Canyon junior Lathan Lewter entered as the top returner from 2023 where he was runner-up. He and his teammate Ryan Fernandez took the line just after watching their classmate Hannah Stuart complete a back-to-back win in the girls 3200m.
They'd have to deal with Angel Sanchez (Fort Worth Diamond Hills Jarvis) who had to sit out last year due to injury and came in with the top regional performance of 9:18.02
Lewter was anxious to get things started with his first lap pacing of 1:11.26 with Sanchez close in tow in 1:11.48 followed by the rest of the field.
Things remained the same as there were no through neither the 800m (2:23.06) nor the 1K (2:58) as the entire field was in contact even as they continued to let Lewter carry the pacing duties through 1200m at 3:34.01.
The La Feria twins (Armando Morales and Anthony Morales) and Ryan Fernandez moved into third, fourth, and fifth place positions right before the halfway point as the mile split was 4:45.05 with Lewter and Sanchez still in the lead.
Sanchez put on a surge shortly after the 2K mark to take the lead and gain a 10m lead over the La Feria twins. He came through 2400m at 7:03 with and with a growing lead of about 30m.
At the bell lap, it was Sanchez, Fernandez, and the twins in third and fourth places as they would finish the race in that order.
Sanchez, an Oklahoma State signee won his first track state title in two years. He had to watch the meet as he sat out the 2023 championship season.
