Jacob Laney winning the NCHSAA 4A 1600m in 4:06
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Porter Ridge senior Jacob Laney had an all-time day at the NCHSAA 4A State Championships on Saturday running 4:06 to win the 1600m as well as the 3200m in 8:58.
Laney's 4:06.06 1600m is the second fastest ever in NCHSAA State Championship history only behind Jack Bolas' incredible 4:04.38 from 2006. The performance is the sixth-fastest 1600m/Mile in North Carolina Outdoor history as he held off a huge breakout performance from Pinecrest senior Zack Gilbertson.
Laney set the early pace and was not afraid to do it the hard way taking it out in 1:00.7 and through the 800m in 2:02.76. Gilbertson was up for the challenge and sat on his heels the entire race until he was ultimately able to pull away over the final 200 meters.
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATE PLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:04.38 | Chapel Hill | 2006 | |
| 2 | 4:06.06 | Porter Ridge | 2023 | |
| 3 | 4:07.71 | Pinecrest | 2023 | |
| 4 | 4:07.99 | Watauga | 2000 | |
| 5 | 4:08.10 | West Rowan | 1980 |
Laney's day was just getting underway as the 3200m is likely his better event and he had a field full of the state's top runners in which were coming into the event fresh. Only Will Venable and Noah Valyo had run other open events earlier in the day with a handful contributing early in the morning for their schools' 4x800m.
The main threat was Marco Evans of Cary. Evans has some of the best closing speed in the NCHSAA and has run 4:12 for 1600m this season with fresh legs.
After his wire-to-wire 1600m victory, you wondered if he'd take it from the start again, or would the field let it get tactical. He'd have no luxury of a tactical race as the pace was set by Raghav Gopalakrishnan who took them out in 1:06 and through the 800m in 4:33 during the hottest part of the NCHSAA State Championship weekend.
Through 1600m Laney had sat just off Gopalakrishnan's pace, but took over the lead on the fifth lap with Evans, Luke Liming, Krister Sjoblad on his heels.
The pace had increased to about 1:10 per lap, but Laney cranked it up to 1:06s for the 6th and 7th lap hoping to get some breathing room on the field. Marco Evans would go nowhere sitting on his heels just like Gilbertson did earlier in the day seemingly waiting to make his move.
One lap to go and Laney cranks it to yet another gear, but so does Evans moving onto his shoulder on the backstretch. Laney is visibly fighting to not let Evans take the lead before the final turn as it'd take a ton of energy to regain that position. Despite Evans' effort, he was stuck on Laney's shoulder running extra distance on the final turn in an all-out sprint to the finish. The pair were side by side down the homestretch, but Laney was able to just fend him off in 8:58.04 to 8:58.29 closing in 1:00.97.
Both runners broke a historic NCHSAA State Championship record set by Grimsley's Dan Morton in 1978. The record stood for 45 years and other than Connor Lane's 8:59 performance in 2017, it really hasn't ever been challenged over that time span. Dan Morton was the only North Carolina High School runner to break 9:00 for 25 years until Matt Debole of Mount Tabor did so in 2003.
The mark for Marco Evans was a massive 14-second personal best and makes him the 20th North Carolina runner to break 9:00 outdoors and 16th all-time.
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATE PLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8:58.04 | Porter Ridge | 2023 | |
| 2 | 8:58.29 | Cary | 2023 | |
| 3 | 8:59.16 | Grimsley | 1978 | |
| 4 | 8:59.90 | Cardinal Gibbons | 2017 | |
| 5 | 9:01.68 | Chapel Hill | 2009 | |
| 6 | 9:02.89 | Page | 2017 | |
| 7 | 9:05.43 | Concord | 1978 | |
| 8 | 9:06.72 | Mount Tabor | 2018 | |
| 9 | 9:08.00 | Watauga | 1986 | |
| 10 | 9:08.65 | Broughton | 2006 |
Jacob Laney hasn't had an easy year with an injury ending his cross-country season at Friday Night Lights in September during the race where he likely would have contended for an All-American finish at a National Championship meet. He was able to come back late in the indoor season in good form winning the indoor 1600m and 3200m NCHSAA 4A titles, and was able to do so again posting the best performance from the NCHSAA State Championships by a distance runner ever.
It's very easy to say Laney has played a huge part in how strong North Carolina distance running has been the last two years. He's made so many great races happen running fearless from the start and pulling so many athletes to fast times while trying to beat him. 5 of the top 8 3200m runners set a personal best yesterday, and 13 of the 16 1600m competitors did so earlier in the 1600m.
Laney will have a few more races before wrapping up his high school career and moving on to his college career at UNC. He'll head to Running Lane next week as well as Nike Outdoor Nationals in mid-June.