McGorty's 1:49 Leads Chantilly To SMR National Record

Chantilly High School from Va. dipped just under the prior National High School Record with the win in the Sprint Medley Relay on Saturday afternoon. The Chargers, running as "XBC T.C.," clocked 1:24.02 to edge the prior record 3:24.16 by 0.14 seconds, thanks especially to a stellar 1:49.53 anchor by junior Brandon McGorty.

Third leg Titus Jeffries, who clocked 48.86, said it best: "Having the nation's best 800m runner, you're pretty much guaranteed to win."

"When I got it, I felt confident," McGorty said after the race. "There was company with me for awhile, which I was kind of expecting because we're at nationals. I knew from the strength I felt in my workouts, I could make it happen and I started pushing as hard as I could and made it happen."




The win sets McGorty up nicely for the Championship 800m tomorrow, which he enters as the top seed with a season-best time of 1:51.95. He placed runner-up last year as a sophomore after clocking a shocking 1:51.5 in the slow section. The time still stands as his PR.

The winner of last year's Championship 800m was Brian Bell of Dunbar, Ohio, who, coincidentally, also ran the anchor leg on the winning -- and, national record-setting -- Sprint Medley Relay.


McGorty's family members posted some creative tweets to celebrate the record.