Dawson Reeves ’24 has committed himself to running full-time this year and the Christ School record book may never be the same.
Relying on the training base he built up over the winter, the Greenie freshman has broken the school record for 1,600 meters twice in the past four weeks.
Dawson lowered his own record to 4 minutes, 25.72 seconds Sunday during the In the Pines Invitational at Montreat College. The meet only consisted of the 1,600 meters (a four-lap race) and benefitted Montreat coach Britten Olinger, who was seriously injured in a February 2017 automobile accident.
Dawson balanced distance running with basketball as an eighth grader and has really come into his own since narrowing his focus. He was the 2020 Carolinas Athletic Association champion in cross country and an NCISAA all-state selection last fall. The former Christ School record for the 1,600 meters (4:30.97) belonged to Rett English '08 and had stood since 2007. Dawson previously ran 4:29.97 at the NCISAA Winter Track & Field Carnival on Feb. 21, which at the time made him the only Christ School runner to crack the 4:30 mark.
Now Dawson has some company in that regard, too.
Jackson Burch ’22 ran 4:28.57 on Sunday, and six of the seven Greenies who entered the race had personal records. The rest of Christ School’s runners were Rocky Hansen ‘23 (4:32.99), Jackson Swango ‘21 (5:18.60), Eyob Gill ‘24 (5:21.09), Matthew Luke ‘22 (5:25.26), and Rhodes Feild ’23 (5:39.23). Full results from Sunday's meet can be found here.