- Sophomore Parker Harris broke a 40-year-old record in the 3,200-meter run.
- The record was previously held by his assistant coach Kurt Black.
- Harris aims to continue running into college with hopes of going professional.
LAYTON – In preparing for the next track meet, the Layton Lancers are always looking to improve on their own best times and to win. Sophomore Parker Harris unwittingly beat a 40-year-old record for the Davis School District track meet last month — coming in with a time of 9:24.8 in the 3,200-meter run.
"I had no idea. I just was going for the win," Harris said.
Not only that, but he quickly learned whose record he'd beaten — one set by his own assistant coach, Kurt Black, as a member of the Davis High School team, in 1986. His time back then: 9:28.2.
"It was good at the time, but I didn't think it would last that long," Black said.
Black delivered the good news not long after Harris crossed the finish line.
"Five minutes later, (he) comes up to me was like, 'gosh dang it, you got my 40-year-old record,'" Harris recalled. "It's just so cool to see, I'm following in the footsteps of great athletes. I mean, Coach Black — he's so awesome."
Harris' coaches, however, were not surprised to see him reach that milestone.
"He's a remarkable kid, and he's really just put in the work," head coach Carre Fredin said. "We laid a super good foundation, and I could just see in the workouts, his fitness really starting to come along. And along with his fitness, I just really saw his confidence growing."
Black joined the team as a volunteer assistant coach in 2017 while his older son, Jackson, was on the team. He followed both him and his younger son, Collin, through the program, but continues to stick with it.
"It's fun to watch kids that come in and just can barely run a mile. And then by the time they graduate, they're, they're doing amazing things," Black said.
Both Black and Fredin said that with growth in the program over the years, they'd expected someone to break Black's record soon, they just weren't sure who would do it.
"We've known that that record was beatable for a couple of years. And so I knew that he was ready to break it," Fredin said. "It's easy to celebrate his success because he's an athlete that just works really hard, really believes in the training."
Harris hopes to continue running into college, maybe one day doing it professionally.
"It's a long ways away, so I'm trying to just try to do what I can now to set myself up for that future," he said, adding that his team and coaches helped him get where he is now. "You feel like you're a part of something bigger than just like you or your team, it's just like it's magic."
Black pursued steeplechase while at Weber State University, eventually taking 3rd in the NCAA, and 4th at USA nationals. He said running continues to play a prominent role in his family. They just returned from the Boston Marathon, where his sons Jackson and Collin both completed the race that he'd done back in 2005.
