Jake Hurysz

Jake Hurysz (born July 15 1992) is an American distance runner from North Carolina. He began distance running as a Junior in high school at Eastern Alamance in Mebane in the fall of 2008. Hurysz finished third at the 3A state meet that year.

Hurysz experienced some down time following the 2008 cross country season. He made a debut in his outdoor track season at the Phoenix Invitational at Elon University in the 1600 but ran a time that went unnoticed by many. That season at the NCHSAA 3A State Championships, Hurysz led his 4x800 metre relay team to a third place with a lead-off leg of 1:55. He then followed that up with a fourth place finish in the 1600 in a time of 4:21.

Hurysz really took form during his senior cross country season. He began turning heads when he tied the course record at the SAS/WakeMed 5k cross country course at the Reebok Wolfpack Invitational with a time of 15:12. He followed that performance with a victory at the Greensboro XC Invite with in a 15:25, good enough to place him 3rd on the all-time list at the storied Hagan Stone course.

Hurysz continued that success with his first state title in the NCHSAA 3A Cross Country State Championships for 2009. One week later, he shattered his own personal record of 9:48 in the 3200 with a 9:08 at the Reagan High 3200m Tune-Up. He attained national recognition at the Footlocker South Regional where he finished third to qualify for the Footlocker National Meet in San Diego, where he would end up finishing 6th overall, good enough for All-American status and the second highest finish for a male North Carolinian ever.

Hurysz attributed much of this newfound success to his new mentor and coach, Christopher Catton, a Wake Forest graduate who coached at Ronald Reagan High near Winston-Salem, NC but agreed to assist Jake pursue his running ambitions. Jake had an undefeated 2010 Indoor Track season, and capped it off with two state titles, one in the 4x800m and then in the 3200m with a state-record time of 9:10.96.