North Carolina 2000m Steeplechase All-Time Rankings
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CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - The assault on North Carolina's all-time 2,000-meter steeplechase list continued Saturday at the NCRunners Elite Tune-Up at Johnson C. Smith University.
Covenant Day's Caitlin Kasten put an exclamation mark on the rewriting of the North Carolina record book this year by taking down a state record that had stood for 22 years, running 6:59.30 in her 2,000-meter steeplechase debut.
Kasten's time not only beat the girls' mark of 7:02.05 set in 2002 by Nelly Anderson (Cordillera Academy/home school), but in the process Kasten became the first girl in North Carolina history to run under the 7-minute barrier, which was good enough for No. 12 in the U.S. this season.
Her performance came in a perfect setting - a beautiful, cool, late spring night, on the outskirts of the heart of the city, with the city's uptown skyline in the background.
The record was also a continuation of a trend of incredible steeplechase performances this season - about 25 percent of the girls' and boys' all-time top-50 list in the event have come this year, with 13 on the girls' side and 12 on the boys' side. The trend began on March 2 at the Spring into the Season Kickoff at Metrolina Christian where 28 boys and 13 girls ran the steeplechase at the first high school-only meet to have the event in state history (including Dawson Reeves' No. 6 all-time performance and Allie Kinlaw's top-15 performance being run). The trend continued with Johnson C. Smith adding the steeplechase to their high school invitational on June 30, and the Vertklasse Meeting at High Point University continuing their high school steeplechase race (which began in 2018) at their college meet on April 5, and culminating to the NCRunners Elite Tune-Up adding it to Saturday's race.
Kasten wasn't the only all-time steeplechase performance run on Saturday. In all, six of the all-time top-50 girls' times were run, with the following either improving or adding their names to the North Carolina all-time top-50 list: Page High's Allie Kinlaw (7:22.38, NC No. 8 all-time); Charlotte Country Day's Lily Giardi (7:45.75, No. 25); Atkins High's Paige Kiesling (7:52.63, No. 32); Weddington's CeCe Taft (7:58.47, No. 35) and Providence Day's Ashlyn Adams (7:59.84, No. 35).
Two boys also improved or were added to the all-time steeplechase list: Wesleyan Christian's Jones Barber (6:16.24, No. 15) and Cuthbertson's Ross Bridgeforth (6:36.00, No. 50).
The quality this year, though, has been the best in North Carolina history: Aside from 25 percent of the top-50 performances being run in the boys' and girls' steeplechase, three of the top-10 boys' performances have been achieved (Noah Valyo, Athens Drive, No. 4, 6:05.68, at Vertklasse; Dawson Reeves, Christ School, No. 7, 6:06.71, at Spring into the Season Kickoff; Alexander Friedli, Cannon School, No. 8, 6:07.71, at Vertklasse), and 5 of the top-15 (Luke Parrish, Christ School, No. 11, 6:10.97, at Music City Track Classic; Jones Barber, Wesleyan Christian, No. 15, 6:16.64, at NCRunners Elite Tune-Up). On the girls' side, three of the top-10 have been run and four of the top-15, including Kasten's performance on Saturday, Ava Walters, Cuthbertson, No. 6, 7:20.67, at Oregon Relays; Allie Kinlaw, Page, No. 8, 7:22.38, at NCRunners Elite Tune-Up; Katherine Pagorek, Cardinal Gibbons, No. 15, 7:32.31, at Dogwood Classic.
But the quality isn't just on the state level, but on the national level, as well.
Three of the top 11 boys in the nation are from North Carolina: Valyo, No. 8; Reeves, No. 10 and Friedli, No. 11) and 8 of the top 100 (including the previous three, along with Parrish, No. 23; Barber, No. 38; Andrew York, RJ Reynolds, No. 66; Joshawa Huneycutt, South Stanly, No. 71, and Colden Welsh, Covenant Day, No. 76), and 3 of the top 100 (Kasten, No. 12; Walters, No. 59; and Kinlaw, No. 68)
With Nike, New Balance and Adidas Nationals, as well as the AAU and USATF Junior Olympic seasons still left, the improvements and additions will likely increase even more - making this a season to remember and the start of something special in North Carolina as the state adds its name to the steeplechase craze
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North Carolina High School Steeplechase History Timeline
* 1976 - Myers Park's Paul Boyette is believed to be the first high schooler to run the steeplechase (his was a mile steeplechase at the Greenville News-Piedmont Relays at Furman, Greenville, SC, on March 20, 1976)
* 1977 - Boyette ran 5:21.4 in the mile steeplechase the following year at the Greenville News-Piedmont Relays at Furman, Greenville, SC, on March 19, 1977
* 1983 -June 24 is believed to be the first time a high school student ran the event in North Carolina, as Jim Farmer (Raleigh Broughton) and John Erickson (Southeast Guilford), ran 6:20.1 and 6:30.7, respectively, to go 1-2 in the Youn Men's division (17-18), and Alton Barnes (Garner) and Paul Baxter ran 6:45.0 and 7:26.2, respectively, to go 1-2 in the Intermediate Boys (15-16) division at the TAC (The Athletics Congress, precursor to USATF) North Carolina Junior Olympics Championships at Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium.
* 1983 - first time ever run at TAC (became USATF) Junior Olympic Nationals (June 29). The meet was held at Duke University's Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, NC (which had a track inside the stadium for a long time)
* 1994 - first time ever run at high school nationals (3k steeplechase, June 18-19, at N.C. State's Paul Derr Track, Raleigh, NC). High school nationals was then called the American Airlines National Scholastic Track & Field Championships
* 1995 - high school nationals changed the distance from 3K to 2K (June 16-17, at N.C. State's Paul Derr Track, Raleigh, NC). High school nationals was then called the National Scholastic Track & Field Championships
* 1996 - first time AAU Junior Olympic nationals contested steeplechase for boys (2K steeplechase)
* 2001 - first time ever contested at high school nationals for the girls' 2,000-meter steeplechase (June 15-16, at N.C. State's Paul Derr Track, Raleigh, NC). High school nationals was then called the Adidas Track & Field Championships.
* 2001 - first girl to run the steeplechase, Amelia Slagle, North Mecklenburg
* 2004 - first time AAU Junior Olympic nationals contested steeplechase for girls (2K steeplechase)
* 2014 - The Carolina Dick Craddock Relays at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, added the 2,000-meter steeplechase to their college meet, and the event was contested from 2014-2017
* 2018 - The Vertklasse Meeting at High Point University added the 2,000-meter steeplechase to their college meet
* 2024 - Spring into the Season Kickoff at Metrolina Christian Academy, Indian Trail, became the first high school-only meet to have a steeplechase in North Carolina and Metrolina Christian became the first high school to have the steeplechase on campus
* 2024 - Johnson C. Smith University added the 2,000-meter steeplechase to its high school invitational
* 2024 - North Carolina Steeplechase Foundation created to promote the event
* 2024 - North Carolina Steeplechase Series began by the North Carolina Steeplechase Foundation, with a two-meet series: Spring into the Season Kickoff and Vertklasse Meeting
* 2024 - NCRunners Elite Tune-Up added the 2,000-meter steeplechase to its meet
---Boys record progression
* 1983, Jim Farmer, Broughton, 6:20.1, TAC North Carolina JO, Duke, 6/24
* 1983, John Erickson, Southeast Guilford, 6:20.14, Junior Olympics nationals, Duke University, 7/29
* 1991, Jaime Griggs, Eastern Guilford, 6:07.24
* 2002, Kalib Wilkinson, North Mecklenburg, 6:06.07, Adidas Outdoor Nationals, N.C. State, Raleigh, 6/14
* 2018, Ryan Brown, Broughton, 6:03.48, Dogwood Classic, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 5/4
* 2022, Patrick Gibbons, Ardrey Kell, 6:03.23, Music City Track Carnival, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 6/4
* 2022, Patrick Gibbons, Ardrey Kell, 5:58.38, Nike Outdoor Nationals, Heyward Field, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
---Girls record progression
* 2001, Amelia Slagle, North Mecklenburg, 7:42.21, Adidas Outdoor Nationals, N.C. State's Paul Derr Track, Raleigh, 6/17
* 2002, Nelly Anderson, Cordillera Academy (home school), 7:02.05, Adidas Outdoor Nationals, , N.C. State's Paul Derr Track, Raleigh, 6/14
* 2024, Caitlin Kasten, Covenant Day, 6:59.30, NCRunners Elite Tune-Up, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, 6/1
