Arcadia, California, USA - Chris Derrick and Jordan Hasay were selected as the athletes of the meet after posting meet record distance wins in the 41st Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on 11-12 April.

Derrick won the 5000m in 13:55.96 for the fastest U.S. mark ever in a High School only competition. Hasay outduelled Courtney Babcock to win the girls’ 3200m, 10:03.07 to 10:04.03.

The 5000m was a solo effort for Derrick, a senior at Neuqua Valley High (IL) who won the Footlocker national cross country title in December. Derrick closed with a 60-second final quarter to move into sixth on the all-time U.S. high school list.

In the girls’ 3200m, Hasay, a 1500m silver medallist in the 2007 World Youth Championships in Ostrava last July, won a spirited homestretch battle over Babcock, the top returning American high school runner in the 1600m. The times moved Hasay and Babcock into sixth and eighth on the all-time U.S. high school performer list.

Nico Weiler (GER) and Julian Purvis, gold medallists in the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava last July, also set meet records in the Pole Vault at 5.28m and 100m Hurdles in 13.59 secs, respectively, on a warm balmy evening in the 41st annual competition in the Los Angeles suburb that has produced 23 U.S. national records and 101 U.S. Olympians.