Sprints & Hurdles | Distance | Field | Relays | Team Battle
Boys Distance Events
1600m
Connor Lane's (Cardinal Gibbons) 4:17.20 1600 conversion from the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston currently sits as the top mark in 4A, but the cross country state champion is in no way going to walk away with this win easily. Cameron Ponder (Mt. Tabor) is not too far behind this mark with his 4:19.79 conversion at David Oliver. Ponder almost prevented Lane's 3200m Outdoor title last season in what came down to an epic final 400 meters. Finn McBride (Green Hope) has been on fire this indoor season with a best mark of 4:22.84. He's been eyeing a much faster mark than that this indoor season and believes he can run in the low 4:10s this year.
Ian Shanklin (Page), and Todd Holbrook (RJ Reynolds) cannot be counted out as threats to win this event as well. Shanklin has posted a 4:24.72 this season for 1600 while Holbrook has a 1600 conversion of 4:22.60. Of the five main contenders in this event only McBride and Shanklin could be running 4x800 legs earlier in the day.
1000m
This is most certainly going to be the event to watch on the boys side from the 4A State Champoinships as there is no true favorite and over 10 athletes who could walk away the state champion. Andrew Brooks (Broughton) is the top returner in this event after taking a 4th place victory last season with a 2:31.87. But Brooks is the 11th overall seed in this event showing how competitive it really is. Matthew Kehn (Green Hope) is the state leader at 2:32.40, his only 1000 ever run. Evan Harris (Lake Norman) is at NC#2 with a 2:33.1 and will enter this race on fresh legs. Christian Pigues (Rolesville) is the 4th seed at 2:33.26, but blasted a 1:54 800 PR at winning the Elite 800 at the David Oliver Classic. If you convert that time to a 1000 using the purdy scale it is equivalent to a 2:28. Joel Shores (Southeast Guilford) won the David Oliver Classic 1000 running 2:33.51 in what was a huge break out performance. He will look to prove that mark was no mistake and that he is a serious force to watch out for this indoor season. Ian Delg ado (Green Hope) held the NC#1 mark through the early stages of the season of 2:34.06 and is the top 800m returner going into the outdoor season at 1:52. This is his first season running indoor track and he will look to win his first individual state title. Additionally Kyle Fawzi (Panther Creek), James Lundergan (Cary), Anthony Williams (Mallard Creek), Ian Shanklin (Page) also have a shot to win. This will be the race of the day and we could see many runners under Craig Engles' (Reagan) state meet record of 2:29.60 if the pace goes out hard.
3200m
Indoor 3200 meter rankings are hard to come by now a days as most athletes now qualify during cross country season at the Dash for Doobie. Lane clocked a 9:05.81 there and certainly has the target on his back. Ben Savino (Apex), John Tatter (RJ Reynolds) and Peyton Barish (Green Hope) will all likely be fresh entering this event and are looking to take down Lane. Barish has posted the best 3200m mark in NC excluding Dash for Doobie times at 9:32.70. Savino has run a handful of strong 1600m times, but hasn't raced a 3200 this indoors season, but based off his 4:22 mile time you know he's going to be ready to go on Saturday. Cameron Ponder (Mt. Tabor) has an outdoor PR of 9:09 and has only ran to qualify in the 3200 this indoors season. With Savino, Tatter and Barish being fresh and Ponder and Lane doubling back from the 1600 they're going to have to take the pace out hard and attempt to break Ponder and Lane early. But putting a gap on these two stud distance runners certainly much easier said than done.