Rhode Island High Schooler Darius Kipyego Runs U.S. #3 800 (1:48.82)

By Sam Klein
July 28, 2020

Kipyego (second from right, in white) ran 1:48.82 on Monday. (Sam Klein photo)

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. —  Rising high school senior Darius Kipyego ran a personal best of 1:48.82 for 800 meters at an open meet in West Hartford on Monday, the third-fastest high school time of 2020. Kipyego finished sixth in the event at the third meet in the Track is Back series, hosted by Hartbeat Track Club at a local high school. HOKA NJ*NY Track Club’s Colby Alexander won the race in 1:47.50. Elle Purrier won the women’s 800 (which featured a male pacer) in a personal best of 2:00.70.

Kipyego, who attends St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, also broke the Rhode Island state record. He already owns the #2 all-time mark for U.S. sophomores (1:49.46, which he ran to take silver at the Pan American U20 Championships in Costa Rica last summer) at the finished fourth at New Balance Indoor Nationals as a sophomore in March 2019. This year’s nationals, along with the outdoor track season, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Race conditions on Monday were hot, in the high 80s. Kipyego started in an outside lane and settled into the back of the pack, splitting around 55-flat through 400. The finish was crowded, with all six runners within a second and a half of each other.

The all-time high school 800 record is 1:46.45, set by Michael Granville in 1996.