After a breakout season on the track that brought him national attention, the No. 1 runner on our cross country pre-season countdown is Christ School's Rocky Hansen.

Hansen, a Wake Forest commit, had as good of a spring as you could ask for. He swept the NCISAA Division 1 State Championship, winning the 800m, 1,600m, and 3,200m. 

He also set the North Carolina high school 1-mile state record, previously set by Craig Engels. Hansen ran 4:00.76 at RunningLane Track Championships to take home the win and new state record. His time was US No. 8 on the season and No. 4 among returners. He will be chasing that elusive sub 4:00 mile next spring, but he has a lot of cross country racing to do before then. 

That wasn't the only state record he broke. He ran 8:46.97 (8:43.91c) in the 2-mile run to win the New Balance Nationals Outdoor title. He also placed 2nd in the 1-mile run at New Balance. 

Indoors, he won the adidas Track National 1-mile and 2-mile runs, running 4:14.27 and 9:07.36 respectively.

Last fall, he only competed in two large invitationals before the NCISAA state meet. He ran 15:32.40 to take 3rd at the adidas XC Challenge, and then ran 15:28.00 at Great American XC Festival.

His personal best came from the NCISAA state meet, where he ran 15:21.80 to win the state title.

Hansen was super consistent on the course, running all his races between 15:21-15:43.

He is undoubtedly one of the top athletes nationally in his class. Hansen is ready for a huge cross country season. If he races the same invitationals as his junior season, he could be in for some big performances. This year's NCISAA state meet is at Hagan Stone Park on Friday, October 28th.

Hansen is headed into his senior year with arguably the biggest distraction for seniors taken care of: his college choice of Wake Forest. 

Now, Hansen has the ability to lock in on the season, block out the outside distractions, and work on becoming the greatest distance runner to ever come through North Carolina. It will be no easy task, as there are two other seniors (and a junior teammate) waiting to get their turn to line up next to Hansen to see who is truly No. 1