Bloomington North’s (IN) Caleb Winders delivered one of the more shocking performances of New Balance Nationals Outdoor last year, winning the boys’ championship 800m out of the B heat. A year later, and a repeat for Winders would be anything but surprising. He won the New Balance Nationals Indoor title in March and currently holds the third-fastest outdoor 800m time in the nation at 1:47.87.

Winders sat down with CITIUS MAG to break down his epic battle with NBNI mile champion Noah Bontrager, how he’s shifted to more strength-focused training this fall, and talk welcoming the pressure of a pair of national titles.

The following interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

CITIUS MAG: Caleb, you’re heading into the final few races of your high school career with the postseason coming up. How are you feeling as you’re on the edge of closing out what’s been a great career at Bloomington North?

Caleb Winders: I’ve been feeling pretty good. This is my last couple meets with my team, and right now we’re gearing up for State, which is on Saturday, but just doing some good workouts with my team and I feel pretty ready.

What’s your schedule at State gonna look like?

Starting with the 4x800m and trying to win that, it’d be our fourth year in a row. Then try to win the 800m later in the day, and then the 4x400m.

This outdoor season you haven’t raced a ton, just a pair of 800s, a mile, and a few relays. Out of those few data points you do have, what are you taking away from those?

Yeah, I haven’t raced too much, I’ve also been dealing with some hamstring issues. That 800m I had against Noah Bontrager wasn’t my season opener, but it was my first time running really fast in the 800m, so that was good to see where I’m at. It was a fast race, I wish I could’ve run a little bit faster, but it was good to see that I’m in 1:47 shape.

That race last month, you go 1:47.87 but Noah gets you by .01 at the line, U.S. No. 2 and No. 3 times in the 800m right now. Talk us through that race, and what are your reflections on it now that you’ve had some time?

I didn’t know what kind of shape I was in yet. There was a pacer and he took it out in 51, so I was just gonna take it out as hard as I can and then hold on. I felt good, came through 600m in like 1:18. Usually at the end of the race I’m just trying to keep form and keep on pushing, and I was struggling at the end, I was swimming. With 10m left I see Noah pass me, so I try and throw in another surge but he got me at the end. I wish I had a little bit more, but it was a good race to see where I was at.

During the indoor season, you ran a huge mile PB of 4:02 to win at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, and you’ve backed that up with a 4:14 outdoors. How will adding a bigger strength component to your skill set help when you get into championship races?

When you get into championship time, you have to run a lot of 800s, so there’s a lot of strength to it. My coach and I knew that I could run one good 800m, but I couldn’t really run a good mile or two 800s well. We really worked on our strength this year and got in a really good race during indoor and ran 4:02. That kinda surprised me, but moving forward I think that’ll help a lot with the 800m.

Was that from a big change in the way you trained this fall? How did you build up that strength?

This track season, I’ve done a couple of tempos and a couple of long runs, which I hadn’t really done before, so that helped a lot. I feel like the main thing was actually just the mental side of it. I wasn’t bought into the mile, I just wanted to run an 800m and anything longer than that, I wasn’t really excited to do. So I feel like when I ran the miles this year, I was more mentally in it, and when I started to fall off I just kept on pushing, kept holding on for at least one more lap.

What do those long runs look like for you and what’s the peak mileage you’ve hit this season?

My longest long run was 10 miles. Actually the first long run I did was on accident, I thought I was trying to go eight miles and then I accidentally went 10. For mileage, it’s been very inconsistent but 30-35, I try to hit around there.

Coming up in a few weeks, your postseason plans are doubling the U.S. Junior Championships in Eugene and New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Philadelphia the same weekend. What went into making that decision and how are you preparing in advance for the strain of three races in four days on opposite sides of the country?

A lot of talks with my coach. We’ve been thinking about it the last two years but decided not to, but I think this year I have a good chance to make the team so we wanted to do it this year. I feel like that’ll be a fast race out there, and then it’s just one race at a time. First the prelims, get through, and finals the next day. Then it’s a long plane ride, but if I just rest well, eat well, just stay mentally in it, hopefully it’ll be fine.

When you get back to NBNO, you’ll be the one with the target on your back after winning last year out of one of the slower heats. Is that pressure and expectation something you thrive off of, or do you try and ignore it?

I love the pressure, I feel like it makes me run better. It’s kind of cool that I have the target on my back. Just compete with the guys, there’s some really good athletes in there so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of competition and it’ll be a really fast race again.

Speaking of really good athletes, that helps lead us into where you’ll be next fall, because that North Carolina recruiting class coming in is pretty crazy. In that recruiting process, what stood out to you about UNC, and were you talking with your future teammates about the Tar Heels ahead of committing?

I didn’t talk to them before I made my decision, but I can tell who they are just by seeing them online. I feel like what stood out at UNC is that everyone wants to win, everyone wants to be the best that they can be. Everyone has a great mindset and I have a lot of trust in the coaches. And then having a good class around me helps a lot. They’ll push me every day at practice and everyone will get better.

Caleb, congratulations on such a great high school career so far, and best of luck closing it out with another national title or two over the coming weeks!

Keep up with all things track and field by following us across Instagram, X, Threads, and YouTube. Catch the latest episodes of the CITIUS MAG Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. For more, subscribe to The Lap Count and CITIUS MAG Newsletter for the top running news delivered straight to your inbox.