The nation’s largest annual high school-hosted sporting event will once again be coming to Arcadia this weekend, drawing 12,000 attendees, including 4,000 athletes from nearly 550 schools in 28 states and four countries.
The 48th Annual Arcadia Invitational Track and Field meet, slated for Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, will also feature appearances by NFL star De’Anthony Thomas and Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson.
De’Anthony Thomas returns punt 80 yards for Chiefs
The prestigious meet put on by Arcadia High School, which generates revenue that is used for funding such projects as one-third the cost of replacing the field a couple years ago, will showcase athletes from all across America as well as Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. The Arcadia Invitational has played host to an impressive 24 national high school records over the years while a staggering 152 meet alumni have since gone on to represent Team USA in the Olympic Games. The meet, which is streamed live on the internet at www.ArcadiaInvitational.org, attracts more than 40 credentialed members of the media (print, web, photo and video).
The two-day meet is first headlined by the “Burnin’ Batons” relays session on Friday evening as participants compete in seeded heats of six different relay events as well as select field events. The meet continues on Saturday with the “Open” session during the day as athletes battle in various heats in 17 different individual and relay events. Then comes the featured portion of the weekend as leading athletes and programs take center stage for the prestigious “Invitational” session, scheduled for Saturday evening before a standing-room-only crowd.
Presenting sponsor Nike will once again be hosting its popular “Athlete Zone” experience for attendees. The “Athlete Zone” will feature NFL running back De’Anthony Thomas who will be signing autographs on Saturday. Thomas, who is a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, is also an Arcadia Invitational alum. He was a track star at the University of Oregon and Crenshaw High School before being selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Dawn Harper-Nelson, a UCLA graduate who won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and a silver medal in 2012 London Olympic Games for the Unites States in the 100-meter hurdles, will also be on hand with Thomas to sign autographs. Spectators will have great sight lines to watch the different events from throughout Salter Stadium, with a mega-sized “JumboTron” (courtesy of Nike) being placed on the west end of the stadium to display the action being captured from multiple camera angles. “Arcadia weekend” actually kicks off on Thursday (April 9th) as more than 40 leading decathletes and heptathletes from around the nation will partake in the eighth annual Arcadia Multis competition, which is contested under a USA Track and Field sanction approval. In its first seven years, the Arcadia Multis has grown considerably in prestige to attract leading talent, with the meet producing two national records in its short history. This year’s Arcadia Multis has secured entry from six of America’s top seven returnees in the decathlon (a 10-event challenge for males contested over two days) as well as an ultra-deep field of talent in the heptathlon (events in seven disciplines over two days for females), where 19 of the nation’s top 40 returnees will compete. Tickets can only be purchased at the gate on the day of the event. For a complete schedule of events and more information, you can visit www.ArcadiaInvitational.org.
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