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Organ Mountain's Corbin Coombs sets NM mile record in New York City
Corbin Coombs, right, pictured at the state championships in May 2024, ran the mile in 4 minutes, 2.59 seconds Saturday at the Millrose Games in New York City, which would be the fastest mile ever run by a New Mexico high school athlete. Coombs finished second in the Nike Boys Mile event. Charlie Vause, left, also competed in New York City, and finished ninth.
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The name Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott hasn’t been much on the lips of New Mexicans for many years.
Today it is, because the former La Cueva Bear just fell from No. 1 to No. 2 on the state’s all-time record list for marks in the mile run.
Kiptoo Biwott had owned the state high school record in the mile since 2004. But on Saturday in New York City, Organ Mountain High School senior Corbin Coombs broke it.
Invited to compete at the prestigious Millrose Games, Las Cruces’ Coombs lowered the mark in a magnificent run at The Armory, placing second in the Nike Boys Mile event, finishing in 4 minutes, 2.59 seconds.
“I’m definitely pretty happy. I hadn’t thought about the New Mexico record as much as being out there with the great competition. But I’m pretty grateful I was able to get the record,” Coombs said in a phone interview with the Journal.
The previous New Mexico record was 4:02.65, Hall of Fame coach Adam Kedge of Albuquerque Academy told the Journal.
Kiptoo Biwott is one of New Mexico’s prep running legends, as after his career at La Cueva he went on to become an All-American at the University of Oregon. His time in the mile was achieved at an outdoor meet, where times would generally be faster. Coombs’ performance Saturday was at an indoor meet.
Charlie Vause of Rio Rancho finished ninth (4:11.50) in the Nike Boys Mile in New York. Vause late last year won the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon, the first from New Mexico to win that elite race.
The champion Saturday of the Nike Boys Mile was Tommy Latham of Atlanta, finishing in a meet-record time of 4:00.94.
Coombs said finishing second in a “stacked meet like that” was special. “There were national champions galore in that race,” he added.
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The Organ Mountain runner, who is planning to announce his intention for college soon, is racking up some impressive records with the Knights.
Last May, he broke the state’s 1,600-meter mark at the Class 5A state track and field meet, finishing in 4:06.17 at the University of New Mexico Complex.
Last November, Coombs was the 5A state cross country championship, becoming the first modern-day runner to break 15 minutes in a title-winning run. His time at Academy was 14 minutes, 49 seconds.
Coombs said he has two other major indoor meets on his schedule next month on the East Coast, one in Philadelphia and the other the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York City, on the same Armory track as the Millrose Games. The three indoor meets he has done this winter — in New York, Virginia and Boston — do not count against his competition total at Organ Mountain.
Coombs is also planning to compete this spring in outdoor meets in Arizona and Southern California. The high school track season for New Mexico athletes officially begins Monday.
