Mason Schmitz Top 3 All-Time at GVSU 800m
Photo from Sarah Schmitz
Mason Schmitz has just started his high school career at Hamilton Southeastern and is already gaining the attention of several runners from across the state. The freshman ran an early US #1 time at MITS #1 at Grand Valley State University on December 2nd with a 1:55.34 800m race. He would beat out the rest of the field by nearly a full second on the oversized 300m indoor track. The next week he would dominate a 600m race also in Michigan at the LAB Indoor Meet #1 with his margin of victory clearing 4 seconds in a 1:20.78.
Schmitz's range is very impressive as last year at the Hamilton County Middle School Championships he was runner-up in the 100m, champion in the 200m, and champion in the 400m. What is further impressive is that he was also the middle school county runner-up in the 3K where he spun a time of 9:54.55.
His personal bests for middle school according to our database were the following
100m: 11.75
200m: 23.60
400m: 49.25
800m: 1:55.18
3K CC: 9:45.70
This past cross country season Mason ran a 16:45.39 to win the JV race at the Hoosier Crossroads Conference Championship at Brownsburg.
His 800m mark is the fastest time ever by an Indiana freshman boy in the indoor season according to our database. He bested Caleb Winders' time from last year where he won the 800m freshman race at New Balance Indoor Nationals in thrilling fashion by one hundredth of a second. Schmitz currently resides at #3 all-time for the country according to the MileSplit database for indoor freshman 800m times, the record currently sits with Marcus Reilly from Massachusetts from 2021 where he ran a 1:54.65.
Schmitz is clearly in range to try and take down this record by the end of the indoor season and it will be interesting to see what events and relays he chooses to take on with his versatility as HSR season approaches.