Reese Vannerson crosses the finish line in the 1500m at the Victor Lopez Classic
Houston Strake Jesuit senior Reese Vannerson has a couple of weeks remaining as an amateur athlete. After graduating, he will attend Arizona State University and go pro as a triathlete. The bronze medalist at the 2022 World U20 Championships in the triathlon has a to-do list prior to relocating to Arizona. One of those things is completing his UIL track and field season at state championships.
This week, he took the next steps to helping that materialize with his wins in the 1600m and 3200m at the UIL District 23-6A & 24-6A Area Championships. The wins came in elite fashion, just as Vannerson has been performing all season long. He started things off with a 8:59.36 in the 3200m and ended with a 4:07 in the 1600m.
The Area meet was his first 3200m of the season and came in personal record fashion. It was just under two second faster than his previous personal best 9:01.17 from when he finished runner-up at the 2022 UIL 6A state championships. With an early first quartermile split of 64, Vannerson found himself running alone with Clear Lake junior Sam Golla being his closest competitor. Crossing the line with three laps roughly paced around 67 seconds each, the paces for the first mile followed with 2:11, 3:18, and 4:25 on the clock.
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Running all alone, Vannerson was relying on his inner clock for pacing and the next couple of laps would be at a pace of 69/70 at splits of 5:34, 6:43, 7:53. Aware of the fact that the nine minute barrier was in reach, all the Stake Jesuit senior needed was to lower the last lap split back down to just under the 67 second pace of the earlier laps.
The necessary valiant effort was remaining in Vannerson's reserve. He pulled out a sub 67 lap all by himself to notch his first sub nine minute race. However, the day wasn't complete; he still had another race and qualifying spot for the Region 3-6A Championships to earn.
He did that by capturing the victory in the 1600m in his career second best performance of 4:07.88.
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With a 4:06.87 PR seven weeks ago and a 3:49.58 in the 1500m, Vannerson knew what pace felt like. A 61 second first lap gave him a 15 meter lead. He followed up at 2:03 and 3:07 and finished with nearly a 60 second final lap.
Vannerson is tuned up and primed for a fantastic finish to his senior season and the 2023 UIL Championship season could be quite the send off. As a sophomore, he's competed at the state meet in the 1600m in the 3200m as a junior. This year, his motivation is to qualify for Austin and finish on the podium in both events.
In Friday's finishes, Vannerson exhibited admirable effort in the final 400m of both events after sustaining high level paces in solo efforts. Those finishes demonstrated that his current aerobic fitness level is high enough to contend for the UIL 6A state titles.