In a 800 meter clash on a small 5 team meet on Wednesday at Cypress Creek in Wesley Chapel, Brooksville senior John Carbone clocked one of the fastest times so far early this outdoor season with a 1:55.83 personal best while being pushed by Cypress Creek junior Zack Poekert, who finished as a runner-up in 1:58. Poekert was coming off running a sensational 1500 meter time of 4:00 against collegiate competition at the Tampa Track Classic this past weekend, which converts to well under 4:20 for the mile or 1600 meters.
Speaking of sub 4:20 credentials, Carbone already had those with a 4:18 best last spring and All-State finisher in the 2A state finals 1600 meter race. He was setup for a strong cross country season but his season was shut down after the first weekend of October due to a stress fracture in his femur that he was recovering from up until his 2022 outdoor season debut today. He just defeated a distance talent in Poekert albeit at a middle distance event, who ran 15:17 for 5K this past fall.
Carbone's time ranks 4th fastest in the state of Florida as there is a current traffic jam amongst the top 4 times all at 1:55 led by West Boca Raton's Ryan Douihech at 1:55.04 as the current state leader from his victory at the Louie Bing Invitational.