5,000 meters, 3.1 miles, less than 15 minutes. To an observer it seems remarkable that distance runners can lap the track so many times without succumbing to its rhythmic, dizzying cycle. But to Sam Lagasse ’16, those minutes on the track fly by.

This year, Lagasse blew all his previous records out of the water. Inspired to do his best in his last season, Lagasse beat his previous personal best, already Kenyon’s record. His personal record (PR) time of 14:23.36 at Bucknell University’s Bison Outdoor Classic on April 16 bested his previous record of 14:53.16 by nearly 30 seconds. At the meet Lagasse came in seventh out of 33 runners and first of all the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-III athletes competing.

Lagasse’s online running records go back to a cross-country PR of 20:56 for 5,000 meters in 2008. Since that PR in high school, Lagasse has improved dramatically: from a 5,000-meter PR of 18:01 in 2010, to around a minute faster in 2011 (16:56), Lagasse has improved almost every year of his running career.

Now a senior, Lagasse has come a long way since his high school days in Westhill, Conn. During his first year at Kenyon, Lagasse PR-ed yet again in the 5,000-meter event with a time of 15:23.77 in the indoor season. That year Lagasse ran the 3,000-meter event with a PR of 8:59.13.

Lagasse continued to improve in his sophomore-year outdoor season, shaving 30 seconds off the indoor PR from his first year.

Eight years after that 5K PR of 20:56, Lagasse has only one home meet left in his Kenyon career. The community can join him and his fellow seniors for their Senior Day home meet this Saturday, the Kenyon Spring Invitational, starting at noon on the Wilder Track.