Nease's Rheinhardt Harrison surpasses Florida high school record in 3,200-meter track

For Rheinhardt Harrison, the records keep on coming.

This time, Harrison's run into the history books had some company.

The Nease High School junior surpassed a state track and field record Wednesday night in the boys 3,200-meter run, recording a time of 8:47.83 at the Bolles Last Chance Meet.

Nease teammate Anderson Ball placed second in 8:56.96, the first time on record that two runners from the same Florida school have broken the nine-minute mark.

Pending verification, Harrison's mark would become a new state record for Florida.

The previous record for a boys high school runner in Florida belonged to Charles Hicks of Bolles, who ran 8:49.62 at the Arcadia Invitational in California in 2019. 

Already a two-time state champion in cross country, Harrison has made several attempts at the historic four-minute mile, coming as close as 4:01 last August. His most recent mile effort, at Satellite Beach in March, was disrupted by heavy winds.

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Harrison and Ball now rank second and sixth, respectively, on the current national list for high school 3,200 runners. Colin Sahlman of Newbury Park (Calif.) ran 8:47.05 in a February meet in Mesa, Arizona. No other Florida runner this season has run faster than 9:06.56, the time set in March by Javier Vento of Belen Jesuit.