 1987.

Shields, a senior at Arroyo Grande, finished second after a career best of 202-4 to strengthen his hold on third on this year’s national list.

Webb’s victory in the boys’ mile in 4 minutes 1.81 seconds and Henderson’s victory in the girls’ 400 meters in 52.51 had the standing-room only crowd roaring its approval, but neither of those marks ranked with Arrhenius’ national record.

“I thought I had a chance to break the record by maybe a foot or so,� said Arrhenius, whose previous best of 218-2 ranked second all time. “I had had some throws in practice that were farther than the national record, but I never expected to throw [234].�

Shields, who entered the meet with a best of 199-2, threw 202-4 on his first attempt to take an early lead.

Arrhenius, whose father Anders was a shotputter for Sweden’s national team from 1968-82, followed Shields with a 217-11 throw that left him slapping his hands in frustration.

Shields again threw 202-4 in the second round and Arrhenius threw 217-8 on a throw in which he again struggled with his technique.

He put it all together in the third--and final--round with a throw that seemed to sail like a Frisbee.

“I knew it was probably over 220,� said Arrhenius, who also won the shotput in 63-5. “I didn’t know after that. It rode the wind pretty good.�

The breeze that helped Arrhenius in the discus might have prevented a four-minute mile, but it didn’t seem to matter to Webb, a senior at South Lakes High in Reston, Va.

“I wanted to win the race, that was the prime objective,� Webb said. “I just ran my race. I won so I’m happy.�

Webb, who set a national indoor record of 3:59.86 in January, took the lead for good during the second lap.

Hall, whose 1,500-meter best of 3:45.12 converts to a 4:03.13 mile, followed Webb through the 880-yard mark in 1:59.1 and the 1,320 in 3:03.1, but the senior from Big Bear faded badly in the final 150 yards to finish fourth in 4:08.37.

Webb later ran 4:04.1 on his 1,600-meter anchor leg of the distance medley relay to lead South Lakes to a second-place finish in 10:04.55. Atlantic Community of Delray Beach, Fla., placed first in 9:57.88 to move to third on the all-time national list.

Henderson, a senior from San Diego Morse, and Perkins, a junior from Cerritos Gahr, staged a thrilling homestretch battle in the 400 before Henderson pulled away in the final 50 meters to win by 0.7 of a second with the fastest time in the nation this year.