Five Big Takeaways From This Weekend Of High School Track

Feb 12, 2024

* Bullis School's Quincy Wilson made a statement with his winning move in the 600m on Sunday at the Millrose Games

Photo Credit: Kyle Brazeil/MileSplit

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The best and brightest performers in the United States are rounding the corner.

With only a few weeks remaining in the indoor track and field season, the expectations elevate as we tend to see record-level efforts happening across the track and in the field.

This weekend was another reminder of that.

A handful of athletes and teams put down glaring statements which should shed light on what we could see in March during a series of national championship meets arriving on the calendar.

Check out five big takeaways from the weekend.

5. Montverde Academy's girls are going to break the 4x200 national record

Not since the Bullis School girls in 2018 has a group of females been this good

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Three hundredths of a second.

That's how close the Florida program was to meeting the six-year standing national girls record in the 4x200 on Sunday at the Millrose Games. A group including Skyler Franklin, Adaejah Hodge, Alivia Williams and Michelle Smith -- the same group that took down the high school national record in the 4x400 in January -- pocketed a time of 1:34.78.

That should mean only one thing. The Eagles are on the edge of breaking a fast record that few high school teams have even gotten close to in recent years.

No true high school program has been near it since -- the closest: South Dade, 2023, 1:37.18.

But there is a side effect.

Montverde Academy is pulling other teams forward.

Bullis School ran 1:35.25 in that same race; that performance would rank No. 4 all-time if Bulldogs didn't already own the No. 1 effort of 1:34.75. Archbishop Carroll, meanwhile, ran the 10th-fastest time in high school history, hitting 1:36.58 on the clock -- an interesting nugget here is that Bullis also pulled two teams (Nansemond River and Western Branch) into the top 15 of the all-time rankings during their record run in 2018.

We don't think anyone takes down Montverde at this point.

In fact, we think the girls from Central Florida blow past that 2018 record and claim their second record in as many chances this season.

4. Corintia Griffith Is Having A Spectacular Campaign

The Webster Schroeder athlete is U.S. No. 1 in the triple jump

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Griffith is having a wonder season.

Truly. She might be one of the most underrated athletes in high school track and field today.

How else can you describe someone who currently owns two top 10 marks nationally in the long and triple jump, with her U.S. No. 1 mark of 42-11 in the triple jump putting her No. 10 all-time in the record books?

For good measure, she's also run 7.25 for 55m -- which ranks No. 145 in the nation -- and 41.12 for 300m.

Griffith flies -- and I do mean flies -- under the radar better than almost anyone. Take her career best mark. That took place at the Section 5 No. 9 meet in New York. You would have to say it five times to even remember it.

Sometimes you have to question meet marks in low-level meets. But not this one. That 42-11 jump represented Griffith's fifth straight leap over 40 feet on the season.

It was as legit as they come.

Now, here's the next part of that equation: If Griffith can claim a 20-footer in the long jump, that would also mark a special point in her career. Only 13 females in history have claimed a 40-foot triple jump and a 20-foot long jump.

Griffith is so close. She currently owns the eighth-best combined mark in history.

3. Clay Shively Is On The Cusp

The Wichita Trinity athlete is staking his claim on a sub-4 mile

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The best miler in the state of Kansas since Jim Ryun is teetering on the verge of history.

Clay Shively came up just 0.70 seconds shy of his first sub-4 mile on Saturday at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University, clocking a time of 4:00.70 against collegians.

It was a huge moment for Shively, who took four seconds off his debut at the distance. But it also took four seconds off his best performance from last year.

If this whole transformative property works as it should, more time could erase if Shively does try it again at the distance. That's how development works.

Of course, there is also a flip side to that coin: the idea of diminishing returns. Some high school athletes over history have gone to the well too many times and come up short -- Cooper Teare, Brodey Hasty, Cruz Culpepper and DJ Principe are examples.

But when you are this close, you would sell yourself short by not trying.

And we would have to guess Shively is the trying type.

2. Avery Lewis Is An Absolute Force

The Friends' Central has been a lethal in the long jump over her career

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We've always believed in Avery Lewis' powers.

There's a simple reason why. She's consistently great. You could argue about what "greatness" means for an athlete like Lewis, but then again, I'd remind you to check her resume.

After her record-breaking long jump of 21 feet, 6 inches on Saturday at the PTFCA Indoor Carnival, she moved clearer of the Pennsylvania state record -- one she already owned -- and moved into the top five performers at the event in history. She ranks No. 4 right now.

But here is a descending order of her next best jumps (only indoors):

21-1.25, 20-8.5, 20-8, 20-7.75, 20-6.5, 20-5, 20-3.75.

She owns eight 20-plus long jump performances over her high school career. That's a four-year span of excellence.

Of course, Lewis is not just a jumper. She's one of the nation's top sprinters, too, and has clocked times of 7.49 in the 60m and 24.32 in the 200m, the latter also coming from this past weekend.

Lewis has some minor tweaks to make to her 200m, but we feel confident she can break 24 seconds and approach her PR of 23.74 from 2022.

1. Quincy Wilson Is All About The Challenge

The Bullis School sophomore once again silenced the doubters, winning the 600m at Millrose

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Quincy Wilson was there for the moment. Superstars often are.

Out of all of the sophomore's races in 2024, none of them quite stood up to that 600m, with Wilson facing peers like Jonathan Simms, Jaden Marchan, his teammate Colin Abrams and Tyler Matthews at the Millrose Games.

Big stage. Bright lights. Stakes higher than ever.

Marchan had beaten him earlier in the season. Simms had run faster in the 400m over the spring. And then there was Matthews, the Arizona prep whom some had picked to beat him on Sunday.

Wilson shut everybody up.

When the race got hard into the final 50 meters, he went to the arms and floated to the finish, crossing in 1:17.36 for a new U.S. No. 1 mark. Marchan was second in 1:17.96 and Simms was third in 1:18.22.

It wasn't the end of Wilson's season.

But that reminder was just enough, proving ground. Wilson might be the No. 1 man on the block, but he sure races like someone with a chip on his shoulder. And that, too, is not surprising. All the best athletes do.