The Arcadia Invitational is a high school

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

meet in the United States. It is considered the most competitive meet in the country and has been billed as the "Home of

National Records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as ...

". The meet is held at Arcadia High School in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of t ...

, on either the first or second weekend in April each year. The Arcadia Invitational attracts the top prep athletes in the United States and internationally (Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Argentina, and Brazil have been represented in recent years). The Arcadia Invitational has played host to 32 national high school records and has helped to produce 179 U.S. Olympians.

History

In 1968, Arcadia High School track coach Doug Smith had an idea for an evening track and field meet for all the area schools. The first invitational was held more than 50 years ago, with 23 schools and six track clubs participating. Arcadia graduate Tracy Smith was the first of many future Olympic athletes to be a winner in the Arcadia Invitational. He went on to participate in the

1968 Mexico City Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. 1970 is the year that Doug Smith felt was a giant step in the development of the meet into more of a "Southern California" event. Santa Ana Coach Earl Engman, who was the Meet Director of the CIF-Southern Section championship affairs, entered his championship squad from Orange County, enhancing the event with the members of his top program from the greater

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

. The invitational has since gone on to produce 32 U.S. high school records and 179 U.S. Olympians up to and including the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. In 2002, the meet expanded from a single-day competition to a two-day affair as the newly formed Friday portion consisted of additional relays (sprint medleys, shuttle hurdles, 4x800, etc.) not common at most meets. In 2004, another (third) section of field events competition also was added to the Friday schedule. In 2008, the Arcadia Multis were added on the Thursday-Friday of meet week, allowing top decathletes and heptathletes the chance to compete. It has become the premier multi-events competition for high schoolers, with both national decathlon records (high school implements and international implements) for boys achieved there. In 2010, the deepest quality field of high school heptathletes was featured. The Arcadia Invitational is now among the largest outdoor high school meets in the United States, with more than 4,000 high school athletes competing. In terms of participation numbers, it is also the largest high school sporting event in the nation that is hosted on a high school campus. As of 2017, Arcadia High School organization, Apache News, live streams the field events for the meet. They provide live coverage of the event split into three live streams, the first covering the pole vault and high jump, the second covering long jump and triple jump, and the third covering shotput and discus.

3200 meters

Amongst all the high-quality performers featured annually, the boys' 3200-meter event has become a signature event for inspiring top performances. The competitive environment and ideal weather allows many elite male athletes to break the 9-minute barrier for the first time. At the 2017 meet, an unprecedented 27 athletes broke 9 minutes (25 in the invitational section and 2 in the seeded section).

Notable athletes

Jordan Hasay Jordan Melissa Hogan (née Hasay) (born September 21, 1991) is an American distance runner. She attended Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo and was unanimously selected 2008 Girls High School Athlete of the Year by the vo ...

Noah Lyles Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997) is an American track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 60 meters, 100 metres, 100 meters and 200 metres, 200 meters events. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the List of Un ...

Will Claye Will Claye (born June 13, 1991) is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF W ...

* Curtis Beach *

Sondre Guttormsen Sondre Guttormsen (born 1 June 1999) is a Norwegian athlete specialising in the pole vault. He is a European Indoor Championships gold and bronze medallist. Guttormsen won the gold medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships and the bronze ...

Jahvid Best Jahvid Andre Best (born January 30, 1989) is an American track and field Olympian athlete, and former professional football running back. He was selected by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played college football ...

Alysia Montano ''Alysia'' is a luxury charter Motor yacht owned by Greek businessman Andreas Liveras. She was constructed in steel during 2006 by the Neorion ship-yard for a cost of about 116 million EUR. This made her ''Forbes'' magazine's most expensive ya ...

Quincy Watts Quincy D. Watts (born June 19, 1970) is an American former athlete, and two-time gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Career Born in Detroit, Michigan, Quincy Watts attended the University of Southern California (USC) where he excelled a ...

* Chaunte Lowe * Steve Lewis *

Stephanie Brown-Trafton Stephanie Brown Trafton (born December 1, 1979) is an American track and field athlete who won the discus throwing gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is thus one of only three American women to have ever won the event. She w ...

Danny Everett Danny Everett (born November 1, 1966) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He won bronze medals in the 400 m at the 1988 Olympic Games and at the 1991 World Championsh ...

Amy Acuff Amelia Lyn "Amy" Acuff (born July 14, 1975) is a track and field athlete from the United States. A high jump specialist, she competed in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games as a member of USA Track and Field. Her best Olympic perform ...

Carmelita Jeter Carmelita Jeter ( , born November 24, 1979) is a retired American sprint (running), sprinter, who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter was called the "Fastest woman alive" after running a 10 ...

Ashton Eaton Ashton James Eaton (born January 21, 1988) is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete (after Roman Šebrle) to break the 9,000-poi ...

Valerie Brisco-Hooks Valerie Brisco-Hooks (born Valerie Ann Brisco; July 6, 1960, in Greenwood, Mississippi) is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympi ...

Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was ...

Bryshon Nellum Bryshon Lorenzo Nellum (born May 1, 1989) is an American sprinter. He graduated from University of Southern California in 2012 with a degree in Public Administration and Social Service Professions and is currently a graduate student. Career A ...

Jillian Camarena-Williams Jillian Mary "Jill" Camarena-Williams (born March 2, 1982) is an American retired track and field athlete who competes in the shot put. She competed at the 2012 and 2008 Beijing Olympics and has represented the United States both indoor and out ...

* Mike Powell *

Shannon Rowbury Shannon Solares-Rowbury (born September 19, 1984) is an American middle-distance runner from San Francisco, California. After competing collegiately for Duke University, she turned professional in 2007. Rowbury has represented the United States ...

* Michael Marsh *

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track-and-field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

Meb Keflezighi Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi (; , ''Mebrāhtōm Kifl'izgī''; born May 5, 1975) is a retired American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won ...

Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 meter ...

Monique Henderson Monique Marie Henderson (born February 18, 1983, in San Diego, California) is an American track and field athlete, who specializes in the 400-meter dash. Henderson was a gold medalist in both the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and the 20 ...

* Ryan Hall *

Lashinda Demus Lashinda Demus (born March 10, 1983, in Inglewood, California) is a retired American hurdler who specialized in the 400 meter hurdles, an event in which she was the 2011 world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, becoming the first woman from ...

* Kyle Alcorn *

Sydney McLaughlin Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone ( ; ; born August 7, 1999) is an American Hurdling, hurdler and Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles and is the List of world records in athletics, world record holder in that even ...

Deena Kastor Deena Michelle Kastor (née Drossin; born February 14, 1973) is an American long-distance runner. She is the former American record holder in the marathon (2003-2022) and numerous road distances. Kastor held 15 American records simultaneously in ...

Jamie Nieto Jamie Earl "James" Nieto (born November 2, 1976) is an American high jumper and actor. His personal best jump is , achieved at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He was the 2004 and 2012 USA Olympic Trials Champion as well as the 2003 USA Outdo ...

* Michelle Perry * Alan Webb *

Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while fin ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

* Steve Smith *

Jessica Cosby Jessica Cosby (born May 31, 1982) is an American hammer thrower. She competed at the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games without reaching the final. Her personal best throw is 74.2 metres, achieved on May 22, 2014, in Tucson, Ar ...

Aretha Thurmond Aretha Thurmond, née Hill (born August 14, 1976) is an American discus thrower. Her personal best distance is , achieved in March 2004 in Marietta. Thurmond is a 1994 graduate of Renton High School and in 1998 she graduated from the Universit ...

* Sharon Day *

Chris Derrick Chris Derrick (born October 17, 1990) is an American distance runner who won 3 consecutive US Cross Country Championships in 2013–15. He attended Stanford University, where he earned 14 All-American honors and holds an American junior record ...

* Devon Allen

Meet records

Boys

Girls

References

External links

Arcadia Invitational Website

Arcadia Invitational records
after 2025 edition
DyeStat Feature Page

RunnerSpace Arcadia Media Page, See all Races

Apache News Field Events live stream
{{US track and field competitions College track and field competitions in the United States High school track and field competitions in the United States Track and field in California Annual track and field meetings High school sports in California Arcadia, California