Rocky Hansen Drops NC No. 1 14:57.60 5000m In South Carolina

Photo courtesy of Molly Hansen.

Christ School senior and pre-season North Carolina No. 1 Rocky Hansen opened up his season at the Eye Opener in South Carolina in dominant fashion. The Wake Forest commit broke the 15:00 barrier for the first time and (as we all expected this season) smashed his previous personal best.

Hansen's winning time of 14:57.60 was over 20-seconds ahead of runner-up Jake Liebert (Wando, SC).

Hansen now becomes the 13th boy in state history to dip into the 14:00's over 5,000m, and the first since James Tatter in 2017. This is only the 4th North Carolina sub 15:00 run that did not happen post-state meet. 

His time is now NC No. 12 all-time. He is chasing the state record of 14:44 set in 2013 by Ben Huffman.

Historically, Hansen has been a Great American XC Festival and EastBay South Regional entrant. Both of those courses (WakeMed and McAlpine) have hosted multiple sub 15:00 performances from runners across the country. Last year at Great American, Hansen ran a then-personal best time of 15:28 and took 12th in the Race of Champions. At Great American, the meet record is nearly untouchable from 2017 when Brodey Hasty and DJ Principe Jr. went 14:32.20 and 14:32.40, respectively. The last time the winner of the Race of Champions did not break 15:00, was back in 2010. 

As a team, Christ School finished just short of the win, falling to Wando 108-165. Dawson Reeves had a great race as well for the Greenies,  taking 10th in 15:49. Their 3-4-5 all set personal bests as well: Kahzi Sealey (16:25), 8th grader Dallas Reeves (17:18), and Will Peeler (17:24).

North Carolina Top Five Performances in 2022