Caden Leonard wins the 2025 Texas Distance Festival 5,000m
Caden Leonard made history this weekend and is right on the doorstep of more history.
The Southlake Carroll senior ran 4:00.07 in the indoor mile at the ASICS Sound Running Invite on the fast, banked 200-meter track at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, finishing third overall in a professional-caliber field. Shane Streich won in 3:58.55, Clay Pender followed in 3:59.67, and Leonard crossed in 4:00.07, just eight hundredths of a second shy of becoming the third Texas high school athlete in history to break four minutes in the mile. He was the top high school finisher in the race and proved he belonged in the mix against seasoned post-collegiate competitors.
Only two Texas high school milers have ever run faster: Reed Brown and Sam Worley. Brown, a former Southlake Carroll standout, UIL state champion, current school record holder, and NCAA All-American at the University of Oregon, ran 3:59.30 at the 2017 Festival of Miles. Worley clocked 4:00.61 that same year at the Texas Relays. Now Leonard sits just behind them on the all-time list, and the connection to Brown runs even deeper. Brown now serves as Leonard's assistant coach at Southlake Carroll, guiding the next Dragon star who is chasing the same barrier he once broke.
Despite running faster in the overall event, both Brown and Worley's marks came outdoors. Leonard sits atop the Texas boys' indoor all-time list and is 13th on the US all-time indoor list.
Leonard's performance in North Carolina is the latest chapter in what has already been a remarkable senior year. In December, he won his third UIL cross country state championship and led Southlake Carroll to its seventh consecutive team state title, the most ever consecutively in the largest UIL classification and the second-longest streak in Texas history. He followed that by placing third at both the Brooks Cross Country National Championships and Nike Cross Nationals, efforts that recently helped earn him Gatorade Texas Player of the Year honors for the 2025 cross country season.
On the track, Leonard is a two-time UIL 6A 1600-meter state champion and the defending 3200-meter champion. His 4:00.07 indoors now signals that he is not just a dominant Texas runner, but a national-level miler capable of competing with professionals. The setting at JDL, a venue known for producing fast times, provided the stage, but Leonard provided the performance, closing hard and putting himself within striking distance of one of the sport's most iconic barriers.
With Nike Indoor Nationals ahead, where he is scheduled to anchor the Texas DMR, Leonard will likely get another opportunity at the four-minute mark. Given his trajectory, training environment, and the mentorship of a coach who has already navigated this exact milestone, it feels less like a matter of if and more like a matter of when.