Arcadia Titanic Match-ups -
Brittany Daniels (Merrill West, Tracy, Ca) and Erica McLain (Plano East, Plano, Tx) - 2004 Indoor Leader Lauren Stewart (Tennessee) & Gayle Hunter make it super!!

Girls Triple Jump

Early in the evening in the 2004 Arcadia Invitational on April 10th, a match-up will take place in the South Triple Jump pit of truly titanic proportions involving a number of the top bounders in US Prep History. Erica McLain (Plano East, Plano, Texas) has a lifetime best in the event of 43-01, making her only one of four prep athletes ever to leap past 43 feet in the “three-leap” contest, with Brittany Daniels (Merrill West, Tracy) a 42-04.75 (42-08.75w) lifetime best that marks her as the #4 Californian ever and among US History’s Top Twenty All-Time! The two rank as the nation’s best going into the 2004 outdoor season, with the mid-April Arcadia contest, as has happened many times in the past, setting the tone for a season-long sorting out of National bragging rights for an event! Along for the ride in the super competition are 2004 Prep Indoor Leader, Lauren Stewart (Brentwood, Tennessee) 41-07.75, and Gayle Hunter, last weekend 40-06.75 from North, Riverside!! - Prep US History's Greatest ever regular season three-leap field?? (We think so!!)

The tall, lithe, and powerful young ladies are no stranger to the big-time, having achieved national, international, and age-group honors right and left during their young careers. McLain is the US Age-17 record holder for her 43-01 jump. The duo of McLain and Daniels have mixed it up a number of times before with impressive results, with the runway at Arcadia, which is of the National Record Variety, with the National Federation Record of 52-10.5 set here way back in 1980 by Charles Mayfield of Muir HS in Pasadena still holding up against all challengers during the regular high school season. Outside of Michael Carter’s all-time Shot Put best from 1979, it is the oldest national federation record on the prep books! With Niklas Arrhenius’s 234-03 Discus Record from a few years back, and Alan Webb’s 3:59.51 1600 All-time Federation Record, the mid-April Arcadia affair has been the most prolific of any prep regular season affair in adding to the prep record books with over 20 Prep National Records set during the competition’s history. The 2003 Arcadia Invitational added a monster 1:38.73 Girls 800 Medley Relay Record (old record 1:42.0) by Long Beach Poly, and 57.49 Girls Shuttle Hurdle Record (destroying the old 58.89 standard) by North of Riverside, with both programs back for the 2004 Arcadia Meet.

In the Triple Jump, last year McLain (#1) and Daniels (#2) topped the annual Track & Field News All-American rankings in that contest. McLain was ranked #2 in the country in 2002, with she and Daniels undefeated through all of 2003 through their state meets. Lauren Stewart had a 2003 best of 41-07.75 outdoors (#7 jump in the nation for preps), with Hunter 40-06.25 in 2003 before her 40-06.75 pr from last weekend!! Hunter was the nation's #5 ranked Prep Long-Jumper last year. McLain won the Adidas Outdoor Championships in the TJ, with Daniels the Golden West Invitational TJ Champ. McLain beat Daniels as the duo placed third and fourth, respectively, behind two collegians at the USATF Junior National Championships TJ, with Daniels winning over Erica at the World Youth Meet last summer as they placed 5th and 7th respectively against the world’s best at under age 18 in Canada!

The Indoor season was active for the group this winter!! Lauren Stewart led the nation "undercover" with a 41-07.75 effort in late February. McLain was 41-06.5 in winning the Nike Indoor Championships last month in Maryland, and Daniels a 40-09.75 effort during a January Nevada Indoor affair. The trio sat 1-2-3 indoors for the nation this winter!!! Brittany upped her seasonal best to 41-01.25 in a mid-March outdoor dual meet in which it was reported in a local paper that she took off two feet behind the board!!!

The Triple Jump, the Discus, and other field events are famous for cranking up the atmosphere at Arcadia a tad before the sun sets, with 2004 being no different with the potential of match-ups such as the McLain and Daniels one in the Girls Triple Jump, and some other great Field event groupings!!

It has happened many times before, and the scene is set up for some magic once again, with the action in this Girls Triple Jump one that should have the fans glued to their seats with great appreciation of athletic talent on the track and in the field!!