But Jeff Wyant, Park City's boys' track coach, had a feeling that the junior was poised to make a name for himself coming into this season. Ryberg ran the 800 meters in two minutes flat as a sophomore - no other Miner athlete had run it that fast, at the same age - and finished third overall at the state meet.

Ryberg proved his coach right at the indoor state track championships at the Olympic Oval, in January. He got off to a blistering start in the 800m, led the pack by 30 yards at one point and finished the event in 1:58.30 - three seconds better than the next-closest runner.

"We've known this was coming since last year," Wyant said. "We're the only ones that really did, though."

Ryberg is taking no one by surprise these days.

His top 800m time, 1:57.34, is the best according to the latest UHSTCA rankings. Ryberg earned the time at the Carbon Invitational in mid-March. In many ways, the race mirrored his earlier run, at the indoor championships.

Ryberg enjoyed a comfortable buffer zone the whole race.

"The second place guy was ten seconds behind me, so I didn't see anybody from the start to the finish," Ryberg said. "It was just me going by myself."

Ryberg's rise in the 800m has been remarkable, since it wasn't even his primary event until his sophomore year. When he joined the track team as a freshman, Ryberg had designs on being a high jumper.

"All I did was high jump and run the 400 a couple of times," Ryberg said.

A stint with the Miners' cross country team last fall did much to aid Ryberg's climb up through the rankings. Going such long distances was not his favorite thing to do, but it did wonders in improving his endurance during practice.

And it has made a big difference in trimming down his overall time. He is already five seconds under the 800m state qualifying time and is only a couple of seconds shy of a school record.

Ryberg feels all the extra running has sped up his rise to another level.

"This is like the hardest I've ever trained for track," Ryberg said. "Last year it was kind of like medium [speed]. But this year I put like my whole effort into it."

With Class 3-A Park City gearing up to compete in major meets involving a multitude of 5-A and 4-A schools, Ryberg should soon get a better idea of where he fits among the state's elite.

In his own region and classification, he's already in a class by himself.

"There's nobody that can touch him in 3-A," Wyant said.

Ryberg, now is focusing on trying to qualify for the 400m and 1600m, for next month's state meet. In his first 400m race before spring break, he missed qualifying by a few tenths of a second in both the preliminaries and finals.