State History Is Made At Arcadia With 3 North Carolina Boys Sub 9 Minutes!



Last night at nearly Midnight our time Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons), Ian Shanklin (Page) and Cameron Ponder (Mount Tabor) toed the line at the historic 3200 at the Arcadia Invitational out in California.  Since 2010 when Jake Hursyz (Eastern Alamance) attended the meet we've seen to top North Carolina athletes head out west to run a fast 3200.  Hursyz in 2010 won the event in 8:49.76, which at the time beat Matt DeBole (Mt. Tabor's) 3200 record he set in the same race in 2003!

Since then we've seen athletes like Ian Milder (Mt. Tabor), Craig Engels (Reagan), Thomas Graham (Cary Academy), Philip Hall (South View_ and Scott Morgan (Calvery Baptist) all break 9 minutes in this elite field.  13 boys have broken 9 minutes in state history, 6 of these athletes PRs have come from the Arcadia Invitational heading into Saturday night.  

Connor Lane himself has broken 9 minutes for the 2 Mile and has a 3200 conversion of 8:50.50, ranking him NC#3 All-Time in the 3200 indoors or outdoors.  Since that race at New Balance Indoor Nationals it was apparent that Lane was going to have a strong chance to break Hurysz's outdoor state record of 8:49.76 and possibly even contend for the win at the prestigious event.  Shanklin and Ponder battled it out to run 9:01 and 9:03 respectively at Raleigh Relays and seemed to only leave each more hungry to break 9 minutes.  Ponder, just a junior, was looking to become the first junior to break 9 minutes in state history.  Ponder also has experience from travelling out the this meet last year when teammate Kenny Kneisel raced in the Invitational Section while Ponder ran in one of the slower sections.

33 boys stood on the line, most with the same mindset, break 9 minutes.  The gun went off and as thing played out Lane wasn't in the lead, but was in the lead group of boys.  Ponder and Shanklin were reluctant to just sit in the large pack.  The first lap was lead in around 62/63 seconds, a blazing fast pace.  The field itself is so large it's hard to move around until things start to pick up, but even then it seems like the whole field is within 15 meters of each other the whole race.  

The leader went through the 1600 in 4:24 as the whole pack followed along.  Shanklin's 1600 PR is currently just 4:22.71.  I think that's likely to change this outdoor season.  Lane was still battling with guys like Cooper Teare, Casey Clinger, and Finn Gessner up front and even did some of the work in leading the pack with about 6 laps to go.  Teare has been on fire recently winning the NBIN Mile followed by the Texas Distance Festival 5K over Lane a week after.  With one lap to go Teare went on a massive push gaping the entire field with NXN & Defending Arcadia Champoin Clinger and Austin Hindman in chase.  Lane sat in the chase group and as Teare brought it home in meet record fashion of 8:41.46, Lane was not too far behind in a new North Carolina State Record of 8:47.00 in 6th place. Lane now holds the indoor 5K, indoor 3200 and outdoor 3200 state records for North Carolina.

Shanklin and Ponder were actually side by side throughout most of the race, but over the last few laps Shanklin was able to find another gear and take 12th overall!  It's likely not often you run 8:50.79 and are the 12th overall finisher in any other event!  This makes a 11 second PR from Shanklin's Raleigh Relays win and now marks him at NC#4 all-time!  Cameron Ponder took 21st overall and was the 4th junior in the field running 8:56.49, giving him the junior class record (I think he already had it), and making him the first Junior boy in state history to break 9 minutes.  A crazy stat is he bumped Kenny Kneisel to #4 on Mount Tabor's All-Time list as it now sits as:

Matt Debole 8:50.16 - Arcadia 2003 NC#3 All-Time

Ian Milder 8:51.53 - Arcadia 2014 NC#5 All-Time

Cameron Ponder 8:56.49 - Arcadia 2017 NC#10 All-Time

Kenny Kneisel 8:57.77 - Raleigh Relays 2016 NC#11 All-Time


But is there a "crime" in this outstanding feat?  It comes at the expense of the 4A Midwest Region.  Both Lane, Shanklin and Ponder all end up in that regional and will likely race in a loaded 1600 & 3200 where only 4 athletes can advance to the state meet.  Below is the 4A Midwest 3200 rankings.

RANKTIMEATHLETE/TEAMGRADEMEET DATEPLACE
18:47.002017
28:50.792017
38:56.492018
49:09.352018
59:19.532017
69:30.422018
79:37.922018
89:48.902017
99:51.602017
109:54.762019
119:54.802019
129:58.602017


You have junior Sam Thornton (Cardinal Gibbons) who just ran a big PR of 9:30 yesterday at the Bojangles Classic ranking him in the top 10 in the state and 8th in 4A.  John Tatter (RJ Reynolds) earlier in the day ran a PR of 9:09 to rank him 4th in the state and 4th in the 4A Midwest Region!  We did already know this region was loaded though, as the top 4 guys from the 3200 last year were from the 4A Midwest Regional and all returner.  Though I don't think we could have predicted they'd run this fast the following year!  But the 4A Midwest is brutal, and the guys who don't make it out of the region very well could be one of the best runners in NC and would have contended for a podium finish at states.


Boys NCHSAA 4A 3200 from last year, Lane and Ponder battle over the last lap, Shanklin & Holbrook get on the podium in a 4A Midwest sweep.


Once again Lane rewrites state history with his 3rd state medal and Ponder and Shanklin extend the all-time 3200 list to 15 names of sub 9 guys!  Below is the top 15 guys in state history in the 3200:

Rank

Name

School

Time

Year

1

Connor Lane

Cardinal Gibbons

8:47.00

2017

2

Jake Hurysz

Eastern Alamance

8:49.76

2010

3

Matt DeBole

Mount Tabor

8:50.16

2003

4

Ian Shanklin

Page

8:50.79

2017

5

Ian Milder

Mount Tabor

8:51.53

2014

6

Thomas Graham

Cary Academy

8:53.45

2012

7

Craig Engels

Reagan

8:55.51

2012

8

Sandy Roberts

Broughton

8:55.64

2006

9

Scott Morgan

Calvary Baptist

8:56.12

2011

10

Cameron Ponder

Mount Tabor

8:56.49

2017

11

Kenny Kneisel

Mount Tabor

8:57.77

2016

12

Ben Huffman

Providence Day

8:58.84

2014

13

Will Roberson

Broughton

8:58.88

2014

14

Dan Morton

Grimsley

8:59.16

1978

15

Philip Hall

South View

8:59.84

2015