Tara Davis Invitational a big hit at Agoura
Before she was a Team USA track and field competitor, Tara Davis-Woodhall was an Agoura student-athlete. She also used to help up-and-coming youth track athletes like Tyler Starling improve their skills in the long jump.
Davis-Woodhall returned to her roots Saturday and saw Starling win the long jump and witness the boom that Agoura track and field is having at the Tara Davis Invitational.
“She had a place on the field, but she didn't just stay there,” Agoura track and field coach Amanda Starling said. “She literally walked the field and met people. They broke the mold when they made Tara Davis.”
Agoura had wanted to host an invitational for several years, but the event became a real possibility when the school installed a nine-lane track ahead of this school year.
Davis-Woodhall's success as a Charger and beyond made the decision to name the meet after her nearly automatic. She won the 100-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump at the CIF State Championships in 2017 and went on to have a successful college career at Georgia and Texas.
Davis came in sixth in the long jump at the 2020 Olympics and won silver in the event at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Her support of the invitational was evident Saturday, according to Starling. Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Paralympian Hunter Woodhall, brought friends and family with them to the event and they signed autographs and took photos throughout the day.
“From her first picture to her last picture, from her first athlete to her last athlete, you would've thought it was her first athlete,” Starling said. “Just her composure and the attention she gave to people was so equal on every single athlete.”
Agoura's boys track and field team had a standout day at the invitational. Beau Lantz clocked 51.14 seconds to place second in the 400 meters and Matthew Alpert was third in the 1,600 at 4:37.78.
William Car won the boys 110 (17.80), Tyler Starling won the long jump (20 feet, 2.50 inches) and Agoura won the 4×100 relay with Lantz, Starling, Brady Dieffenbach and Cooper Reyes (43.69).
Paloma Padilla-Kastenberg had the best finish out of Agoura's girls, winning the high jump at a height of 5 feet, 2 inches.
The Chargers have a large team this season with 230 athletes on the roster, including many multi-sport athletes. Starling is also playing baseball this spring and the 4×100 relay team consists of three baseball players and a football player.
“It is quite the puzzle every single week to figure out how we support them so that they don't overtrain, but they're getting enough conditioning to perform at their highest level,” Starling said. “And then they're intermixed with some that run track and field year-round.”
Ten teams participated in the inaugural Tara Davis Invitational and Starling said that Agoura hopes to add more to the event in the future, expanding the reach of the bustling track and field program and its alumni even further.