Seniors Cameron Disser, Cayden Forbes and Yichen Sun, along with junior James Coleman, set five new outdoor track school records throughout the course of the 2023 spring season.
“It’s extremely unusual for that many records to be broken, and that speaks highly of just how special these four boys are and the success of the entire boys track team this year,” athletic director Lewis Newman said.
Yichen Sun broke the 5k record, with a time of 15:34 against Northern Durham High School and Riverside High School at Chapel Hill High School on April 12.
“I went in expecting to break the record because the 5k is not commonly run (during track season) in high school, so the previous one was not very hard to beat,” Sun said. “It still felt good to run a decent time solo, though.”
Sun will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall and will be participating on both their cross country and track teams.
“My high school track career was a great experience,” Sun said. “Having a community of people who were like me all four years of high school really helped me grow as a person.”
Cameron Disser broke the 400-meter dash record with a time of 49:44 on April 1 in the Panther Invitational at Dudley High School. The previous record was 50.31, set by Harrison Young in 2014.
Disser, who ran cross-country his freshman through junior years, didn’t participate in track until he was in 11th grade.
“Most people would consider your junior year to be way too late to start working towards such a far-away goal I set for myself, but I believed in my abilities and decided to work hard towards my goal anyways,” Disser said.
Disser will be attending UNC-Wilmington next year, where he will also be running track.
Junior James Coleman broke both the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles school records with times of 14.91 and 39.16 on April 16 at the Apex Lion’s Relay in Apex.
“It was extremely motivating for me to break it,” Coleman said. “My goal now is to continue to try to improve and then go on and break my own records.”
Due to iliac bone issues and a surf toe, Coleman was forced to sit out for the majority of his sophomore track and field season.
“I battled some pretty bad injuries, but I was able to get through it,” he said. “I definitely learned the importance of taking care of your body as much as possible because if you don’t, you can’t perform.”
Coleman said he used his recovery from injuries as motivation to improve.
“I learned a lot about my purpose of running, and I’ve been blessed to have a gift in this sport and the ability to still play in it,” he said. “My setbacks were hard, but it definitely helped me to motivate myself even more to work hard and succeed.”
Senior Cayden Forbes broke the 100-meter dash record, with a time of 10.83 on May 2 during the DAC-VII conference track meet at the Durham County Memorial Stadium.
“Breaking a record has a feeling I can’t explain,” he said. “Having a school record with my name on it makes me compete and train even harder to not only maintain the record but eventually break it again with a faster time.”
Like Disser, Forbes didn’t join the track team until his junior year. Although his first couple of meets didn’t turn out as successful as he wanted them to be, with coach Abe Faison and the team’s help, he accomplished his goal of breaking a school record this season.
“Patience is one of the main things I can say I’ve pulled from track,” Forbes said. “There’d been some meets where I wouldn’t perform as well, and I’d get down and get into my head about not doing well. I’m very lucky to have Coach Abe, who’d guide me and tell me to be patient and to keep working.”
Forbes will be pursuing playing football in college, taking a post-graduate year at Palmetto Prep Academy in Columbia, South Carolina.
Assistant coach Dylan Wood noted how exceptional it is to have five school records broken during a single season.
“Having so many records broken this year is evidence of the special group of student-athletes that we are lucky to have this season,” Wood said. “All around it is an amazing accomplishment to see these records fall, and we look forward to breaking some more in the future.”
