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AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Crayton Carrozza slowly but surely positioned for a move with 200 meters to go on Thursday at the Texas Relays.
So as others started to dip in the men's 800 meter invitational section, the Austin St. Stephens (TX) senior, who was held out of his senior year of high school competition due to an age restriction -- Carrozza is just six days older than the cut-off required to compete in 2019 -- began to round into form.
The 19-year-old raced to a US No. 1 time of 1:50.64, finishing fifth overall in a field that was won by recent NCAA indoor 800m champion Bryce Hoppel of Kansas. It was just three-hundredths of a second slower than his PR of 1:50.38, which Carrozza achieved last May.
Carrozza's training in 2019 has thus far utilized the idea of progressively loading toward the ends of races. Coached by his father, Paul, Crayton showed that exact form on Thursday, hitting the second fastest time on the backend of the 800m in 55.98 seconds -- just behind Hoppel's 55.61 close.
Carrozza was last through the first 400m in 54.67, though he began to surge at the 500m mark.
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