Los Gatos HS !!

[HL]

In 1960, Ray Van Asten, a Dutch foreign exchange student, won the California State High School half mile in 1:51.9. At the time it was called the greatest high school half mile race ever.

Results

Ray Van Asten 1:51.9
Jan Underwood 1:52.0
Ralph Lee 1:52.1
Ron Whitney 1:52.7
Robin Ruble 1:53.0

It topped the high school list for 1960 and was, at the time, #2 ever behind Tom Carroll's, 1:50.6.

[gh]

Which of those 5 worked for T&FN at one time?

[HL]

A guess based on the fact that he attended Los Altos HS, Robin Ruble?

[Half Miler]

Calvin Gaziano won Postal Meet there in 1984 in 9.02,6y

I was in this race! (but I won't tell you where I finished)

[BCBaroo]

Nico Weller 17' 6.5" at CCS finals.

[26mi235]

Has an exchange student ever been in the top 3, or maybe even led, a HS list?

It depends on how you define 'exchange student'. We certainly have had LOTS of foreigners lead the USA HS lists.

When I was in HS in the 60s, the school record was held by an exchange student -- I can no longer remember the name (Alhambra HS), but I think the time was 9.6 for 100y, the mark was from the 1950s.