A handful of Missouri preps are in Southern California for the Arcadia Invitational. The meet is the premiere high school-only track meet in the country. It attracts many of the country's top athletes who compete for meet titles and personal, school, state, and national records. The meet boasts that 33 national records have been set at it over the years.
Burns and Hauser race in Invitational 3,200 at 10:42 p.m. CT.
A pair of all-time great Missouri distance runners will compete in what's often the most anticipated and celebrated event at the meet. Running in the 3200-meter run Invitational race are Southern Boone County senior Connor Burns and Rock Bridge junior Andrew Hauser. They will race with 32 other boys at 8:42 p.m. Pacific Time, 10:42 p.m. Central.
Burns is coming off his first national title. The University of Oregon signee ran 8:43.24 to win the New Balance Nationals Indoor 2-Mile four weeks ago in Boston. Burns went thru 3,200 meters in Boston in 8:40.13. Both marks improved on his overall state record of 8:45.00 for 2 miles, which is good for 8:42.00 for 3,200 meters.
Hauser shined in a few indoor meets against collegians. In his second meet of the year in Ames, Iowa, he ran to a 4:13 mile and 8:25 3000 meters. Then at the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas, Hauser ran to a Missouri high school indoor record in the 3,000 meters. He finished in 8:22.93, placing 10th overall, 2 spots and 1.43 seconds behind his brother Matthew (in another section), a Kansas State sophomore. The following day, the pair again ran in different sections. Andrew bested his big brother in the mile, taking 13th in 4:11.51, beating Matthew by 1/100th of a second (4:11.52).
Hauser opened his junior outdoor track season with a win in the Festus McCullough-Douglas Invitational Elite 3,200 meters in 9:12.84. He followed with a 4:15 runner-up finish last week at the Shawnee Mission South Relays.
Coach Jesse Griffin is taking another group of Lee's Summit West Lady Titans out west to another Arcadia Invitational. West is entered in the 4x400 and 4x800 Invitational races. The 4x800 roster includes Ella Cronhardt, Madison Cross, Kali Michael, Adee Broesder, Ryanne Wattree and Mikah Scott. Scott, a senior, is also entered in the Open 200 and Seeded 100-meter dash. She is the daughter of West assistant coach Menka Scott and the late Terry Scott.
Terry Scott is the former state record holder in the 100-meter dash for Southeast Kansas City High School, before running at the University of Tennessee. He also coached, including as the former Raytown South head coach. Scott was inducted into the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 1998. He passed away in the fall of 2021.
Mikah Scott anchored the Lady Titans to the Class 5 4x200 state title. She and a handful of her teammates shined last summer at the Nike/NSAF Outdoor National meet in Oregon.
