Track and field diehards in the New York tri-state area, used to make the yearly pilgrimage to the Armory in Washington Heights, Manhattan, to get a close and first-hand look at some of the sport’s best young stars at the New Balance Nationals Indoor championships. Alas, in 2023, the meet moved to Boston, Mass., where the apparel company’s global operations are headquartered. From last Thursday through Sunday, the crowds that gathered at the Track at New Balance, on the brand’s campus, received the gift of performances that rewrote the scholastic record books, including two by Bullis School sensation Quincy Wilson.
On Saturday, Wilson broke the meet record of 45.76 seconds in the 400 meters — the record he established a year ago with a blistering 45.71, the second-fastest in high school history. Who has the best time? Yes, Wilson: 45.66.
On Sunday, Bullis, a private, co-ed, college preparatory school in Potomac, Md., lowered their all-time 4×400 meter mark. The quartet of Cameron Homer, Alexander Lambert, Colin Abrams, and Wilson shattered their previous record of 3:11:87 set last year with a new standard of 3:09:44.
Wilson, who at 16 years old became the youngest male United States track Olympian ever last summer when he ran on the men’s 4×400 meter relay team at the Paris Olympics, blazed a 45.9 seconds final leg in Boston. Bullis holds the top three boys’ high school times in the event — the school’s 2019 squad registered 3:12.53 in 2019.
Wilson wasn’t going to engage in an elaborate celebration for his remarkable accomplishments. Instead, he told the media, “I’m going to sleep and I’m playing [the video] game 2K.”
In other record-breaking showings, New Jersey’s Union Catholic smashed the state record in the distance medley relay with a winning time of 11:38.03, bettering the old mark of 11:41.12 held by Southern Regional since 2009. IMG Academy set a new record in the girls’ 4×800 meters with a time of 8:46.04.