When St. John’s Prep senior Nathan Lopez broke Alberto Salazar’s 48-year-old meet record in the boys’ 2-mile at the MIAA Meet of Champions earlier this month, it appeared to be the crowning achievement for an all-time Bay State distance career.
But while everyone else lauded the record-setting performance, Lopez knew he was only scratching the surface.
Squaring off against top national competition late Friday night at New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Philadelphia, Lopez shattered the state 2-mile record in 8 minutes, 44.54 seconds, notching a second-place finish in the event behind Daniel Simmons of Utah (8:41.43) and topping his personal best at the Meet of Champions (8:59.29) by nearly 15 seconds.
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The state’s boys’ 2-mile record was set by Newton North great Chris Barnacle (8:50.42) in 2004, and Lopez surpassed it by nearly six seconds.
“I knew I could do a fair amount faster [than the Meet of Champions], if I ran the right race and really tried to throw it down,” said Lopez, who will run track at Michigan next year. “And that was kind of the goal of coming to Nationals, was to just go for that one last big effort.”
St. John’s Prep coach Zach Lankow, who was also in attendance for Barnacle’s record-setting effort while himself a high school athlete for the Eagles, knew early in Friday’s race Lopez was in prime position to well surpass his personal best.
“When he ran the 8:59 [at the meet of champions], it was not disappointing or anything. I think we both just knew that was not the end,” Lankow said. “We were certainly hoping for 8:50 at nationals…I knew pretty early on, probably 800 meters in, that this was going to be a special one.”
Now, Lopez’s name is cemented among the state’s all-time distance runners — and he hopes it stays that way.
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“It’s something that’s really important to me, and that I hope lasts a long time in the Massachusetts running community,” Lopez said.
After gradually improving upon her personal best in each of her last three pentathlon tries, Franklin junior Sarah Dumas smashed her PR Saturday with 3,518 points and a second-place finish in the girls’ pentathlon.
Dumas’s previous best (3,341) came in a winning effort at the Meet of Champions two weeks ago. She also won the Division 1 championship (3,335) and placed fourth at New Balance Indoor Nationals (3,275) in March.
On Saturday, Dumas’ well-rounded effort was highlighted by her third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (14.52), which garnered her 906 points, and a runner-up effort in the high jump (5 feet, 3¾ inches), worth 759 points.
Lexington’s 4x110-meter boys’ shuttle hurdles relay placed fourth at New Balance Nationals, setting a school record in the event (1:00.76).
Matty Wasserman can be reached at matty.wasserman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Matty_Wasserman.