1:51.20

Blake Yount achieved sole and undisputed status of the state all-time 800 meter mark on Saturday afternoon. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.

Over the last couple of years, Blake Yount has dropped a few very nice 800s. He owns five marks faster than 1:54 in his high school career.

On May 8 of last year, his 1:51.63 set a new record for a CHSAA-sanctioned 800 run by a Colorado high school athlete. Perhaps a bit annoyingly to track and field purists, that mark came up a bit short of the 1:51.23 run by Fairview star James Hatch in Ohio in 2001.

Yount took care of that annoying little asterisk on Saturday. The mark is now his--lock, stock, and barrel--by virtue of a 1:51.20 yesterday at the Cherry Creek/Grandview Invitational. The mark came on the same track where Yount ran his 1:51.63 last spring.

Yount would lead an astonishing parade of seven runners in under two minutes, but none of the other six were close enough to push Yount all the way through the line. Cherry Creek's Daniel Book, a long-time friendly rival of Yount on both course and track, finished second in 1:54.89.

Cherry Creek/Grandview complete meet results

Blake Yount's career performances

Bill Mills Video of Record-Setting Race