What was that loud noise heard Tuesday that sent shockwaves throughout the high school track and field community?
Call it a sonic Boone.
That’s Pulaski County junior Cole Boone, who smashed the U.S. high school record in the 1,000-meter run with a winning time of 2 minutes, 20.14 seconds in the VHSL Class 3 state indoor meet at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
Boone did not merely break the old record, he smashed it to smithereens. The old time of 2:22.28 was set in 2009 by Robby Andrews of Manalapan High in New Jersey.
Andrews turned into more than an ordinary runner after high school. He won the NCAA outdoor championship in the 800 meters in 2011 for the University of Virginia and placed second in the U.S. Olympic trials in the 1,500 in 2016.
No question, Boone’s performance Tuesday was significant.
“Cole Boone is one in a million,” former Blacksburg High track and cross country coach James DeMarco said. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”
DeMarco should know. He coached the quartet of Kathleen Stevens, Sarah Dorrell, Hannah Brown and Joanna Stevens to a national high school record of 11:31.26 in the distance medley relay when they won the event in in a 2010 meet Greensboro, North Carolina.
However, that record was broken the following year.
DeMarco, who is now the head coach at Patriot High in Prince William County, believes Boone’s mark in the 1,000 will have staying power.
“It should stay there a while unless he gets it [again],” DeMarco said.
Boone made a run at the national mark earlier in the indoor season, at a December meet at Liberty University and at the Virginia Showcase in Virginia Beach in January, falling short by slight more than 1 second in both races.
“He kept getting stuck at [2:23],” DeMarco said. “He was trying to [break the record] in December, and then in January. He even ran in a college meet in January trying to do it. He actually had one of his worst performances at that meet. He was racing a ton.
“Then he got a little bit of a break in terms of the [amount of] racing and then came out and just crushed it.”
Boone, who ran the mile in 4:06 as a sophomore, broke the 1,000 national record by running virtually by himself at the front. Class 3 second-place Connor Linehan of Grafton High finished more than 12 seconds back in 2:32.88.
“I think [Boone] went through the [800] in 1:50, which is just incredible,” DeMarco said. “I’m excited to see what he can do in the mile. If you can run 2:20 [in the 1,000] you can run 4 minutes in the mile. He’s not just a speed runner. He’s strong too.”
Boone won the Class 3 indoor 1,000 as a sophomore in 2024 at 2:33.49 so his improvement in 12 months was massive. He placed first in the 800 in the VHSL Class 3 outdoor championships in June in 1:52.11.
Boone is scheduled to compete in the 800 in the New Balance Indoor Nationals March 13-16 in Boston, where he placed fourth in the event in 2024.
The Pulaski County junior reportedly has an NIL deal with New Balance and has long been on the national radar.
“New Balance has been very aggressive with American women runners since about 2015,” DeMarco said. “Now they’re getting aggressive with the high school market, which is smart. High school kids follow other high school kids and they might be influenced to buy brand X, Y or Z that someone is wearing.”
Boone’s national record came roughly seven months after another Cole — Blacksburg resident and former University of Oregon NCAA champion Cole Hocker — won the 1,500 for the United States in the Paris Olympics in a record time of 3:27.65.
“American distance running is just off the charts right now for high school, college and the pro level,” DeMarco said.
