His 800 numbers ring true

When Sean Zurko got to Silverado High, he wasn't a fan of the 800-meter run.

In fact, he despised it.

"At first, when I was training before high school, the 800 was just for warm-up and practices, and I hated them," Zurko said. "It was the one thing I hated doing."

Now it's what he does best.

Zurko, a senior, has become not just the state's top 800 runner but one of the nation's best. And he anchors a group of 800-meter runners that has posted the country's second-best relay time this year.

Zurko was placed in the longer distance races when he got to Silverado and got into the 800 almost by accident, after beating the team's top two 800 runners in a "time trial" during practice as a sophomore.

He ended up winning the state title that year with a time of 1 minute, 56.04 seconds at state.

"We found out my sophomore year when I ran a 1:56 and won state that I could run the 800," said Zurko, who has signed with Texas Christian.

He repeated as state champ last year, winning at the state meet with a time of 1:55.55. But his top performance came earlier this month at the Arcadia Invitational in California.

Zurko didn't win the race there but placed third with a personal-best time of 1:51.22. The time is the seventh best in the nation, according to dyestat.com.

"That was probably one of the most nerve-racking meets I've ever had in my life," Zurko said, "because I knew I was running against everybody I've run against before. Pretty much all the people you would not want to run against in your state meet were there."

Cory Primm of Westlake, Calif., turned in the nation's fastest time in that race, winning in 1:49.5.

As impressive as Zurko's performance at Arcadia was, the 3,200 relay team's performance stood out.

In that race, Zurko teamed with seniors Josh O'Barr and Solomon Bennett and junior Sean Whitesitt to turn in a time they could have only dreamed of.

"We were messing around the night before. You'd throw out a time -- say, 7:54 or 7:53 -- and we're, like, 'All right, that would be awesome,' " Zurko said. "And someone else is, like, 'What about 7:50?' And we got down to 7:45, and we're, like, 'No, that's too crazy; we can't do that.' "

They nearly did.

The Skyhawks placed second in that race with a time of 7:46.12. La Sierra, Calif., won the race in 7:44.9, the nation's fastest time this season. Silverado's time is the country's second best.

"At first we were disappointed because we got second," O'Barr said. "But then we looked at the time, and we were all going crazy. We were really excited because we thought we were going to run in the lower 7:50s. But when we broke into the 40s, we never thought we could do that."

Said Bennett: "It was an exciting day. Our plan was to win, but we weren't disappointed because to be second in the nation in times is great."

Silverado figured to have the area's top 3,200 relay team entering the season. Zurko, Bennett and Whitesitt ran on last year's state title team, which posted 8:00.36 at the state meet.

But not even the runners expected to be able to shave that much from their previous top times.

"I knew we were going to have a good time, but I didn't know we were going to have a time like that," Whitesitt said.

The Skyhawks have been far and away the area's best this year. According to the Nevada Track Stats honor roll at nevadatrack.org, the area's second-best time this season belongs to Spring Valley, which ran 8:21.07.

Zurko said he might not run on the 3,200 relay team in the postseason. He's also hoping for a state title in the 400, where he has run the area's second-best time of 49.0 seconds.

He said he also could run the 1,600 and on the 1,600 relay team, forgoing the 3,200 relay.

But if Zurko decides to give up his spot on the 3,200 relay team, the Skyhawks shouldn't have trouble filling his spot.

"For some reason, these guys knock themselves out to be on the 4x8 relay team," Silverado distance coach Thad Simmons said. "It's like being on the starting five in basketball.

"I might say, 'Solomon, you need to rest a little. We're only going to run you in the 1,600.' And he's upset that he's not running the 4x8, like he's been benched or something. That's their mentality."