High School Sports

ACS runner Tristian Merchant warms up for state track championships with sizzling time at Region III meet

The state track and field championships are next weekend, and Anchorage Christian runner Tristian Merchant served notice this weekend that the record book might get a rewrite.

Merchant broke the 9-minute mark in the 3,200 meters Friday at the Region III meet in Wasilla, running a time of 8:56.86 that ranks as one of the fastest times by an Alaska high schooler.

The time is well under the state record of 9:09.4, set in 2015 by Kodiak’s Levi Thomet. State records can only be established at the state meet.

Merchant, a senior who will compete in track and cross-country at Division I Northern Arizona, has developed into one of Alaska’s all-time bests. In the fall, he won the Region III cross country championship in 14:41.32, which is believed to be the fastest 5-kilometer time by a high school runner in Alaska history.

He followed up his swift time in the 3,200 on Friday with victories in the 1,600 and 800 on Saturday. Merchant won the 1,600 in a season-best time of 4:22.91 and set a personal-best in the 800 with a time of 1:59.26.

In the 3,200, he is one of five Alaska high schoolers who have broken the 9-minute mark.

Others are Thomet (8:45.28 at the 2015 New Balance indoor national meet, a time converted from a 2-mile time of 8:48:32, and 8:54.25 at a 2015 indoor meet at The Dome), Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar (8:46:72 at the 2009 Nike outdoor national meet, also a converted 2-mile time, and 8:51.5 at a 2009 outdoor meet in Kodiak); Anchorage’s Don Clary (8:51.8, converted from a 1974 2-mile time trial at Wendler Middle School) and Anchorage’s Sonny Prosser (8:59.7 at a 2020 time trial at Bartlett).

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Prosser is a freshman at Northern Arizona and is good friends and training partners with Merchant, who will join Prosser in Flagstaff this fall.

Prosser and Merchant both broke 9 minutes in 3,200-meter time trials held last summer in lieu of the state championships, which were canceled because of COVID-19. Merchant clocked 8:59.07 in late May and Prosser ran 8:59.7 about a month later. (Time trials don’t count as official times.)

The 3,200-meter run at the state championships is set for Friday at Dimond High. Though Thomet holds the record, Clary maintains a spot in the record book for his two-mile time of 9:04.4 at the 1975 meet, which converts to a 3,200-meter time of 9:01.54.

The fastest time in the nation this season is 8:43.42; Merchant is just outside the top 25, according to athletic.net.

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