Menlo News April 14, 2026

Onyejekwe golden at Arcadia Invite

Sophomore wins 300 hurdles at one of nation’s biggest meets

Menlo sophomore Tres Onyejekwe has been breaking his own school records meet after meet, but on Saturday, he shattered the Arcadia Invitational age group record in the 300 hurdles and finished in the top 10 in the 110 hurdles on a national stage.

The Arcadia Invitational is one of the largest and most prestigious high school track and field meets in the country. Onyejekwe, who had already established himself as one of the state’s top hurdlers, started in the fifth heat and prevailed in a 300 hurdles race in 37.58 seconds. He just beat Mountain Ridge-Arizona’s Samel Eminovic, who came in 37.59. Onyejekwe’s 300 hurdles time is a Central Coast Section sophomore course record. He also finished ninth in the 110 hurdles in a time of 14.42.

Onyejekwe, who also is a varsity basketball starter, has been competing in track since he was young, this was his biggest meet yet. “It was pretty amazing. There were so many people. It felt stressful being in that environment but really exciting at the same time,” Onyejekwe said.

Onyejekwe trained for the meet by working on multiple 300s and focusing on the first few hurdles to get his steps right. “We’ve been working this past week on executing that first part of my race and I feel I executed that part pretty well,” he said. When he reached the midway point, he realized quickly he wasn’t running as fast as he would have liked, and started picking off runners ahead of him. “Toward end of race, the last quarter, I found a second shift to run as fast as possible,” Onyejekwe said. I just tried to chase down as many as I could.”

So, he went from fifth to first in seconds.

Onyejekwe, who broke his own 300 hurdles school record last week, and set Menlo records in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash the week before, is taking down records as qiuickly as he is clearing hurdles.