Mustangs boys 4x800 relay team records second-fastest time in the country

For a Lakewood Ranch boys 4x800 meter relay team that was on a roll, it might have been somewhat of a shock.

Running at the Pepsi Florida Relays on March 30 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, they were in an unusual spot three quarters through the race.

They were behind.

The team, made up of sophomore Johnny Reid, junior Andrew Dean and seniors Brice Easton and John Rivera, had been running the relay together since their first effort March 17, 2016 at the IMG Academy Invitational. This season, the team has consistently dropped time, finishing in 7:55.18 in its winning effort March 24 at the FSU relays in Tallahassee.

Just when it seemed the Mustangs would suffer a setback, their fate took at a record-setting turn.

Rivera, the team’s anchor and one of the nation’s top individual runners who finished fourth in the 800 on March 12 at the 2017 New Balance Nationals Indoor Championships in New York, found an extra gear. He roared back.

“When I came around the second-to-last turn with about 300 meters to go, I popped my head up pretty high and knew I was in contention to get him (Miami Northwestern’s Micheal Thompson) by a lot,” Rivera said. “I knew I had a lot in me. With 250 to go, I took off, I was sprinting, basically. After the race I looked at the clock and I could not stop cheering.”

That is because the clock read 7:45.58, the fastest time in the United States at that point this season and a school record. The team had a soft goal to finish under 7:50. They shattered their own expectations. In the end, four of the top five 800 relay times in the country came from that race.

On April 8, Bellarmine Prep (California) ran a 7:45.56 at the Arcadia Invitional to take over top honors in the country.

To put the Mustangs’ effort into perspective, the 4x800 state record in Lakewood Ranch’s class (4A) is 7:40.15, set by Colonial High School in 2012. The overall Florida record is 7:30.31 set by Charlotte High School in 2011, and the national record is 7:28.75, set by Long Beach Polytechnic High School in California.

Easton said his family took video of the Pepsi race. He’s watched it at least five times. The others have seen it multiple times, too. When he watches Rivera cross the finish line with a fist pump, Easton still gets goosebumps.

Chemistry and trust-building  practice runs led to that moment. Their order has stayed constant since their first race — Dean, Easton, Reid, Rivera — so they all are familiar with their roles.

The bond between them has grown as a result of road trips, which have proven to be fertile ground for long talks and hijinks.

Rivera recalled one hotel stay  when members of both the boys and girls track teams decided to hold a pillow fight. 

Things went downhill when Rivera went a little too hard and “Supermaned” into an air conditioning unit, leaving a mark on his forehead. His  teammates, after finding out he wasn’t seriously hurt, broke into laughter.

The four runners have developed some inside jokes as well. The foursome, tongue-in-cheek, talk about their great baton handoffs. They do struggle with the handoffs at times, such as the FSU Relays when Dean and Easton almost flubbed it.

“I think it’s just so vital to our success,” Reid said of the athletes’ rapport. “I feel more confident in our relay than I do running in a regular open race because I know we all have each other’s backs.”

Even though they have the second-best time in the U.S., they are not satisfied. The goal is to win a state title, with a soft goal of running a sub-7:40 time. Eleven months ago, those goals would have seemed out of reach, when they finished ninth at state. 

Rivera’s emergence on the national scene, and all the runners’ improvement during the cross country season, has set up some huge expectations in terms of winning a state title.

“We’re not going to say it is a guarantee, because you never know what can happen,” Dean said. “But we are confident.”