Editor’s Note: For 20 days in April, the Deseret News will profile 20 elite high school athletes from the 2020 graduating class and how they’re coping with the premature end of senior life on and off the field.
SALT LAKE CITY — Skyline senior Thomas Boyden just wanted to run, he didn’t really care where.
Boyden was scheduled to participate in the Texas Distance Festival on March 14, but three days earlier the NBA suspended its season when Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. Within 24 hours, the NCAA and virtually every other pro sports league followed suit — including the Texas meet.
“My mind wasn’t there yet that it could be my only race, and I wasn’t adamant about the record, but I knew what it was. I’ve wanted to get that for about two years now.” — Thomas Boyden.
Back in Utah, the Utah High School Activities Association had also put the kibosh on spring sports — but all scheduled events that weekend could still proceed as long as individual school districts approved.
So Thursday night, after learning the Texas meet was canceled and less than 24 hours after Gobert’s diagnosis changed sports, Boyden’s coach searched for a place for his star runner to still compete on the weekend.
After all, Boyden had trained aggressively the previous month for the elite 5K race in Texas and naturally wanted a payoff.
Boyden’s coach, Thomas Porter, found out that indeed the Snow Canyon Invitational was still taking place that weekend and they had openings in the distance races.
So Friday morning, Boyden and his mother Sarah hopped in their car and headed for St. George. They stopped for food at a gas station along the way, arrived a few hours before his Friday afternoon race — and then stunningly he proceeded to break the overall 1,600 meter state record.
It was a record the Stanford commit believed he could break during his senior season, but probably not until May at the BYU Invitational or the state meet, when distance records typically fall.
Stars aligned on that crazy Friday, though, as Boyden etched his name in the record books in what could potentially be the only 1,600 race his senior year in high school.
His state record time of 4:05.16 was a six-second improvement on his top mark in 2019, and eclipsed the previous state record of 4:06.22 set by American Fork’s Casey Clinger in 2017.
“My mind wasn’t there yet that it could be my only race, and I wasn’t adamant about the record, but I knew what it was. I’ve wanted to get that for about two years now,” said Boyden.
It wasn’t until the next day in the 3,200 meters that reality kind of crept in for Boyden, and he thought it could be his final high school race.
He nearly created an even better Hollywood ending as Boyden shattered his PR with a time of 8:50.65 in Saturday morning’s 3,200 meters. It was the second-fastest time ever in Utah, and was less than two seconds off Park City’s Ben Saarel, who owns the state record time of 8:49.08 set back in 2013.
Considering how hard he pushed the day before in the 1,600, Boyden said he hadn’t even considered the record as a possibility and hadn’t even mapped out splits to try and give him a chance. He was just happy to be competing, and considering that the UHSAA has suspended all sports until at least May — and potentially for the rest of the school year — Boyden is grateful about his decision to make an impromptu drive to St. George.
“It’s definitely heartbreaking almost. I still have hope that something works out; it’s kind of shocking to think about if it does end up that way,” said Boyden.
For now, like many high school seniors, Boyden is holding out hope that there may still be competitions.
His coach still sends him workouts to do twice a week, and then he runs with a couple of friends on the other days. With the rest of his time, “I just do homework and watch TV, like everyone else is really doing.”
Knowing he was fortunate enough to break the state record before the sports shutdown, Boyden’s biggest regret is the cancelation of the Arcadia Invitational in California. It’s one of the most prestigious events in the country, and the collection of 2020 distance runners that were scheduled to gather in April many believe would’ve been the strongest field of two-mile runners ever in one high school race.
Boyden is sad he won’t get a chance to push himself against the best of the best. That likely will have to wait until college, unless the stars align again like they did in St. George.