* Alex Leath wins the boys 1,600m at the FSU Relays.
Photo Credit: Danny Aguas/MileSplit Florida
"I just let my running do the talking. But I think now, I'm probably in the spotlight more than I was at the beginning of the year. I'll say that."
By Ashley Tysiac -- MileSplit
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"From Vestavia Hills, Alabama, Trey Leath!" called the announcer over the loudspeaker at New Balance Nationals Indoor in Boston in early March.
The crowd seemed puzzled.
Who is Trey Leath?
Well, for one thing, it wasn't the athlete who took a smooth stride to the second alley for the 800m start. That athlete was Charles Leath -- or at least that was the name written in all-caps on the bib pinned to his jersey.
But even Charles isn't the name the nationally-ranked mid-distance talent is known by. And he's certainly not Trey -- in fact, that's his father's name.
For whatever reason, no one could get Alex Leath's name right going into the season's premiere national championship indoor race at the 800 meter distance.
"Everybody was confused," Leath said.
But for those who knew Leath, a senior out of Alabama distance powerhouse Vestavia Hills, what happened on the oval once the gun sounded came as no surprise.
In one of the fastest and most thrilling boys 800m races in U.S. high school indoor history, Leath took a close second to Tinoda Matsatsa at the line in a time of 1:48.46. That ranked him at U.S. No. 4 all-time in the indoor record books.
For those who didn't know who Leath was before the eight-lap race around the TRACK, they certainly had a better idea afterward.
"It's definitely exciting," he said. "It's fun to be a part of it and be a part of history."
But Leath is no one-hit-wonder.
He's a multiple-time Alabama Class 7A state champion in the 800m and 1,600m, and he's even snagged a couple runner-up finishes in the 400m. He'll be joining a Virginia program in the fall that has produced some of the nation's top 1,500m racers in Conor Murphy and Gary Martin.
Go back to 2021 to see the turning point when Leath began to perform highly on a national level. During his sophomore indoor track season, he earned a third-place finish in the 800m at Nike Indoor Nationals and clocked 1:51.51 at the RunningLane Track Championships just a few months later.
Now he's ranked as the top combined athlete at 800m and 1,600m, with outdoor season bests of 1:50.63 and 4:09.57, respectively.
So how did Leath sneak up on the high school track and field community?
Perhaps it's a combination of dedication, humility and a commitment to putting the Alabama distance running community on the map that makes him an unassuming star.
"I just let my running do the talking," he said. "But I think now, I'm probably in the spotlight more now than I was at the beginning of the year. I'll say that."
Photo Credit: Shawn Conlon/MileSplit
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For quite some time, Leath has stood in the distance limelight at the Alabama state level.
He's been a key member of a Vestavia Hills distance crew that has produced national-caliber recruits in recent years, such as current UNC-Chapel Hill talent Ethan Strand.
But going into his senior year, Leath wanted to make a change.
Sure, he has had plenty of nationally-recognized success in years prior. Leath even won a nationally-competitive 800m race at RunningLane in 2021 with a U.S. No. 25 all-time sophomore effort of 1:51.51.
But he wanted to go the distance in order to see greater benefits on the track. For Leath, that meant bumping up the mileage to 60 miles a week going into the fall of 2022 and getting more reps in on the cross country course.
The results of that training shift showed as Leath earned a ninth-place finished at the Alabama 7A State Cross Country Championships, his highest ever, and logged a new 5K PR of 15:46.23 at the Jesse Owens Classic.
But the real turning point on the track came for Leath nearly three months later on the most unassuming of stages: A random last chance meet held at the Birmingham indoor facility.
In a solo effort, Leath stormed to the first sub-1:50 800m performance of his career, completing a solo effort in an impressive 1:49.60.
At that point in the indoor season, he ranked as the only athlete in the country to have dipped under the 1:50 time barrier. A video of Leath's stellar race posted to the MileSplit Instagram channel garnered 141,000 views.
"I think that was a really great confidence booster," he said. "I ran 1:49, kind of felt on top of the world."
Four days later, Leath added two more state titles to his name in the 800m and 1,600m and helped Vestavia Hills to a runner-up team finish at the indoor state championships.
When the time came to put his speed to the test against fellow elite athletes at New Balance Nationals Indoor, Leath had all the momentum he needed. Not only was he the top-ranked athlete in the country, but he held that position by a good margin.
"I think at that time, I was the only person under 1:50 in indoors," he said. "I was like, I've run it and I've run it the most recently, so I know I'm supposed to be here. I'm fit."
And while talk of potentially seeing someone take down the 1:47.67 national record was certainly circulating, Leath's only objective was to grab a win.
When the race went out hot in a quick 25-second first 200m, Leath didn't go with the pack. In fact, he was nowhere to be found over the course of the first two laps.
As Matsatsa quickly strung out the pack, Leath slowly worked his way from the back up into the chase pack. With 600m to go, a closing Leath made one final move to catch Matsatsa ahead of him.
"I just chilled and then started working up after that first 200m, just trying to stay in good position, and then it all just came together that last 200m," he said.
Ultimately, he finished mere tenths of a second behind Matsatsa, who clocked 1:48.27 for a U.S. No. 3 all-time performance to earn the elusive New Balance crown.
Does Leath envy not breaking the tape in Boston?
Not really.
"(You) just try to close as hard as you can, and that's what happened," he said. "I'm happy with it. I wouldn't change anything about it."
Better yet, by the race's end, there was no question as to who Alex Leath was, either.
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Now that Leath has been thrust into the public eye on a much greater scale, he's been a recognizable top entrant in some of the South's best early-season outdoor meets.
He headlined the distance events at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, cruising to two wins and two outdoor PRs in the 800m (1:50.63) and 1,600m (4:09.57).
He's even added a shiny 400m personal best to his resume in the opening months of outdoor, a 48.99 winning time at the Husky March Classic.
In his past six half-mile races dating back to his indoor debut, Leath has dipped under 1:54 on every occasion, and half of those efforts came in below 1:51.
It's consistency that has largely gone unmatched by anyone else.
"You can't really teach experience, so you just have to throw yourself in there," he said. "Last year, I felt like I could run the 800m anyway, and this year I feel so much more comfortable running an 800m. And I'm getting better running a mile."
And yet, the success and national attention hasn't changed who Leath is at his roots. He wants to leave a mark in distance running in his home state and in his final months at Vestavia Hills.
"Being a part of a state that hasn't historically been fast and being in this shift the past few years -- I'd say probably past four years -- where Alabama has started to become fast, it's cool being part of that and watching Alabama be put on the map as a distance, mid-distance state," he said.
Leath now owns Alabama state records in both the indoor and outdoor 800m, and he'll be shooting to potentially lower that outdoor record in the coming months.
His goal for his senior year was 1:48 for the 800m, he said. Now it's safe to say that that goal has been altered.
Maybe it's fitting that Leath's game-changing New Balance Nationals Indoor experience unfolded in the strange way that it did.
As someone who's always strived to better himself, being a household name isn't priority No. 1. But on whatever stage he races at -- in Alabama or elsewhere -- you can bet on one thing.
No one's ever going to mistake Alex Leath again.
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