On April 11 the invitational 3200 meter race at Arcadia was record breaking
On April 11, the high school Men’s Invitational 3200 Meters at the Arcadia Invitational held in California took place. It featured names like Jackson Spencer, Marcelo Mantecon, and Yohanes VanMeerten. The race ended with records being broken. A total of 29 runners broke the 9:00 barrier in the race. Spencer also broke the NFHS National Record for the 3200 meter.
The 9:00 barrier is a difficult barrier to break in high school running. It requires you to run a 1600 meter twice, with an average pace faster than 4:30 for both 1600 meters. 29 individual runners broke this barrier in the race and after it would officially break the record for the most individual high school runners to break the 9:00 barrier all in the same race. The record was broken by thirteen seniors, ten juniors, 4 sophomores and 2 freshmen all running the 3200 meter in under 9:00. Noah Sloan ‘26 said“It is incredible to see all the talent Arcadia has attracted from all over the country. It is spectacular to watch this level of competition in a high school race. It is like Arcadia brings magic amongst the 3200m”
The previous NFHS National Record holder for the 3200 meter, Simeon Birnbaum, who set it two years prior with a time of 8:34.10, fell into the same race. Spencer, a senior from Herriman high school, ran a time of 8:31.80 to take first place and break the NFHS 3200 meter record in the process. Spencer would run the first 1600 meters in 4:20, then split the second 1600 meter with a time of 4:11.80. His final lap was run in a time of 56.59 where he and junior Marcelo Mantecon would switch lead more than once, until Spencer pulled away with 150 meters left to go to gain his win. “Jackson Spencer is a phenomenal athlete who can race time trial style or championship style. He has shown he can adapt to any level of competition and succeed. I was not surprised to see him break the National record, although watching how fast he closed was surprising. ”
The Men’s Invitational 3200 Meters at the Arcadia Invitational has record breaking races every year. This year the invitational would provide a race full of runners from different places across the country who came in search of a win leading to a race where limits were pushed. This field of runners led each other to hold a record breaking race.
