2024 HS Boys Athlete Of The Year — Quincy Wilson

IF THERE WERE a contest for “what did you do over your summer vacation?” we just may have the all-time champion in Quincy Wilson. Still just 16, he showed up recently for the first day of his junior year at Maryland’s Bullis School with tired legs and an Olympic gold medal.

In a sophomore season that saw him unwind his long legs and break the High School Record three times, topped by a startling 44.20, Wilson reshaped the world’s perceptions of what a young 400 runner can do. The world was surprised; was he? “Oh, of course, of course.” He adds, “It was an extremely fun ride. Just being able to inspire the people that look up to me and look towards me and getting introduced to new things and being able to overcome different things and learn many lessons just feels great.”

Before the season had even begun, Wilson was on the radar. As a 9th-grader he had set an age-15 record of 45.87 and relayed 45.06. Then, over the winter, his soph-year record rampage began. On December 29, he ran a 1oth-grade record 1:17.81 in the 600. Two weeks later, another soph record, this one at 500 (1:01.27) before helping his Bullis sprint medley to a HSR 3:23.86. At Millrose, he took that 600 record down to 1:17.36.

At the New Balance Indoor, he slashed 0.16 from a 20-year-old HSR with his 45.76; then he anchored a HSR 3:11.87 in the 4×4.

Outdoors, he only got better, opening up with an Olympic Trials qualifier 45.19 at the Florida Relays. April he spent focusing on training as well as on the Bullis relays. He opened the month with his first-ever 800, an impressive 1:50.44. At the Penn Relays, hoping to beak up a Jamaican lock on the 4×4, the Bullis team was stung by a dropped baton on the first leg in the heats. Wilson responded with an anchor in 44.37 — the fastest prep leg ever — to take the win. Then in the final, disaster struck again, with a dropped baton on the second exchange. Coming from far back, Wilson went hard for the win only to fall short with a 3rd-place. His split: 44.69.

He says that he and coach Joe Lee focused on Penn as a major test for the Trials. “My coach was like, ‘If we’re going to the Trials, you’ve got to run both rounds.’ So I ran both, and it showed I was ready to go… I really wanted it for my teammates.” (Continued below)