Last year, 19 boys broke 9:00 in the Arcadia 3200m Invitational section. One runner, Estevan De La Rosa, ran 8:56.55 in the seeded section. In the girl's field, Alexa Efraimson ran away with the race, dipping under the 10:00-barrier en route to her 9:55.92. Three ladies followed running under 10:10. Three more dipped under 10:20. Seven under 10:30. Over the years, Arcadia has become the premier track and field invitational for high schoolers. The “Pre-Nationals" test before the lucky chosen greats compete in the adidas Dream Mile, Brooks PR, or New Balance Nationals.
The boy's and girl's all-time best 3200m marks are held by names we still see today: Chris Solinsky's 8:43.24 from 2003 and Efraimson's 9:55 from last year. Let's break down the potential for record-breaking marks and upsets for the Saturday evening slugfest we know as the Arcadia 3200m.
Article by Meg Bellino for FloTrack