Former Portsmouth track star Kaden Kluth makes history at American University. Here's how.
While his season prior to this past weekend's Patriot League Track and Field Championships hardly foretold of record-smashing success, Kaden Kluth felt ready. Very ready.
So despite having dealt with a nagging left knee injury, and with a grand total of one 800-meter race in the books this season, the Portsmouth High graduate and American University sophomore made school history at Boston University, a couple of times.
On Saturday, in the 800 preliminaries, he tied the school indoor record and shaved about a half-second off his previous best time. One day later, in the finals, he obliterated the Washington, D.C., school's 51-year-old school record in taking second place at the BU Track and Tennis Center.
In his only pre-championship race of the season, Kluth had run a 1:51.49.
In the prelims, he ran the school record-tying 1:51.04.
On Sunday, he mega-dropped his personal record by more than two seconds, to 1:48.93.
“I'm typically a very confident person,” said Kluth, a three-time high school all-American at Portsmouth High. “There was something about the whole weekend. I knew something good was going to happen.”
In the finals, he finished behind Army star Luke Griner (meet record 1:47.58), one of the top-20 800 runners in the country, Kluth noted. They ran 1-2 for virtually the entire race. Kluth appreciated having the Army senior blazing the trail. “I definitely let him do a lot of the work,” he said.
Boston University's oval is sometimes called the fastest track in the world. The mile and 4x800 relay world records have been set there.
While he enjoyed establishing a new school record, Kluth said the real satisfaction came from breaking 1:50, a significant barrier in the 800-meter world. The former New England high school 800 champion said if he can match Sunday's time outdoors, that would almost assuredly get him into the first round of qualifying for the NCAA Division 1 nationals, a major goal.
Following a cross-country season where he earned Patriot League second-team honors, Kluth, a business marketing major, spent the first portion of indoor track season training exclusively on a stationary bicycle, due to the left-leg tendonitis. He was subsequently able to make it a mix of bike and track running. The less-than-ideal training formula got him the 1:48.93.
Runners generally run faster outdoors, so Kluth is pumped up for the spring. “I know I'll get better,” said the Patriot League second team all star.
His best outdoors 800 time last year was 1:50.37.
Also at the Patriot League Championships at BU, Kluth helped the American University 4x400 relay team to a school record time 3:22.81, for fifth place.
"Kaden Kluthhad a bit of a breakout weekend in the best way possible, but we were all expecting it,” A.U. head coach Sean Graham was quoted as saying on the school's track and field website. “He executed phenomenally, so an impressive weekend for Kaden in the 800m taking second, and in his relay leg.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Portsmouth High grad Kaden Kluth sets American University 800m record
