In April, the Sweltering heat of Gainesville delivered an upset that rocked the track world when Tywan Cox, a high school football player heading to Illinois, chased down Olympic gold medalist Quincy Wilson in the 4x400m relay’s final leg in the Pepsi Florida Relays 4*400m. Wilson’s Florida Relays weekend began promisingly with a dominant 45.27 in Friday’s 400m, easily defeating Cox’s 46.29, and the Bullis School team also outpaced Miami Northwestern in preliminary rounds. But then came April 5th, and the story took a drastic turn.

Perhaps fatigued from his loaded racing schedule or outsmarted by Cox’s tactical positioning, Wilson couldn’t respond when Cox unleashed a blistering 45.14 anchor split after drafting behind him for most of the lap. That race jolted Track and Field community and even Quincy faced the wrath of them. But fast forward to April 24, it seems like Olympic gold medallist might have buried the ghost.

April 24 brought a chance to forget the ghost of Florida at one of the sport’s grandest high school stages, ie, the Penn Relays. And Wilson took it. Running in the late-afternoon sun, with shadows stretching and the heat lingering, the Bullis School team found itself trailing.

Kenneth Adams opened in 49.55. Colin Abrams tightened things with a 49.19. Then Alexander Lambert brought fire-46.32. That leg was key. It pulled Bullis neck-and-neck with Excelsior High. And then? Wilson didn’t wait this time. Running at Philadelphia’s historic Franklin Field, his early surge left Excelsior gasping. Wilson roared through in 45.99, a tick slower than his open 400 from April 4 (45.27), but crucially faster than the 46.24 anchor he logged during that shock loss to Cox.

Bullis clocked 3:11.04, currently, the fastest time of the Penn Relays heats. It’s not the sub-3:09s we saw from them last season, but it’s good enough to land them in the coveted Championship of America final on Friday.

The heat victory places Bullis in lane 6 for Friday’s Championship of America final, And guess who’s lurking in the lanes? Excelsior, Calabar, Jamaica College—Caribbean royalty. Tywan Cox and Miami Northwestern? Not in the final.

Wilson has Penn Relays pedigree, he famously delivered two sub-45 splits at last year’s competition, early securing victory single-handedly. With tomorrow’s final still to come, the question now becomes: Will we see Wilson dip under that magical 45-second barrier again?

Quincy Wilson shared his thoughts before the Penn Relays

The Penn Relays, held from April 24 to 26, is not just a meet. They are a legacy. For Quincy Wilson, they came with the weight of expectation and a need for redemption.

Just weeks prior, Wilson who had been caught in the anchor leg had been—a moment that made headlines and raised questions. He arrived  at Penn’s with that loss still fresh. But so was his focus. “It’s about how much you want it,” he said before the event to Forbes.

That hunger might have come not just from a personal place but a national one. Since 2007, no American school had won the Championship of America boys’ 4×400 at the Penn Relays. The last to do it was Long Beach Poly from California, clocking 3:09.89.

Since then, Jamaican schools had owned the relay. Year after year, names like Calabar, Kingston College, Munro, and Jamaica College dominated the top spots. Calabar’s 3:03.79 in 2018 remains the fastest time ever recorded at the Penn Relays.

In the years that followed, Kingston College carried the baton of Jamaican dominance. They won in 2022 with a 3:09.52, again in 2023 with a 3:15.62, and once more in 2024 with a 3:11.86. From 2013 to 2019, Calabar was nearly untouchable, laying down times like 3:09.22, 3:12.66, and that unforgettable 3:03.79.

So when Wilson takes on the track, staring down a field packed with Jamaican powerhouses, it would be about having one back for Bullis’ high school.