Oviedo High School’s Sam Austin became just the second runner in area history to run the 800-meter dash in less than one minute and 50 seconds in Saturday’s Bob Mosher Wildcat Open at Showalter Field.
The stellar senior was officially given a national-leading time of 1:50.00 as he won by more than 15 seconds in a meet hosted by Winter Park. Meet officials made note that the exact time was 1:49.991 according to Oviedo coach Dave Tibbets.
Just eight Florida high schoolers had previously gone under 1:50, most recently Avery Bartlett (1:49.66) of Tallahassee Chiles in the 2015 New Balance Nationals meet.