ARCADIA — The Arcadia Invitational attracts the very best high school track and field athletes across the country. It has had its share of future Olympians but never a current Olympian and gold medalist.
That is, until this year.
Teenage superstar Quincy Wilson, who earned a gold medal as part of the United States’ 4×400-meter relay squad in the 2024 Paris Olympics, lived up to the hype and expectations Saturday night. The senior from Maryland’s Bullis School won the 400 invitational race in a meet record time of 45.48 seconds.
He also anchored Bullis’ 4×400 relay team to a comfortable win in the invitational race in a time of 3 minutes, 9.14 seconds.
Wilson received the loudest applause of the evening when introduced before his 400 race. He gave the crowd even more to cheer for when he cruised to a meet record in the event.
His time of 45.48 beat the old record of 45.51 set by Michael Norman from Vista Murrieta High School in 2016.
While Wilson’s time is scorching for high school runners, it’s more than one second off of Wilson’s personal best of 44.10 seconds that he ran last July. That time put him amongst the best 400-meter runners in the world and set an American 18-and-under record.
Wilson said this was just his second track meet on the West Coast.
“I love the atmosphere at Arcadia,” he said. “I wish I was here the three years before but I’m just happy we were able to come for my senior year.”
Wilson drew the most attention this year from fans and fellow athletes who congratulated him after his races and took pictures with him.
“It’s a blessing,” Wilson said of the attention and adulation. “I just look back and don’t want to take anything for granted. Like I said, it could be here today and gone tomorrow, so I’m just excited and ready for what else this season has to come.”
Wilson was asked about coming back to Southern California in two years to compete in the Olympics.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “That’s always the goal. LA ’28 is a big thing on my mind. I’m just training up to get there.”
Wilson wasn’t the only one setting records at Arcadia. Jackson Spencer from Herriman High in Utah won the 3,200 invitational race in a national high school record time of 8 minutes, 31.80 seconds. That broke the old record of 8:33.32 set by Colin Sahlman from Newbury Park High in 2022.
“I feel amazing,” Spencer said after the race. “I just broke a national record. I didn’t ever expect to do that.”
Spencer had to fight to the finish as he outkicked second-place finisher Marcelo Mantecon in the last 200 meters to win the race by less than four seconds.
“I just decided to pour everything I had into it,” Spencer said of the end of the race. “I left everything on the track.”
He said the ambience of the meet helped push him to the record.
“It was awesome just to be able to go and do what I’ve done,” Spencer said. “It’s been a stellar experience watching some of the races here and watching all those good performances. I’m just glad to have been one of them.”
The most impressive performance from the Southern California area athletes came from Servite High’s boys 4×100 relay. The team of Jace and Jorden Wells, Kamil Pelovello, and Benjamin Harris smashed the competition in the invitational race, winning in a blazing fast time of 39.70 seconds.
That’s a new California high school record and only the second time in state history a 4×100 team has run under 40 seconds. The first time was actually last week when the same Servite squad ran 39.82 seconds at the Trabuco Hills Invite.
The national record is 38.92 seconds set in 2024 by Atascocita High School in Texas.
San Gabriel Valley athletes turned in some solid performances, too.
Monrovia sophomore Isla Terrill won the girls 1-mile open competition in the afternoon with a time of 4:54.91. She followed that up with an eighth-place finish in the open 800 with a strong time of 2:11.69. Both times put her in prime position to qualify for the CIF-SS Finals in mid-May and possibly even the CIF State meet.
Walnut senior hurdles star Brenden Neeley finished sixth in the seeded 100 hurdles race in a time of 14.30 seconds. He leads the San Gabriel Valley this season with a time of 13.94 seconds.
La Serna senior Erick De Leon finished seventh in the boys 800 seeded race in a time of 1 minute, 53.73 seconds. That’s just over a second off his personal best time this season. De Leon also took part in La Serna’s 4,000 distance medley relay, helping his team to a 13th-place finish.
South Pasadena junior Michael Scarince finished 18th in the seeded 3,200 race, getting in under the nine-minute mark at 8 minutes, 59.27 seconds. He’s already run 8:57 this season and has met the at-large standard for the CIF State meet in the event.
Arcadia senior distance star Charlotte Hopkins competed in the prestigious 3,200 invitational, finishing 32nd in 10 minutes, 36.93 seconds.
Rio Hondo Prep pole vaulter Braeden Yokoyama finished 13th in the boys pole vault invitational with a season-best vault of 14 feet, 8 inches on his third and final attempt. That beat his previous best this season by two inches. Yokoyama tried for 15-8 inches but wasn’t quite able to reach.
South Pasadena junior Gavin Wernberg finished second in the open boys shot put competition with a heave of 55 feet, 6 inches.
Damien junior sprinter Malachi McFarland finished fifth in the 100 open competition with a time of 10.71 seconds. That was slightly behind his San Gabriel Valley-leading time of 10.56 seconds this season.
The San Gabriel Valley athletes competed against many of the best athletes in the country. More than 690 schools from 35 states brought competitors to Arcadia this year.
