Freshman Phenom Mason Schmitz Runs to New 800m Best

Jan 06, 2024

Above: Mason Schmitz at the KYA Athletics Indoor Classic
(Photo by Michael Giglio)

Mason Schmitz is just getting his high school running career started and has already been making noise on the indoor scene. This Saturday he ran in his third indoor meet of the early indoor track season representing the Soca Speed Track Club at the Knoxville Youth Athletics Indoor Classic. The meet was hosted at Vanderbilt's oversized 300m track and was Tennessee's largest high school indoor meet in the history of the state. The meet featured over 1300 athletes with several national caliber marks taking place throughout the day.

One of which belonged to the Hamilton Southeastern freshman as he would run to one of the fastest boys indoor 800m times ever recorded with a 1:54.10. Mason has established himself as one of the most impressive middle distance runners in the state and has proven that he has impressive versatility. As previously mentioned Mason has incredible range as he has run great times in races ranging from the 100m to 5K distance over the past year.

Freshman Mason Schmitz runs a second place finish with a 1:54.10 at the Knoxville Youth Athletics Indoor Classic

Earlier this indoor season Mason collected two wins where he raced to a 1:55.34 in the 800m at Grand Valley State before running a 1:20.78 in the 600m the next weekend in Michigan at the Lincoln Athletic Building Meet #1 .

His 800m performance this weekend surpasses his performance from AAU Nationals at the tail end of his middle school career where he ran a 1:55.18. He would double back to also race to a sixth place finish in the 400m later in the day with a 49.49 which was only a few tenths of a second off his time from his AAU Regional Qualifier meet last outdoor season.

Mason is not far off of Caleb Winders' best time from last outdoor season at the IHSAA State Championships where Winders ran a 1:52.68 to earn state runner-up honors. If he continues to improve there could also be conversations of how close he can get to the 800m freshman record come outdoor season. For context, the outdoor freshman national record holder currently resides with Brandon Miller when he ran a 1:50.84 at the Missouri State Championships before running a 1:49.87 at AAU Nationals in 2017. Brandon's early outdoor season times align well with what Mason has already run.

Mason will certainly be someone to keep an eye on as he looks to build off his early season success and continue to chase down history.