Records Fell, History Was Rewritten and the 2026 Arcadia Invitational Delivered a Weekend Nobody Will Forget

The 2026 Arcadia Invitational produced dozens of national-leading marks, reinforcing its status as the top early-season meet in high school track and field.

Quincy Wilson was a main headliner for the 2026 Arcadia Invitational, but the meet was jam packed with talent throughout the entire field. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Arcadia Invitational does not need much of a slaes pitch as to how prestigious of a meet it is. Coined as the meet that is "Home of the National Records". It is where prep legends are made, and college coaches fill their notebooks in bewilderment and awe of some of the times. This years meet shattered all expectations. For context, there are 3 different sessions, the Friday events, open and invitational. The Saturday night session is the place to be especially this year as it was a frenzy with the star power there.

(Note: All times/marks are pulled from athletic.net, the official Arcadia Invitational meet program and verified social reporting as of the date of publication.)

Friday Standout perfromances:

Servite added to its lore cementing themselves even more in the all time record books. They ran a 1:22.76 in the 4x200-meter relay which was good wnough to etch themselves no. 4 all time in US history and improving on their meet record (1:23.88) from last season by more than a second. They now stand only half a second back of the all-time mark(and only non Texas school in the top 10). Unfortunately, this will be the last time they run this even this year so fans will have to wait until next year.

Union Catholic Travels Cross-Country, Then Demolishes the Meet Record

Union Catholic arrived at Arcadia with a reputation and did not disappoint.

Behind a 1:51.1 anchor leg from Ciaran Brosnan, they ran 7:32.78 in the 4x800-meter relay, a new U.S. No. 1 mark and a new Arcadia Invitational meet record. The previous meet record was Long Beach Poly's 7:41.54 from 2025. Union Catholic shattered it by nine full seconds,

To put that in further context: Belen Jesuit (Fla.), one of the premier distance programs in the country, ran 7:37.29. JSerra and M.L. King (Calif.) clocked 7:38.13 and 7:38.96, respectively. Union Catholic showed up with a point to prove

Loyola Goes No. 2 All-Time at Arcadia in the Sprint Medley

Loyola's California leading 400-meter runner, Ejam Yohannes, crossed the line in the 800-meter Sprint Medley Relay with the kind of expression that tells you exactly what just happened before you even look at the clock.

1:28.85. HS No. 3 all-time nationally. And No. 2 all-time at Arcadia.

The Arcadia meet record in the event belongs to Poly Long Beach, who ran 1:28.43 back in 2007. Loyola missed it by just 0.42 seconds. The finish-line photo said everything — arms wide, eyes closed, bib flapping.

Rosary came to make a statement

Rosary took the girls' 4x200-meter relay with a national-leading 1:34.29, topping Long Beach Wilson and Bullis — both of whom also ran U.S. top-10 times. It wasn't a close race. It was a statement. And according to the official Arcadia all-time lists, 1:34.29 makes Rosary the second-fastest girls' 4x200 squad in the history of this meet, sitting just 0.42 seconds behind Poly Long Beach's meet record of 1:33.87, set in 2004.

On Saturday

Rosary went on to win the 4x100-meter relay in dominating fashion with a time of 44.32. The next two schools, Calabssas and Bullis ran 44.54 and 44.82 respectively which would have also been meet records edging out the 44.95 record set in 2004 by Long Beach Poly. These are all top 5 national times with Rosary having the second best time only behind a 43.77 by Lancaster (TX).(Race here

Servite, Rosary's brother school, improved on their California state record and national lead with a time of 39.70. Now sitting no. 1 in two relays nationally and number two in the 4x400 relay only behind Quincy Wilson and Bullis who extended their national lead running uncontested essentially at Arcadia winning by over 3 seconds with a time of 3:09.14.

Wilson ran a nice anchor leg with a split of 46.30. They were only a few tenths of a second off setting the meet record of 3:08.92 set by Muir (Pasadena) in 1996. led by Obea Moore, Makio Haywood and Jucorie Tyron.. Bullis' girls team also won the 4x400 with a time of 3:38.72

Bombs were thrown

Simon Rosselli of Mead (WA) followed up his historic performance from last year entering into 2nd all time in Arcadia discus history with a toss of 225'5" (68.71m) in prelims to follow it up with an inch improvemnet on his last toss of the competion. This mark makes him no. 5 all-time in US history. Unfortunately he fouled all his throws in shotput and could have contested for the gold medal there with his 65' PR. He surpassed Mason Finley and Kamy Keshmiri on the all time list and now sits only behind Niklas Arrhenius' best mark of 234'3" (71.40m).

The discus competion saw three other top 10 national marks with Kayden Hurst of Debbie Smith CTE Academy (NV) with a 203'11" (62.15m) (throw here). That was good for 3rd in the nation while 3-Star football recruit James Conrad of St Ignatius (OH) had a huge mark of 197'3" (60.12m), a 12-foot improvement. Good for no. 9 in the US while Matthew Bryant of Lone Peak (UT) had a best mark of 196'7" (59.92m) good for the 10th spot on the national leaderboard.

Case Jacobson (St. Francis (Mountain View, CA)) would go on to win the shot put competition with a toss of 65'3.5"(19.29m) making him the leader in CA and no. 5 nationally. That mark also positions himself as the 2nd longest thrower in CIF Central Coast section history only behindSteve Wilhelm of Fremont who has a best mark of 65'10" back in 1967. (Video of Jacobson's throw here)

Lehigh football commit Case Jacobson (@sfhsathletics) launched the shotput 65’3.5” (19.29 m) for a 3 foot PR and a new CA #1 and US #5 to take home the Arcadia invite title. 💣@HighSchoolOnSI @CalHiSports @SBLiveCA @Tarek_Fattal @sfchronicle @beau_throws @nationalthrows… pic.twitter.com/vUSYg6bHyN

— Roland Padilla (@roland_padilla) April 12, 2026

On the girls side there wasn't much of a surprise there as Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel set a meet record of 53'2"(16.20m), and went on to double up in the discus with a best toss of 182'2" (55.50m). This mark was good enough for 3 feet off the meet record and 2nd all time in meet history. Would have been interesting to see if there was any difference in performance had the vent order switched as the winds were a little gustier during the boys sessions. In her competition she faced one top 10 natioanlly ranked thrower which was Madison Davis of Atkins (NC) who had a best throw of 159'5" ranking 6th in the nation.

A standout in the throws was Ethan Sam Fong of Pine View who started off in the friday night rising stars meet in discus winning with a 15' improvement of his PB of 167'(50.90m). He would go on to win the seeded session with another improvement hitting 172'4"(52.53) allowing him a shot to compete in the invitational flight. Ethan came in as one of the lowest rated throwers in discus across all flights / sessions and finished in 8th place with another personal best of 173'3"(52.81m). An absolutely insane run and surely one of the most impressive feats of the weekend.

DIstance Dueling

Arguably the most impressive race of the night was the 3200m for the boys. The race saw 19 runners dip under the nine minute mark and we saw the natioanl HS record fall and the meet recrd was shattered by Jackson Spencer. What is more insane is the sheer volume of the wuality of runners. The national leaderboard for the top 10 3200-meter runners is exclusively comprised of Arcadia times.

HS Boys top 10 for 3200 meters | Athletic.net

Full 3200m race footage below

The meet contained dozens of top 10 national leaders across all events. We saw the no. 1 time in the nation for the 3200 on the girls' side with Abigail (Hennesy (MA)) run a screaming 9:50.84 good for second all-time at Arcadia, only behind Jane Hedengren who had the 9:30 last year.

In the 1600 Cadel Ruthven of Fort Collins (CO) ran a 4:06.62 good for 8th in the nation and 3rd best in Arcadia meet history. Chiara Dailey of La Jolla ran a nation leading 4:39.31 good for 3rd in Arcadia.

In the 800-meters we saw no. 2 nationally ranked time in the girls field by Paige Sheppard of Union Catholic (NJ). We saw her teammate Keandre Kelly get the fourth best nationally ranked time with a 1:49.70, but was out-dueled by Josiah Bowman (Sage Creek) who ran the best time in San Diego history and no. 2 nationally with a 1:49.54. This performance came in the seeded section

In the 400 Quincy Wilson ran a 45.48 moving into 2nd place nationally and taking down Michael Norman's meet record of 45.51 from 2016.

In the 200, Servite's terror squad of Kamil Pelovello and Jorden and Jace Wells swept 1-3. On the girls side freshman Mya Arrendell (Bullis) ran 23.17 which is good for no. 7 nationally (all conditions).

The 200 saw Arrendell taking that as well with an 11.27 good for 7th in the nation while Aster jones of Roosevelt (OR) and Olivia Kirk of Calabasas ran a 11.31 and 11.33 respectively moving them into 9th and 10th in the nation. Servite's sprint leader Benjamin Harris went on to win the 100 with a time of 10.32 getting his second 100-meter invitational medal of his career.

Got it — tightening it up and making it fully mark-driven, matching your exact flow:

The Hurdles

In the hurdles, Arcadia produced multiple national top-10 marks across both sides.

In the 110m hurdles, Joshua Kai Smith (Gar-Field, VA) ran 13.17 (+2.7) at Arcadia to move into the national top 10, while Josh Hamblin (Weber, UT) followed at 13.42 (+2.7), also sitting inside the top tier. The meet record 13.43 and unfortuanely due to the wind their was no new meet record. (Race here)

In the 300m hurdles, Kendrick Joshua (Richmond Hill, GA) clocked 36.49 at Arcadia, good for a national rank of 6th while Cy Lugo of Elk Grove ran the nation's 8th best time of 36.67.

On the girls side, Rebekah-Jade Garrett (North Canyon, AZ) ran 13.39 (+1.7) in the 100m hurdles at Arcadia, placing her 5th in the country.

The 300m hurdles saw the biggest impact, led by Kaahailah Lacy (San Jacinto Valley Academy, CA) at 40.81 to take over the No. 1 time in the country. She was followed by Natalie Dumas (Eastern Senior, NJ) at 41.89, and Sydney Chadwick of Union Catholic (NJ) with a time of 42.05 placing her at 10th in the nation.

The Remaining field events

In the high jump, Julia Teven cleared 5'10" (1.78m) to stay among the nation’s best, while AB Hernandez matched that same bar and remained right in the mix nationally as well. In a year where the event has been tightly packed at the top, Arcadia again delivered a meet loaded with elite-level clearance.

The pole vault was one of the strongest field events of the weekend. Lydia Townsend cleared 13'8"(4.17m ) to solidify herself as the top vaulter in the country, (video here)

Arcadia 2026 once again delivered on its reputation as the premier early-season proving ground in high school track and field, producing dozens of national-leading and top-10 marks across sprints, distance, hurdles, and field events. From record-setting performances to breakout stars, the meet brought together the deepest collection of talent in the country and reshaped the U.S. leaderboard in real time. Standout programs like Servite, powered by athletes such as Benjamin Harris, Jorden Wells, Jace Wells, and Kamil Pelovello, and Rosary, led by Mendell, showed the strength of Southern California sprinting, while Olympic gold medalist Quincy Wilson added another headline moment with a historic 400m performance. Across every event group, Arcadia Invitational 2026 wasn’t just fast — it was nationally defining, setting the tone for the rest of the season.