Thomas Boyden Dips Under 15 Minutes At Eagle Island State Park

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EAGLE ISLAND STATE PARK, Idaho -- By the sheer force of his will, Thomas Boyden has joined the nation's elite high school distance runners. 

The Skyline senior, who placed 13th at Foot Locker last season, has displayed a level of running over the past month that stacks up with anyone in the country. 

Boyden cracked the 15-minute barrier on Saturday on a sunny, crowded day at the Bob Fiman Invitational, taking the victory in 14:59.5 to break Grant Gardner's one-year old meet record of 15:06.

Boyden said the key to his success has been staying healthy, growing a bit, and maturity. 

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He runs about the same weekly mileage as last year, but he has ratched the intensity to another level.

"A lot of workouts where I got to throw up after," Boyden said.

Borah ID's talented junior Nathan Green stormed out ahead of the pack with Boyden and were together through one mile. Green made a sharp, aggressive move on the steep downhill and began to falter afterwards and collapsed near the 2-mile mark. 

Boyden said Green complained to him of pain in his stomach before he went down. 

Green was treated in the medical tent and went to the hospital as a precaution. He was in good condition and talking before he left the park, according to Borah coach Tim Severa. 

Corner Canyon UT led a parade of Utah teams to the top of the standings and took the team title with 103 points, led by Mark Boyle's seventh-place finish. 

"We've not been to very many big (out-of-state) meets and it's good for college recruiting and to see how we stack up nationally," Boyle said. "It's our first really big meet in the middle of the season."

Corner Canyon, located in Draper, Utah, opened in 2013 and has already emerged as a national power. Transfer Easton Allred remains sidelined with a stress fracture, but if the team can add him to the mix before the end of the year this group could be a serious Nike Cross Nationals title contender.

The top six teams all came from Utah, where the regular season is already more than half over. 

Bozeman MT was the top non-Utah team, taking seventh. 

North Central WA put three runners in the top 17 but had a precipitous drop-off to the fourth and fifth runners and finished 10th, the best showing from the state of Washington. 

Peter Visser of Star Valley WY finished second overall in 15:12.7. Wil Smith of Lewis and Clark WA was third in 15:19.1. Seven of the top nine finishers were from Utah.