It was a dream come true for Tarees Rhoden when he broke Jamaica’s national indoor record on his way to the Atlantic Coast Conference 800m title in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday.

A junior at Clemson, Rhoden, whose lifetime best prior to Saturday was 1:47. 89, clocked 1:46.61, a personal best and facilities record. The time also broke Alex Morgan’s record of 1:46.70 set in Indianapolis in 1996.

Two weeks prior, Navasky Anderson of Mississippi State ran 1:46.58 at the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee, which at the time, was deemed to be the new national indoor record.

However, the track at Vanderbilt University on which the time was achieved, is a 300m track which under World Athletics guidelines, meant that Anderson’s record would not be ratified.

The standard indoor track is 200m.

The development meant Morgan’s record would last a fortnight before Rhoden smashed it on Saturday along with the previous fastest time at that track – 1:50.06 – set by Michigan’s Cole Johnson earlier this year.

“I dreamt of days like this for years,” Rhoden remarked while speaking to Sportsmax.TV on Sunday.

He revealed that he and coach Mark Elliott had prepared for this kind of performance and he was just happy that he managed to pull it off.

“It definitely wasn’t a surprise based off my preparations,” said the former Kingston College middle-distance runner.
“I believe in my coach and his training to get me into shape to do great things.”

During the race Rhoden was always aware that his pace would have taken him to the record and was certain his goal would have been achieved after 600m. The way he put it, he had no choice.

“My coach kept shouting. I heard him every single lap,” Rhoden said.

Rhoden’s accomplishment comes under a year since Anderson ran 1:45.02 to shatter Seymour Newman’s national outdoor record of 1:45.30 that had stood since 1977.

He believes that he and Anderson are charting a path for Jamaica’s current middle-distance runners to follow.

“My friend Navasky did it outdoors so he set the standard for the rest of us to follow,” he said. “

We are just staying hungry and trying to put Jamaica on the 800m map.”

Notwithstanding the new personal mark on the weekend, Rhoden is far from finished. With the NCAA nationals coming up in a fortnight, the 22-year-old athlete has plans of going faster in the near future.

“1:45 indoors is the aim,” he said. “More to come.”