SAN DIEGO — Here is a quiz: When was the last time a girl stepped on the track in a dual meet, running 4 minutes, 59.5 seconds for 1,600 meters and 10:47.99 for 3,200 — and lost?
Stanford-bound Alli Billmeyer (right) won a
remarkable double, before an even more
unlikely split in the 1,600 relay.
File phot by Todd Shurtleff
This clearly was not your normal dual meet and although it may have happened somewhere, sometime, the
Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) vs.
Torrey Pines (San Diego) Palomar League meet produced some eye-opening times and more than a little excitement in the girls team race, which went down to the final event.
Setting the scene: It was a perfect afternoon for distance runners with temperatures in the mid-60s and only a slight breeze as the two unbeaten teams, each with more than 200 members, collided at Torrey Pines High about 10 miles north of San Diego.
The meet drew a larger-than-usual crowd as it featured last year's California State 3,200 meter champion Molly Grabill of RB against Torrey Pines' Alli Billmeyer, the 2010 California runner-up in the 1,600.
Of the friendly rivals, Grabill had the edge in head-to-head races and this would be the one time they would go full-blast against each other – in both distance races — as by the league meet and San Diego Section championships they are expected to be focusing on their best events.
Excitement built after Torrey Pines won the 4x100 relay and there were a pair of junior varsity-frosh/soph 1,600s.
Both Billmeyer and Grabill knew the importance of the 1,600 in the team scoring and Billmeyer wasted no time in roaring through the first 400 in 70 seconds with Grabill sticking to her like a Band-Aid.
Racing 73 seconds for the second lap didn't seem to faze either runner but when Billmeyer added a 72 for the third 400, she opened a slight lead. While the two actually started lapping stragglers — remember, this was a dual meet — Billmeyer roared to a 70-second last 400 to win in 4:45.82.
She negative-split the race with almost even 2:22 and 2:23s. That winning time nearly matched Billmeyer's personal best of 4:45.06 run in the 2010 San Diego Section finals but there were four runners at 4:50.05 or faster in that race and five less than 5 minutes.
It appeared Grabill backed off the throttle slightly to save herself for the 3,200. One spot behind in third was TP's Ashlyn Dadkhah, who would win 99 percent of high school dual meets with her 5:07.51.
But before the 3,200, there was plenty of other action, including a 2:17.31 in the girls 800 by Dadkhah, a 44.75 in the 300 hurdles by TP's Taylor Larch-Miller, two runners under 50 seconds in the boys 400, and a 21.61 in the boys 200 by RB's Jared Pickering as the on-the-field announcer attempted to keep the fans posted on the team scores.
Sure enough, the girls competition was still a three-point meet heading into the 3,200s and that much-anticipated second showdown of the day.
This time when Billmeyer jumped out front, Grabill attached herself to the outside shoulder of the taller runner and the two went step for step to the delight of the crowd that had swelled with parents getting off work.
One lap, two, three. They went round and round, neither giving an inch. Four, five laps, the same, neither budging. Finally with 1,000 meters remaining, Grabill made a strong move, one that often in the past settled the outcome, taking the lead.
This time Billmeyer responded with a surge of her own and when she moved back in front, she did not back off, building the advantage step by step as 10 meters became 15 and became 20 heading into the final 400.
Billmeyer poured it on, sprinting past lapped runners to win in 10:33.86 while Grabill refused to do anything but what she always does, finish strong to clock a 10:47.99.
Molly Grabil ran a 4:59.50 in the 1,600
but lost by almost 15 seconds.
File photo by Louis Lopez
A 4:45.82 and 10:33.86 in a dual meet? Putting it in perspective, that 1,600 time is the fourth-fastest ever run in San Diego Section history and the 3,200 is in the Top 10. Billmeyer, who is bound for Stanford, did run a 10:19.1 in a dual meet last year but that was her only event.
And all Grabill, who will be off to Oregon in the fall, did was run what may be the fastest-ever second place double.
But the meet was not over, as Billmeyer's metric 2-mile victory and a third-place finish by the Falcons pulled Torrey Pines to within a point of RB, 66-65. The meet would go down to the 4x400 relay, which just happens to be one of the most exciting finishes in any sporting event with the victory on the line.
With both teams filing into the stands to form large cheering squads, Rancho Bernardo took the lead on the first 400. That excitement switched the other side of the field when Torrey Pines grabbed the lead on the second 400.
Billmeyer, who just 20 minutes before had finished the 3,200, got the baton for the third leg and ran an amazing 59.9, giving the baton to double hurdle winner Larch-Miller who brought the Falcons home in 4:01.87 for a 70-66 victory.
Billmeyer led the celebration.
"I had an 'on' day," said Billmeyer. "In the 3,200, I was feeling really good and when Molly went past me, it was totally reaction by me to go back in the lead. I didn't want her to be in front. I didn't really know the meet would go down to the last couple of events until a few minutes before the 3,200 but it didn't add much pressure.
"Before the relay, though, the team met three or four times and being a senior, I really wanted to win the team title. We joked that each of us would run 54s just to keep us loose. It was a team effort, which you don't get in invitational meets, and I liked that feeling. We were all pumped up. What an atmosphere!"
