Watch Liam Kinken run US No. 3 All-Time over 500m to win his first North Carolina State Title
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South Mecklenburg HS junior Liam Kinken had a major breakthrough at the NCHSAA 8A State Championships running a 2.5 second personal best to win his first state title in the 500m in 1:01.17. The mark breaks Joshua Cooper (Willow Springs) state record set last year of 1:01.92 and is US No. 3 All-Time indoors only behind Andrew Salvodon (Bayside, VA, 2025) and Quincy Wilson (Bullis, MD, 2026) who ran 1:00.49 and 1:00.56 respectively.
Kinken came into the NCHSAA State Championships ranked fourth overall in North Carolina with his previous personal best of 1:03.65 from December. Cooper's 1:03.39 was NC No. 1 this season but he would run the 1000m at the state championship. The matchup was between Kinken seeded just behind Drew Johnson (Hough) who had run .11 seconds faster at 1:03.54 this indoor season.
Kinken would be on the outside in lane 6 looking to get to the break first ahead of Johnson who was on his inside in lane 5. He'd power through the first two turns to be well ahead at the break line coming through 300m at 34.84 nearly two seconds ahead of the field. Kinken would only grow his lead over the final 500m running 26.32 for the final 200m crossing the line in a shocking time of 1:01.17.
In 2025 Kinken placed fourth at the NCHSAA 4A Indoor State Championships running 1:05.48 as a sophomore. He'd go on to run 21.95 and 47.55 over 200m and 400m outdoors. He'd place third in the NCHSAA 4A Outdoor 400m in 48.22.
He's somewhat of a rare athlete who started his freshman year running distance at South Mecklenburg running 17:47 his freshman year for cross country and 2:06.36 and 4:45.51 for the 800m and 1600m. He'd also hold a freshman year best of 51.44 over 400m. He'd run cross country in 2024 dropping his time to 17:26, but proved to be better over the longer sprints during the indoor season focused on 300m to 500m.
He may have come into the day with hopes to just win his first state title, but is leaving the NCHSAA 8A Indoor State Championships as a star in the long sprints on the national level!
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