In his first ever indoor meet, Turkey Valley's (TX) Jake Merrell ran a new U.S. No. 14 time in the 800m of 1:55.14. The Baylor signee ran that mark at altitude at the Air Force High School Indoor Open on Saturday. The mark converts to a 1:53.80 sea-level equivalent. That time would be the new U.S. No. 1 mark, just ahead of Jett Charvet from Heritage High in Brentwood, California, who ran a 1:54.10 at the Nike Boise Indoor.
Merrell ran a tactical race, biding his time to take the win just as they came around the backstretch of the track. Legend High School's (CO) Landon Rast, who led for most of the race, would end up placing second with a time of 1:56.11, while Air Academy High School's Cal Banta took third and was the only other competitor under two minutes with his time of 1:56.33.
Check out the results below and more from the Air Force High School Indoor Open.
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | H# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Merrell | 12 | Turkey Valley | 1:55.14 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Landon Rast | 12 | Legend High School | 1:56.11 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Cal Banta | 11 | unat-co | 1:56.33 | 1 | ||
| 4 | William Dixon | 12 | Real Training | 2:00.53 | 1 | ||