There’s a wall inside the Southlake Carroll Athletic complex that reads, simply: Protect the Tradition. For most athletes, that’s motivational wallpaper. For Caden Leonard, it’s a creed — one he has lived, raced, and bled for across four remarkable years as a Dragon.

Now a senior, Leonard stands at the threshold of something even bigger than state championships. He is eight hundredths of a second away from becoming the third Texas high schooler in history to break the four-minute mile. And if the arc of his career says anything, it’s that he tends to get what he comes for.