Tyrone Gorze Chased After A 10K Record. He Nearly Got It.

Jun 05, 2023

* Crater's Tyrone Gorze completes a 5K on the track in October

Photo Credit: Ben Lonergan/USA Today Sports via The Register Guard

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A little less than a year following his first effort at 10,000 meters on the track, Tyrone Gorze made another run at the distance on Saturday at the Portland Track Festival.

In doing so this time, however, he added a bit of extra flair.

Entered in the high performance men's 10K, the Crater High School senior went after a 47-year-old national 10K record held by Rudy Chapa, who ran 28:32.70 in 1976 at the Drake Relays.

The special part, though? Gorze was wearing Chapa's high school jersey from 1976. According to a report by DyeStat, the Portland Track Festival's meet director, Michael Bergmann, reached out to Chapa, a resident of Portland, and asked whether the former star wanted to watch Gorze go after his record.

Chapa declined -- because he was out of town -- but offered his jersey instead. Bergmann exchanged it with Gorze, who then wore the purple singlet on the line and then executed on a brilliant race, finishing ninth in a time of 29:00.17.

That performance, agonizingly close to sub-29, was the third-fastest 10K ever recorded from a high school athlete. The top two performances in history are both from 1976.

Of course, Gorze likely was just trying to be better than his effort a season ago. He accomplished that feat, improving upon his 29:29.92 from 2022.

DyeStat spoke with Gorze afterward, who said, "At first I was like, I don't want to wear it. This is Rudy Chapa's. But then I was like 'I've got to wear it. It's a 10K. It's for fun, going after his record."

Gorze remains one of the country's elite distance runners, undoubtedly one of the best in Oregon history. Interestingly enough, though, he was upset in the 1,500m at the Oregon Class 5A Championships, finishing second to Carter Cutting in 3:48.67.

So far this year Gorze has clocked times of 4:05.47 for the full mile, 8:11.95 for 3K and 8:46.50 for two-miles and 13:45.81 for 5K. In March, he won a national title in the 5K at New Balance Nationals Indoor, setting a new national record in 13:56.82.