The high school kids are more than all right: HS sprinters Quincy Wilson, Tate Taylor and Maurice Gleaton are chasing spots on the Worlds team

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When a high schooler runs sub-10 in the 100 meters, it turns heads. When two do it — and one enters the U.S. Championships as the #3 seed — you start to wonder if history is about to be made.

In 2025, the sprints may be the domain of the young. Quincy Wilson, still only 17, already owns an Olympic 4 x 400 gold and a 44.10 PR in the 400. But equally as jaw-dropping is what’s happening in the 100m, where high schoolers Tate Taylor and Maurice Gleaton are also legitimate contenders to make Team USA.

Quincy Wilson: Olympic Gold Medalist Looks to Prove He’s No One-Hit Wonder

Quincy Wilson’s résumé at just 17 years old would probably satisfy most for their lifetime. Wilson picked up an Olympic gold as part of the men’s 4x400m relay squad in Paris and, before that, had run 44.20 in the 400m, a world U20 record.

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Despite his success in 2024, up until two weeks ago, Wilson had what some might call a slightly underwhelming 2025. That’s until July 13 when he blasted 44.10 for the win at the Ed Murphey Track Classic. The mark is tied for #4 in the world this year, although #3 in the United States behind Khaleb McRae (43.91) and Jacory Patterson (43.98). Not far behind Wilson are Chris Robinson and Christopher Bailey, who have each run 44.15. Thankfully for Wilson, he won’t have to worry about reigning Olympic gold medalist Quincy Hall, who will not be racing at the US Championships for unknown reasons.

The key to success for Quincy Wilson will be proving that he is a 44-second runner consistently, and not just once a year. Up until his 44.10, his best mark of the season was 45.27. A 1.17-second jump is huge and might serve as an indication that he’s peaking at just the right time. Last year at USAs, he showed he could run rounds when he ran sub-45 three times. A top 3 showing at USAs certainly wouldn’t be a shock for Wilson this year, nor would a win.

Tate Taylor & Maurice Gleaton: Teenage Sub-10 Sprinters Gunning for Tokyo

Even though he’s just a high school junior, it’s hard to classify Texas’s Tate Taylor as an underdog. He enters the meet with a wind-legal 9.92 100m PB from this spring at the Texas State Meet. This clocking puts him tied with Zharnel Hughes as the #10 mark in the world this year. More importantly, he is the #3 seed in the United States, putting him in a good position to potentially qualify for the World Championships team. If you weren’t already convinced of his ability, 9.92 is the second-fastest U20 time ever, behind only Letsile Tebogo, gold medalist in the 200m at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He surpassed Christian Miller’s American U20 record of 9.93 from 2024.

The odds may have shifted even more in Taylor’s favor with the recent announcement from Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, who withdrew from the meet, citing a need to “take some time out to get back on track.” With Noah Lyles also receiving an automatic Worlds berth as the reigning 100m world champion, an additional U.S. spot opens up, potentially clearing a path for a rising star like Taylor.

Fellow high schooler Maurice Gleaton, a recently graduated senior, was just .01 of a second behind Taylor at Nike Outdoor Nationals in a time of 10.10. Gleaton, like Taylor, boasts a sub-10 PB, having run 9.98 at the Georgia State Meet, and perhaps most notably a wind-aided 9.87 (+2.4 m/s) at the Star Athletics Sprint Series in Florida. The latter performance was run on June 14, whereas Taylor ran his PB in early May. One could certainly make the argument that Gleaton is just as poised to make the team.

Taylor is also entered in the 200m, where he has run 20.14 – the 14th-fastest time entered.

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