Track Notebook: Apaches Mourn Loss of Distance Runner

Arcadia may have been facing visiting Burbank and Hoover in a Pacific League double dual meet Tuesday afternoon, but the Apaches were certainly not completely focused.

Sunday evening they lost one of their own when junior distance runner Alice Zhang was killed after being hit by a car while attempting to cross Duarte Road.

“We dedicated all of our races to her and wore purple ribbons,” Arcadia girls distance coach Jenny Landis said.

The Apache girls distance runners each wore a T-shirt with a letter on it with the full message saying “AHS Girls XC (a heart) Alice Zhang RIP”.

Prior to the start of the girls’ 1,600-meter race the distance group released 16 purple balloons into the air, as purple was Zhang’s favorite color.

The 1,600 was the race she was expected to run on Tuesday.

Fellow junior distance runner Sheila Lo was close with Zhang.

“We ran workouts together. Our times are like 10 seconds apart in the two mile,” Lo said. “There is a special bond that you get when you’re a teammate for three years. That bond will never be replaced.”

Lo said she often offered Zhang a ride home when her father picked her up from school.

“She never gave up and she always tried hard. She always tried to get her workout in even if she had to leave early,” Lo recalled of Zhang.

Senior Megan Zaldivar also has fond memories of Zhang.

“She was an extremely hard worker,” Zaldivar said. “She put in a full effort in every aspect of her life. She never gave up for anything. I know she would want all of us to (move on). She was a very strong person, so I know she would want us to do that.”

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San Marino junior sprinter Omhunique Brown finished in 10th place in the 100 meters in the Saturday morning portion of the Arcadia Invitational, with the top nine advancing to the finals of the girls’ ‘seeded’ race later that evening.

But Brown got lucky as a spot opened up in the invitational portion of the meet.

“A couple of kids scratched and you’d rather (go) into the invitational than the seeded race,” San Marino coach Barbara Edmonson said.

Brown ran her season best of 12.13 seconds even though she finished in ninth place. The time also was just two one-hundredths of a second off her personal best of 12.11.

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South Pasadena triple jumper Mayan Schexnayder encountered a friendly supporter at the Arcadia Invitational.

Jim Kiefer, a former jumps coach at UCLA and now at Vista Murrieta, introduced himself to Schexnayder since he has held the Tigers’ long jump record since he graduated from the school in 1964.

“It really is a piece of history in South Pasadena,” Schexnayder said. “We have all the old records up. I saw the triple jump record. That was my first goal. The second goal is to break his with all due respect. I’m coming for it.”

Minutes after winning the Arcadia Invitational 3,200-meter race, Arcadia senior Ammar Moussa spent time being interviewed by a host of reporters. He then was quick become a cheerleader as rooted on friend Elias Gedyon of Loyola, who anchored the Cubs’ distance medley, which followed the 3,200.

“I heard him clearly on the curve,” Gedyon said. “We still have a competitive rivalry, but at the same time we’re friends.”

Gedyon said the two often discuss their workouts with each other.

Moussa is headed to the University of Colorado next year and Gedyon is headed to the University of Oregon.

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This weekend many locals will be in action at the Mt. Sac Invitational at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.