Coombs signs with Wake Forest, breaks NM prep mile record again

Corbin Coombs will be motoring along Tobacco Road.

The Organ Mountain High School senior, the state’s reigning Class 5A state cross country champion and New Mexico’s prep record holder in the indoor mile, on Thursday announced his college choice: Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“I felt like it was the right place,” Coombs said. “The coaches were really nice, they have really disciplined athletes, and the training seemed to work well.”

He will compete in both cross country and track and field for the Demon Deacons, he said.

“It’s definitely nice to be able to be committed so I don’t have to stress making the decision anymore,” Coombs said.

His list of finalists also included Duke, Tennessee, Utah State and BYU. His biggest in-state rival is Charlie Vause of Rio Rancho. Vause was named the Gatorade Boys Cross Country National Player of the Year last month, just a couple of days after he signed with BYU. Neither New Mexico nor New Mexico State were under serious consideration, Coombs said.

Coombs’ signing is one of two recent major developments in his life.

Last Saturday in Philadelphia, Coombs, for the second time this calendar year, broke New Mexico’s prep record in the mile. Competing at The Circuit: Philadelphia 2025 at the Ott Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Coombs finished in 4 minutes, 1.62 seconds.

“We ended up going through the first 800, and the pace was a little slow,” he said. That changed, he added, in the second half of the race, and he went 29.4 seconds over the final 200 meters to win.

Last month at The Armory in New York City, Coombs was at the Millrose Games, and in the Nike Boys Mile event posted a time of 4:02.59. That was by .06 lower than the 21-year-old mark previously established by La Cueva’s Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott in 2004.

Coombs will begin his Organ Mountain season on Monday in Silver City. He leaves Wednesday for New York, and the Nike Indoor Nationals at The Armory. He said he will be running both the 2-mile (Friday), and the mile (a week from Sunday).

And he most definitely is thinking about breaking the 4-minute threshold.

“It really depends on how the pace goes out,” Coombs said. He also is New Mexico’s state record holder in the 1,600 meters, set last May.