Always at the head of the pack, Knoxville Catholic’s Jake Renfree runs to a win in the KIL Championships at Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By Mike Blackerby
Jake Renfree broke the mold for the prototypical high school long distance runner, from his towering 6-foot-4 presence to his size 14 spikes.
But then again, nothing about the recent Catholic graduate was typical during his much-decorated high school running career.
His performances on the track were nothing short of phenomenal.
Irish coach Sean O’Neil said Renfree, the 5Star Preps Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year, ranks among the elite runners in Tennessee prep annals.
“If you look at the results and what they did in high school, Jake is right there with Andrew Bumbalough and Brodey Hasty,” said O’Neil.
“Those three are a pretty select group.”
Bumbalough was a 10-time state champion at Brentwood Academy (2005 graduate) while Hasty (Brentwood 2018) ranked in the top five all-time nationally in several events and flirted with cracking the magical four-minute mile barrier.
“It’s a real honor to be in the conversation with those guys,” said Renfree.
“Without our team and coach O’Neil I wouldn’t be in the spot I’m in now.”
Renfree’s achievements compare favorably as he dominated on the state level and shined on the biggest national stages.
Renfree, who will run for Notre Dame, easily won the 800 (1:53.80) and 1600 (4:14.30) at the Large School state meet in Murfreesboro in May.
He grabbed national headlines in March when he garnered first place in the mile (4:06.39) at the prestigious New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York.
In the recent Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville against a stacked national field, Renfree took third in the mile as he lowered his all-time best in the event to 4:05.90.
Cole Sprout of Valor Christian (Colo.) was first in 4:04.19 – the fastest time by a high school runner in the nation in the mile this spring.
O’Neil said he never envisioned such a meteoric rise by Renfree when he first stepped on campus.
“He was a good freshman and I knew he could help us out,” explained O’Neil. “He was usually our No. 5 runner as a freshman.
“At the state meet his freshman year he was a long shot to even get to the two-mile. He came out of nowhere to finish third, and that’s really when I saw his competitive fire.”
O’Neil really knew he had something special on his hands when Renfree ran extremely well during the first cross country meet of his junior year.
Renfree also recalled that race as a breakout moment personally.
“I ran 15:19 that race, which was a school record in the 5K,” recounted Renfree.
“I was chasing Carter Coughlin of Webb the entire way. I was like 10 seconds behind him and he was a beast.”
O’Neil said Renfree has come nowhere close to reaching his ceiling as a runner.
He predicted Renfree will flourish at Notre Dame.
“The huge thing is just having a team to run with,” O’Neil explained.
“Most of the time he has been running alone in practice the last two years. I’ve been careful to not run him too much or too hard and leave something in the tank. There’s still plenty there.”