Zachary’s Rhen Langley, an LSU signee, is the Boys Athlete of the Year

Rhen Langley had a reputation as a distance runner before he enrolled at Zachary High, but one nagging question remained for the LSU signee in the final months of his senior year.

Could he win the “big one” — a race at the LHSAA Class 5A outdoor meet held at LSU?

“I won titles indoors, which is nice but it’s not the same,” Langley said. “Winning outdoors — in 5A — that means more.”

The decision to go against a long distance runner’s grain and focus on the 800 meters helped Langley win that elusive title. It also cemented his status as The Advocate’s Boys Athlete of the Year for 2023.

“Rhen was not happy about how some things last fall went. So, we started to look at where to go next to find the right fit for him to meet his goals and help the team,” Zachary distance coach Julie Fink said. “Some people might see that as being a selfish thing, but it wasn’t. We felt if he could achieve his goal it would help the team, and it did.”

The fact that Langley was not pleased with his fall performance offers a telling footnote. He was the All-Metro team’s MVP and had the area’s top 3-mile boys time of 15 minutes, 20.5 seconds and won the Metro Meet. As Langley prepared for indoor/outdoor track, the need to enhance speed became a pivotal part of his training.

That plan paid off almost immediately. Langley set indoor records in the distance trifecta — winning an 800 race in 1:54.36, the 1,600 in 4:13.91 and the 3,200 in 9:16.10. Though he missed setting an LHSAA meet record by less than a second, Langley won the 5A 800 in 1:51.55.

“In the 800, the first lap just goes by pretty fast,” Langley said. “The second lap comes down to who wants it the most. It’s a real challenge and I like that.”