Amador Valley's John Lester may not have gotten the high school national record, and the ensuing U.S. Olympic Track and Fields Trials mark, that he wanted on Thursday night.
But the California native certainly should have walked away encouraged.
Because Lester secured the seventh-fastest 800 meter performance in high school history at the Stumptown Twilight Series in Portland, going a career best and U.S. No. 1 mark of 1:47.65 to win the men's third heat and finish with the seventh-fastest time of the night. The mark is the third-fastest in California history.
Lester is now the sixth-best performer at the distance all-time, behind Michael Granville (1:46.45), George Kersh (1:46.58), Pete Richardson (1:47.31), Donavan Brazier (1:47.55) and Cameron Cooper (1:47.59).
He was one of just eight athletes to break 1:48 on the day.
Nearly a year after running the third-fastest junior 800m in high school history at the Desert Dream Last Chance Hurrah in 1:48.26, the Stanford University signee landed another major performance.
It came just five days after a tune-up of 1:51.16 at the Tri-Valley Track and Field Championships, and nearly three weeks since his then-season best of 1:49.77 at the Sound Running Track Meet.
Officially, Lester now has three sub-1:50 performances on his resume overall, though he's also produced a few others via time trials as well.
Perhaps he's not done over the 2021 season just yet, either.
We caught up with Lester late last month to talk his finish to the season.
Related Links:
Lester throws down US No. 7 performance in the 800m
