Over 500 schools from 28 states and four countries in town for prestigious Arcadia Invitational this weekend

RICHARDSON
PREVIEW: The Arcadia Invitational is becoming for just a special few.
The 48th annual track and field meet has traditionally drawn the nation’s top high school athletes. But because only so many races and events can be held, it has to remain roughly the same size year in and year out. What that means is that qualifying marks for the meet, which began Thursday and continues through Saturday, continually drop and top seeds become few and far between.
“Yes, it’s hard,” Damien coach Michael Williams said. “I know they try to do a good job of getting the local kids in and a lot of local coaches get frustrated.”
Only 12 individuals and seven individuals from the San Gabriel Valley have qualified for the invitational portion of the meet. Hundreds of valley athletes are competing in the meet, but not in the Saturday night portion.
More than 4,000 athletes from 550 schools in 28 states and from four nations will compete at Arcadia High. There will be several national and state leaders competing, including long jumper Margaux Jones of Redlands, Rai Benjamin of New York in the 400, high jumper Vashti Cunningham of Nevada, Connor Ross of Nevada in the 800 and Loyola’s Robert Brandt in the 3,200.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email