This past Wednesday, Leo Spitzer ran the 800 meters at the UIL District 26-6A Meet. His goal was to place top four to qualify for the area meet, but he also had the 800-meter school record in his sights. The record was set by Nolawie Teshome in 2013 at a time of 1:55.70, which is an elite high school time, but Leo, from before the beginning of this season, knew he had an excellent chance to break this record. At a pre-season workout, the team finished off with an all-out 800, and Leo was able to run a blazing hand-timed 1:55. If he was able to run a time like this in practice, it was only a matter of time until he broke the Trojan record in an official meet.
The Trojans opened the season by running the Leander Lion Relays, where Leo ran the 800. There was not much competition for him, and he ran a 1:57.48, beating the second-place runner by over five seconds. Then, he ran the 800 again at the South Austin Relays, coming in first place with a time of 1:58.02. While these times were good and Leo was winning, he wanted to achieve his goal, a sub 1:55.70 800. He would get his best chance yet at the district meet on Wednesday. There was a stacked field, giving Leo a prime opportunity to run a fast time. The race did not start out great for Leo, as he said, “I got pushed to the back on the first lap,” but he said he was able to finish strong, “I took the lead with 200 meters left and held it until 50 meters left”. He ended up running a time of 1:55.10 and finishing in second place. This performance was good enough for him to advance to the area meet, but more importantly, it put him into the Anderson record books. Leo is now the Anderson record holder in the 1600 and 800 meters and looks poised to have an incredible end to his junior season.
