Preps: Mellon's 1:48.64 Breaks HS Mark; Finnerty Wins NON Mile Title in 4:05.25

Minnesota's boys' distance running record book has now been thoroughly re-written.

Buffalo High School junior Zach Mellon, finishing as the runner-up at the USA Junior Championships in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, established a new all-time best mark for Minnesota high school boys at 800 meters with his 1:48.64 clocking.

You can watch the race, which Oregon high school junior Elijah Greer wins in 1:47.68, HERE.

Mellon's performance qualifies him for the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in July.

Mellon's run eclipses Stewartville's Jason Owen's 1:49.13 clocking from 1996 as the Minnesota standard. Mellon's mark completes the recent rewrite of the state prep boys distance record book. A year ago this weekend, Winona's Elliott Heath ran the fastest 2 mile in Minnesota history with his 8:46.12 at the Nike Outdoor National meet. Last week, Burnsville's Rob Finnerty broke Garry Bjorklund's 39-year-old Minnesota mile record of 4:05.1 with his 4:01.09 at the Midwest Distance Gala.

Finnerty at Nike Outdoor Nationals ... Minnesota's fastest prep miler was in action over the weekend as well, winning Saturday's NON mile in 4:05.25 and taking 4th, the night before, in the NON 2 mile in 8:50.96, the #3 Minnesota prep time at the distance ever. In the 2 mile, German Fernandez of California won in a U.S. High School record of 8:34.40.

In the NON mile, Rosemount's Jordan Carlson finished 3rd in 4:07.56.

You can watch that race HERE.

You can watch the NON 2 mile HERE.

There's an interview with Finnerty HERE.

There's an interview with Carlson HERE.

Photo of Mellon by Gene Niemi.