AUBURN, Calif. – Junior Kayla Towne won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11 minutes, 20.55 seconds, leading five St. Francis runners in the top six finishers in the race, then anchored the winning 4x800 relay squad to a 9:59.74 to highlight Troubadour action at Placer High's LeFebvre Relays track & field meet Friday.
One of the area's top middle distance runners in 2022, Towne has now won events in back-to-back meets, having captured the 800 at the Glenn Poole Invite just six days earlier. That 11:20.55 puts her within five seconds of the school's all-time top-10 list. Grace Dunham (11:38.66), Daphne Witherell (11:53.08) and Kelsey Sutch (11:56.90) also broke the 12-minute barrier, while Ryann Strawn crossed in sixth place at 12:09.23.
Dunham, Witherell, Sutch and Towne captured the 4x800 relay, besting Del Oro by more than 22 seconds. They missed the meet record by about 10 seconds: Reno went 9:49.3 back in 2004.
Junior Elise Blomquist highlighted a small contingent in the field events, placing fourth in the discus with a PR of 85 feet, two inches. This surpasses the previous best of 77-4 for the former sprinter/hurdler, who also took seventh in the shot put at 38-2.25.
As the name of the meet implies, the majority of the schedule at the Le Febvre are relays. Besides the winning 4x800, St. Francis assembled a runner-up performance in the 4x400, as Kennedy Bishop, Penelope Cole, Sarah Charles and Holland Sperber compiled a 4:23.21 time. The foursome of Charles, Sperber, Cole and Jada Dwyre added a third-place 1:55.27 in the 4x200 as well.
This was the 84th running of the LeFebvre Relays, reportedly the longest-running meet in Northern California. It is named for the school's legendary track and basketball coach, who led those two sports to 24 total Sierra Foothill League titles. Ralph LeFebvre is also the namesake of Placer's stadium.
St. Francis returns to action for the Eighth Randall Sturgeon Invitational at Granite Bay on March 11.
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