GREAT FALLS — Records are meant to be broken.
Great Falls High track and field athletes Ryan Harrington and Scott Klinker have broken records that have stood at the school for more than 40 years. Harrington is the new record holder in the boys 3,200-meter race, clocking a time of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. That time comes in eight seconds faster than the previous record.
(Note: The previous record was recorded in the 2-mile race, which is 19 meters longer than the current 3,200-meter race. The time recorded has been mathematically converted to fit the 3,200-meter distance.)
“It was pretty cool to finally be able to get the 3,200-meter record. It was set by Branch Brady who is now the coach at CMR. It was set a pretty long time ago, I think like 1965,” said Harrington. “So it was cool to be able to take down the record from somebody that we know personally. We were able to call him up afterwards and tell him that we had finally relieved him of his record.”
Harrington, a Montana State University commit, is also chasing after the records in the 800- and 1,600-meter races. In the 1,600, he has come less than a second away from breaking the record.
Klinker claimed his record in the long jump, going a distance of 23 feet, 2¼ inches. The previous record set by Mark Reed back in 1983 was a distance of 23-02.
“It just kind of happened, I was definitely not expecting that. I felt very good. I took like a week off from track because I was in Arizona visiting family,” said Klinker. "I felt very good off the first jump, and the rest of the jumps were 22-10s, so they were all around that distance."
Klinker is the defending state champion in the triple jump, but he took fourth place in the long jump. With his current distance, he leads the state by more than seven inches.
Harrington is top five in the state for the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
The Class AA state meet will take place at Great Falls High on May 24-25.
