The only way anyone at the Stanford Invitational could have logged more miles than Crystal senior Benjamin Bouie was by chartering an around-the-world flight.
Bouie headlined an array of local track-and-field athletes the Stanford Invitational as the only runner from San Mateo County to bring home a title from the two-day meet. Bouie claimed first place in the boys’ 3,200 meters Friday. The senior topped the field in a time of 9 minutes, 4.5 seconds at 2 p.m. An hour later, he added another 1,200 meters by running the first leg of the boys’ distance medley relay.
“It was a good day for Ben,” Crystal head coach Albert Caruana said. “It was I think his third fastest time ever (in the 3,200), and he was all by himself, and he broke away in the second mile.”
In terms of distance, Bouie was just getting warmed up. From there, he headed to the airport to join another group of Crystal classmates for a Sunday morning flight, at 12:30 a.m., destined for Japan to begin a nine-day spring vacation.
This marks the fourth straight year the Harvard University-bound Bouie has run at the Stanford Invitational. It was his best-ever podium finish at the meet, this year held Friday and Saturday at Cobb Track and Angell Field. Last season, he ran the 1,600, placing third. The previous two years, he competed in the DMR, with Crystal placing fourth in both races.
“Last year that was kind of where he made a big jump in the 1,600 ... and he got third last year,” Caruana said. “So, I think that was a big race last year. And this year with the Japan trip it was just a good chance to get a couple good races in.”
While Bouie claimed the 3,200 title, it was a moderate performance for him overall. His personal record in the event is 8:58.66 during a ninth-place finish at the last season’s Nike Outdoor Nationals. The field for Friday’s race — with the meet featuring 147 schools from around the state — was initially expected to be a barnburner. Come race time, however, the field of top distance runners had thinned out considerably.
“There was supposed to be, including him, about five guys who have broken nine minutes, and everybody scratched but him,” Caruana said.
Bouie is the reigning CCS champion in the boys’ 1,600, which he won last season with a personal record 4:06.92. In cross country, he led the Gryphons to back-to-back CIF Division V state championships in 2022 and ’23, and brought home the individual CIF Division V crown in 2023.
Due to his travels, Bouie will skip the Arcadia Invitational this coming weekend, one of the highest profile meets of the regular season. Crystal will take a contingent of runners. The Crystal girls’ team will have four runners on the slate for Arcadia, including Anna Salter, who took fifth place in the girls’ 800 Saturday at Stanford. The junior’s time of 2:14.05 marks a new Crystal program record in the event.
Salter also anchored the girls’ DMR team that took seventh Friday with a time of 12:22.88.
Other top San Mateo County performances include:
Boys’ 3200: Bouie, Crystal, first, 9:04.50.
Menlo-Atherton senior Sara Nordlund competes in the girls’ 400 hurdles Saturday at the Stanford Invitational.
Malcolm Slaney
Boys’ discus: Emmanuel Fitzgerald, San Mateo, second, 49.94.
Girls’ pole vault: Avery Boyse, Burlingame, second, 12-3 1/4.
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