From the Olympics to Penn Relays, Quincy Wilson is a global attraction as a high schooler

There was an unusual sight at the Penn Relays on Thursday, and it wasn’t the brilliant sunshine that gave the carnival its best weather day in years.

For once, an Olympian took to the track at Franklin Field on the weekend’s opening day, not its closing one. And even more remarkably, it was a current high schooler.

Eight months after he helped the U.S. men’s 4x400-meter relay team win gold in Paris, Quincy Wilson ran in a 4x400 heat for the Bullis School of Potomac, Md. The 17-year-old clocked a 45.99-second anchor leg as the Bulldogs easily qualified for Friday’s Championship of America final.

“It felt good,” he said. “The atmosphere is always good here. Just came out, a nice little warmup for my legs and getting ready for tomorrow.”

Wilson ran in one of those late-afternoon hours when the boys’ 4x400-meter heats blend into each other and the sunbathers in the upper deck forget that their snacks might melt.

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But the crowd was primed by some big Jamaican schools that ran in the heats right before — someone near the finish line had a robust air horn — and the announcement of Bullis on the line drew a cheer. The crowd was alive from the starter’s gun.

They were treated to a good race. Jamaica’s Excelsior held a close lead over Bullis heading into Wilson’s leg, and he exploded into the first turn. He held the lead throughout the lap, keeping some gas in the tank to pull away around the final curve. Bullis clocked 3 minutes, 11.04 seconds as a team.

How did Wilson win gold at such a young age? He was awarded a spot on the relay team after finishing sixth in the 400-meter sprint at last year’s Olympic trials. That made the then-16-year-old the youngest American male track athlete to go to a Games.

Wilson ran the opening leg of the U.S. team’s heat in Paris, followed by Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, and Christopher Bailey. He was then subbed out for the final, with Bailey taking the opening leg and veteran Rai Benjamin coming in for the anchor.

Such swaps are allowed, and all the more sensible when runners are in multiple events. Benjamin was running the 400-meter hurdles — and won gold in it — on the same day as the 4x400 heats.

And if there’s someone to get out of the way for, Benjamin is it. He won the 4x400 title in Tokyo in 2021 and at the 2019 and 2023 World Championships.

The move worked: The U.S. delivered an Olympic record time in the final, and Wilson got gold for himself because he helped the Americans along the way.

It may sound crazy to say that Wilson is now going for an even harder feat. But in terms of probability, winning a Penn Relays high school boys’ 4x400 title might be. Though the U.S. has won five of the last six men’s Olympic 4x400 golds, it has been 18 years since an American school won a Relays wheel in the boys’ event.

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Jamaican schools have commanded the podium since, clocking eight of the best 10 times in the event’s history. Bullis finished third last year, with Wilson anchoring in his second visit to the Relays.

Now he carries the greatest halo in sports. But he’s still humble, happy to hang out with his friends when not running or studying at one of the D.C. area’s elite private schools.

“Honestly, everybody I usually hang around with is probably these four,” he said, including relay teammates Kenneth Adams, Colin Abrams, and Alexander Lambert. “We treat it like it’s nothing, and we practice every day together. So it’s like they don’t really know.”

Rest assured they know. Bullis coach Joe Lee didn’t hide that.

“We see him as a normal high school kid first,” he said. “The Olympics is great, and all the other accolades are phenomenal, and he handles that really well. But still a kid who’s with his friends, and is enjoying life, and enjoying being a part of his team.”

Lee does his part, as he did for future Olympic champion Masai Russell when she was at Bullis. She was an elite prospect when she graduated in 2018, then went to the University of Kentucky, and last year won the Olympic 100-meter hurdles title.

Having an Olympian in the school is another level, but Lee’s life lessons still work.

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“We just try to keep it normal for kids,” he said, “because we realize that this is a special opportunity for them, and you don’t experience it every day.”

Abington’s Devin Nugent of Pitt won the college men’s 400-meter hurdles title for the second year in a row, thrilling his many family members in attendance. That included his sister, Leah, who won the high school girls’ 400-meter hurdles title for Abington High in 2010 and ran in the 2016 Olympics for Jamaica.

Three local schools qualified for the high school boys’ 4x800 final, set for Friday at 5:55 p.m.: North Penn, St. Joseph’s Prep, and Tatnall School of Wilmington. Count Manheim Township of Lancaster if you’d like to as well, since that part of the state still fits in Eagles territory.

Notably, just three Jamaican schools made that final, and American schools clocked the top eight qualifying times. Manheim was No. 2 at 7:40.69, North Penn was No. 3 at 7:46.16, and St. Joe’s Prep was No. 4 at 7:47.30.

The last U.S. school to win the event was Chatham of Morris County, N.J., in 2013, and the last local school to win was Pleasantville of Atlantic County in 2013. You have to go back to Willingboro in 1983 to find anyone closer.

Downingtown West qualified for the boys’ 4x400 final, clocking 3:15.18 in the Suburban Ches-Mont heat. They’ll join Bullis, Archbishop John Carroll of Washington, D.C., and Toms River North of Ocean County as the U.S. schools facing five Jamaican powers.

The high school boys’ 4x100 final, slated for Friday at 1:50 p.m., will have a much stronger Jamaican flavor. Seven of the nine finalists are from there. The two American qualifiers are Blue Mountain of Schuylkill Haven, Pa. (about 45 minutes north of Reading) and John Carroll.

Paul VI High and Penn product Aliya Garozzo, now a grad student at Duke, finished third in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. She was second in the opening heat to TCU’s Amelliah Birdow by just 0.04 seconds — 57.01 to 56.97 — but Clemson’s JodyAnn Dixon topped them both, with 56.86 in the second heat.

In the final hour of the evening, Villanova’s Sadie Sigfstead finished first in the college women’s 10,000-meter championship, setting a personal record of 32:39.54.