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Photos by Doug Hague
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Dawson Reeves of Christ School successfully defended his Carolina Distance Carnival Mile running a new Mile PR of 4:08.45 narrowly holding off Cole Boone of Pulaski and Jack Anstrom of Seaforth who ran 4:08.60 and 4:08.81.
In 2023 Reeves closed in 2:00 to hold off Jacob Laney to win in 4:12.62 for the Mile, but would face a loaded field with many eyeing to break the tape in first.
The event had a lightning delay just after the first few heats of the Mile were underway and the event took place late just after 10 PM on a crowded track with spectators lined down the homestretch cheering them on and coaches down the backstretch keeping the energy as they went around.
Boone sat behind the pacer through 409 going through in 1:01.81 with the field in tow looking to rip a fast Mile. They'd be pulled through 809 with Boone out front in 2:05.83, which would be around 2:04 low through the 800m in a regular 1600m.
The race was on as Boone, Anstrom, Reeves pushed the pace with Anstrom taking a slight lead going through 1209 at 3:09.65. With Boone, Reeves and the field right on his heels it was an all out sprint for the final 400m.
The crowd was electric as they rounded the track with the lead being back and forth as they all looked to push the pace while also saving an extra gear for the final stretch.
As they rounded the final turn it was Boone who held a slight lead, but Reeves would surge just ahead of him while Anstrom had fallen back a step, but had found an extra gear and was charging over the final 50 meters.
Reeves would just narrowly hold off the Virginia sophomore by .15 seconds at both the 1600m camera as well as the finish line.
Cary's Luke Liming would hold off Broughton's Will Venable, Dobyns Bennett's Luke Mussard and Cary Christian's James Callahan in a battle for fourth running 4:10.07, 4:10.54, 4:10.58 and 4:10.90.
The top 7 all broke 4:10 at the FAT 1600m finish to all rank inside the top 31 marks in the country this year! The race also produced state leading marks in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina! It produced the top 5 marks in North Carolina this outdoor season as well as 12 of the top 14 marks on the season overall!
2024 United States 1600m Lists
2024 North Carolina 1600m Lists
- NC#1, US#11, NC#9 All-Time Dawson Reeves 4:06.90
- VA#1, US#12 Cole Boone 4:07.05
- NC#2, US#14, NC#12 All-Time Jack Anstrom 4:07.27
- NC#3, US#22, NC#21 All-Time Luke Liming 4:08.49
- NC#4, US#27, NC#25 All-Time Will Venable 4:09.09
- TN#1, US#28 Luke Mussard 4:09.13
- NC#5, US#31, NC#28 All-Time James Callahan 4:09.42
- SC#1, SC#8 All-Time Jackson Wyatt 4:11.54
The top 7 also all cracked the top 10 All-Time for the 1600m in meet history with Reeves only trailing former teammate Rocky Hansen's meet record of 4:02.88 from 2022. He makes it three straight for Christ School taking down the boys Mile with two wins of his own.
Reeves would be awards Meet MVP with the top overall performance from the Elite section of the meet which included as HS 800m, HS 3200m, MS 1600m alongside the Mile.
