Lake Braddock’s Hannah Christen, Annandale’s Ahmed Bile look strong at Northern Virginia Invitational

Lake Braddock’s Hannah Christen cruised to victory in the 1,600 meters and Annandale’s Ahmed Bile dominated the 800 at the Northern Virginia Invitational Saturday in Alexandria, performances that gave their seasons a significant boost two weeks ahead of the Penn Relays.

Christen had never broken five minutes in the 1,600 before Saturday, but the Bruins sophomore crushed that barrier and the meet record by finishing well ahead of the field at Edison High. She took control of the race about halfway through and ran away from Sarah Jane Underwood of West Potomac to win in 4 minutes 57.98 seconds. That is fastest in the state of Virginia so far this season.

Bile was even more imposing. The Atoms senior blasted to the front of the race and immediately began to leave the field in his wake. He used a massive lean at the line — the Georgetown signee didn’t need it with the competition five seconds behind him — to freeze the clock in a meet-record 1:51.90 on the final day of the two-day event.

Bile will be running the mile at Penn Relays — Christen is entered in the 3,000 — but his two-lap performance on Saturday under picture-perfect conditions is fastest in the state so far this season and it left him feeling confident he can do well on one of the largest stages of the season in a couple of weeks.

“It made sense to get some speed work in,” Bile said. “Knowing I haven’t done any raw 800 work yet and to still run 1:51, it feels great.”

There were 20 schools present, but another of the meet’s great performances belonged to Lake Braddock. The Bruins’ Sophie Chase, a junior All-Met, put the field away early in the 800, finishing her first lap in 58 seconds and crossing in 2:11.71, a three-second personal best and the fastest time in Virginia this season.

Robinson sophomore Macey Schweikert was runner-up in 2:16.30.

The boys from Westfield continued their dominance in the relays. The Bulldogs won the 4x800, the first event on Saturday, in a meet-record 8:02.30 before taking the meet’s final event, the 4x400, over Annandale in 3:24.63. Junior Nathan Kiley contributed legs on both relays and was runner-up in the 400 in 49.15.

In the field, Edison went 1-2 in the girls’ triple jump. Junior Anna Williams won with a meet-record 37 feet 11 inches while senior teammate and 300 hurdles champion Kristina Brown took second with 35-8.5.

Briar Woods senior Shaquera Leach controlled the long sprints — she won the 200 in a meet-record 24.89 and Friday’s 400 in 57.22 — and was the top high-jumper with 5 feet.

Rajee Dunbar pulled off the same sprint double in the boys’ meet. The Gonzaga senior easily won the 200 (personal-best 21.92) after winning the 400 (48.85).

“I used to be scared of the pain. You have to be willing to hurt,” Dunbar said after his race, his hands clasped on top of his head and his chest still heaving. “I’m not going to say it gets easy. I’m getting closer to my goal.”