* Imhotep Charter's Jayden Horton-Mims has been a revelation this indoor season
Photo Credit: Ryan Comstock/MileSplit
- - -
A record that stood for nearly 38 years fell on Saturday to the surprise athlete of 2024, Jayden Horton-Mims of Imhotep Charter.
The high school junior took down MileSplit50 No. 1 athlete Quincy Wilson of Bullis School to win the 300m at the Armory Officials Hall of Fame Invitational.
With Wilson coming off of a US No. 2 all-time 500m performance at the VA Showcase, Horton-Mims was lined up against one of the best sprinters in the country.
But he rose to the challenge, shredding a ridiculous 32.92. That performance, a new Pennsylvania state record, was the seventh-fastest time in high school history.
Horton-Mims now owns the PA No. 1 mark, the PA No. 7 all-time 200m, and PA No. 3 all-time in the 400m.
William Reed's previous 300m state record of 33.19 had stood since March 16, 1986.
At the 1986 National Scholastic Indoor Championships, he ran the then-national record of 33.19 to win the event by a landslide.
That race was run on a flat 200m oval at the Yale University Coxe Cage. That surface was later resurfaced and banked in 2005.
Horton-Mims, however, has enjoyed an incredible 2024 campaign.
Where did it come from?
Horton-Mims carried momentum from a 2023 year that saw him run sub-49 indoors (400m) and a 21.41 200m at New Balance Nationals Outdoor. This year, he has taken the track by storm, winning every one of his finals.
What's next?
---
Horton-Mims has to be eying the 400m state all-time best of 46.84. That would mean shaving eight-tenths off of his current indoor best. William Reed also holds that record.
It would take a fast race, but Mims-Horton has the speed to do it. He also has time on his side. The now-junior has absolutely no pressure to achieve that mark this year.
