The high school indoor track season concluded with several jaw-dropping performances this year. At two of the biggest championships—New Balance Nationals Indoor in Boston and Nike Indoor Nationals in New York City—seven high school national records were demolished from the sprints to the distances. The runs included stellar kicks, dominant racing, and inspiring team efforts, among other exciting performances. Here is a full breakdown of the unprecedented runs clocked by prep stars over the weekend.
Daniel Simmons shatters the 5,000-meter record
On Saturday, the American Fork High School senior demolished the competition with a historic time in the boy’s 5,000 meters at New Balance Nationals Indoor. Weeks after earning the Gatorade National Player of the Year honor, the runner from Utah defended his standing by running 13:38.86, 18 seconds faster than the previous 13:56.82 national indoor record set by Tyrone Gorze at the Track at New Balance last year. Simmons’ breakthrough at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center also nearly beat the outdoor national record of 13:34.96 set by Lex Young in 2023.
“I felt this voice in my head believing in me and telling me I could keep going. I believed it,” Simmons told MileSplit. “I was just pulling to the limit. Like, I didn't want to ever give up. Something let me do that. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
The performance bodes well for Simmons’ upcoming collegiate career. He’s committed to run for the nationally-ranked Cougars of Brigham Young University in the fall.
Elizabeth Leachman cruises to a new 5,000-meter record
The Boerne Champion High School sophomore raced beyond her years when she obliterated the field in the girl’s 5,000 meters at Nike Indoor Nationals. On Saturday at the Armory, Leachman clocked a winning time of 15:28.90, nine seconds faster than the previous national indoor record set by Katelyn Tuohy in 2018. The victory was made even more impressive by the fact that Leachman also won the 2 mile on Friday in a new meet record of 9:44.15.
“It was exciting,” Leachman told MileSplit. “The plan was just to go out and see how I felt after that first mile and adjust from there not knowing how to pace this race.”
Leachman closed well for the effort after splitting 4:59 for the first 1600 meters and 10:12 for the 3,200. Despite the blazing early pace, she kicked with a 66-second last 400 meters to crush the previous record.
The Cuthbertson quartet beat the record-holders in the 4 x mile; dominate DMR
It’s not often a team gets to contend with the current national record-holders in their signature distance, but that’s exactly what happened at New Balance Nationals Indoor on Thursday. The Cuthbertson High School girls squad of Josie Schihl, Stella Kermes, Justine Preisano, and Charlotte Bell won the 4 x mile in 19:22.7, taking 15 seconds off the previous record set by Flower Mound High School in 2022. The North Carolina runners’ performance was brought home by a stellar 4:41 anchor leg from Bell. Together, the girls averaged 4:50-mile pace for the relay. This year’s Flower Mound team from Texas finished second in 19:28.07, also under the previous record.
The next day, Cuthbertson earned more hardware with another national record in the distance medley relay. On Friday, the Carolina Cavaliers won the New Balance Indoor Nationals DMR in 11:17.50, 15 seconds faster than the previous indoor record and well under the 11:22.23 outdoor record set in 2011. Once again, the race included a speedy anchor leg from Bell, who ran the last 1600 meters in 4:37. Flower Mound’s anchor Samantha Humphries brought the team in for a runner-up finish in 11:20.65, No. 2 all-time.
Drew Griffith makes the 2-mile record official
In February, the Butler High School senior ran 8:38.67 at the Alex Wilson Invitational, but the time wasn’t eligible for record consideration because it was run on an oversized indoor track. A few weeks later, Griffith returned with a vengeance to claim the New Balance Nationals Indoor title and the record once and for all. On Sunday, the University of Notre Dame commit smoked the field in 8:34.91, breaking the previous 8:39.15 record set by Edward Cheserek in 2013.
Quincy Wilson and his teammates torch the sprint competition
The quarter mile saw a major overhaul at New Balance Nationals Indoor. On Sunday, Quincy Wilson, a sophomore at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, won the boy’s 400-meter final in 45.76, breaking the previous record of 45.92 set 20 years ago by Elzie Coleman.
“We knew [the 400 record] would be within shot, and in typical Quincy fashion, he stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park,” Bullis coach Joe Lee told The Washington Post.
Just over three hours later, Wilson returned to the track to make history again, this time as an anchor leg on the Bullis team’s 4x400-meter relay. The squad, which also included Julian Roberson, Alexander Lambert, and Colin Abrams, won the championship in 3:11.87, breaking their own national record.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article stated that six high school records were broken. That has been corrected to seven to account for the Cuthbertson DMR.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
