Lane Werley’s ascent up the ranks of cross country and track came a bit by accident.  Back in 2007, if you had told the freshman Lane at the start of the cross country season that one day he would earn All State and All American honors before going on to earn All Pac 12 and All American titles for UCLA, he’d probably have laughed and said, “nah, I’m here just to get in shape for basketball and baseball.”  Which is true. That was his plan.  Running was prep for his main games.   But that’s not how it turned out.

His talent burst forth when he posted the fastest time of the King team in his first ever cross country race as a freshman. Over the next four seasons, he’d earn two Big 8 League individual titles, set school and course records, and finish as the CIF Runner up twice.  But his 2010 senior campaign was a special one. He repeated his Junior year podium finish of third place at the California State Championships and qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals for the second time.  At Nationals, he’d finish 6th (improving off his 25th place finish in 2009) and earned All American honors as a result.

His 14:46 5K time at the 2010 California Cross Country State Championship is still the 26th best mark in the history of the Woodward Park Course and the year closed with being selected as the Press Enterprise Riverside County Athlete of the Year.

In track, he won three individual league titles and his first All American designation in the 5K at the New Balance Nationals as a Junior.  In his senior year Lane finished the 3200 Meters as the CIF Runner-up and earned All State honors, finishing 4th in 8:53.21 which broke a 34 year old Riverside County record.  In 2011 he was selected the King High Athlete of the Year just before racing one last 5k in Oregon, which he posted a still-standing Riverside County Record of 14:31.57.

At UCLA, Lane was scoring for the Bruins in his first cross country season and by his sophomore season was the Bruins’ number one runner.  He earned All Region and All American  honors as a sophomore. Then in his senior year, Lane earned All Pac 12, All Region and his second All American honor.

In track he was the Pac 12 Runner-up in the 5K and qualified for the NCAA Nationals in his freshman season.  By his senior season, he had earned a USTFCCCA second-team All-American title and qualified for the NCAA Championship in the 10,000m with a time of 29:29.13.  This came after finishing as the runner-up in the 10,000m at the Pac-12 Championships with a personal best time of 29:07.23.  That mark ranked ninth all-time at UCLA.  Combined in cross country and track, he earned 6 All American honors in high school and college combined.

“Lane was instrumental in changing the distance program at UCLA,” said Forest Braden, the UCLA coach during that span.  “He came in and immediately made his mark on the team through his work ethic and race toughness. He knew how to push himself to the limit every race and was the guy we could build a national caliber team around.  Lane changed the trajectory of my coaching career as well. Guys like him don’t come along every year. He is a special one that any coach would want on their squad.”

Following his 2016 graduation with a degree in Chemical and Material Science, Werley competed for Team Run Flagstaff alongside some past and present Olympians. He won the 2017 Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon with a time of 1:05:17 and posted a personal best in the 10,000m race at the Portland Track Festival in 29:05.83; just five seconds off qualifying for the US Track and Field Championships.  Finally, in 2018 in the altitude of Albuquerque NM, he posted a sub-four mile time with an altitude converted 3:59.68 mile at sea level.

Since 2019, he has worked as an Estimator/Engineer for an IT services company called VectorUSA headquartered in Torrance CA. He specializes in designing IT Infrastructure and Physical Security systems for commercial businesses, SLED (state, local and education), federal government, and Higher Education.

Lane Werley amassed a record of achievement in high school and beyond that is rivaled by few others. That, combined with the character and integrity with which he conducted himself throughout, makes him worthy of induction into King High’s Hall of Fame.