Rheinhardt Harrison Nearly Breaks 1:50 For 800 In California

Nease senior Rheinhardt Harrison traveled all the way out to Arcadia, California this past weekend to compete at the first annual Arcadia Distance Challenge to race in the invitational boys 800-meter race against distance competition from Southern California.

After winning the Bolles Bulldog Classic two weekends ago in the 800--meter run for the second straight year with a 1:51 performance, the University of Oregon commit was looking to run a PR this weekend after failing to do so at Bolles as his 2021 win of 1:51.92 was slightly slower than his 2020 win of 1:51.48.

He did not find much competition to push him in the race at Arcadia High School, which also hosts the well-known national class Arcadia Invitational event annually every April. But tough to find anyone to go with him after he blazed thru the first 400 meters in a scorching 53.3 seconds.

As he crossed the line, the clock appeared to indicate he may have just gone under 1:50, but the official time and results produced 1:50.12. Still a new personal record by over a full second for Harrison and ranks him second nationally behind only Will Sumner of Georgia at 1:48.94. 

The state record holder both indoors and outdoors at the full mile distance as well as the 3200 meter run outdoors, Rheinhardt Harrison now moves up to #11 all-time in Florida high school history for the 800 meter run. Only 8 boys have broken 1:50 ever in state history, so will be interesting to see if Harrison will go for it again before he finishes out his high school career.

The big time barrier that he is really seeking to break before he moves onto college is 4 minutes for the mile with his current PR sitting at 4:01.15 from an indoor performance this past winter at the University of Arkansas. 

His upcoming racing schedule will also be intriguing to watch as there are certainly major events coming up in Florida between the FSU Relays this weekend and Florida Relays the following weekend. Could he be racing in these historically premier events in Florida and try to put on a show in front of his fans in the home state or will he keep racing at out-of-state events and potentially raced this weekend at a lesser event at Arcadia this past weekend to prep to race in a bigger event on the same track at the Arcadia Invitational on April 8th and 9th? After all, he had made two consecutive trips to Fayetteville, Arkansas to race indoors in the mile this past winter. 

Florida Boys All-Time 800m List