Dark Horse

More often than not, the mindset, "give yourself a chance," is emphasized by many when it comes to track racing. 
That phrase certainly checked out during the second section of the Boy's 1600m on Friday at the OATCCC D1 Indoor State Meet, where we were treated to one of the closest races of the weekend with the eventual champion, Ben Gabelman (Wester. North 2024), who clocked a US #2 performance of 4:08.79.

Just finishing right behind him was someone that many might not have seen coming on their radars.
Connor Long of Anthony Wayne.

Coming into this race, he was seeded third with an indoor personal best of 4:15.70 (outdoor was 4:13.11), just a few seconds off of the favorite and champion, Gabelman, who had a seed time of 4:12.45 coming into the competition. However, he had clocked a sub 4:10 effort last outdoor season.

Initially, he made his presence known early, staying in range the lead pack, keeping steady the group throughout the entire race. Coming into the fourth lap (600m to go), it was just him and Gabelman up front, putting a gap on the rest of the field coming into the homestretch before the bell-lap. While he remained in second for the latter half of the race, the last few seconds had many on their feet, as it looked like that Long would have narrowly secured his first ever state title, going toe-to-toe until the very last step.

Regardless of this, he shaved several seconds off of his personal best in the event and dipped under 4:10 for the first time, clocking 4:09.28 for that US #3 spot. This now puts him in contention to be a contender for the outdoor title; this comes after just missing the podium last year.

He will be seeing Gabelman one more time this indoor season, as they are both entered into the Championship Mile at New Balance Nationals Indoor.