BOISE — When Elijah Armstrong competes, it’s rarely a question of if he’ll win, but by how much.

The Pocatello senior added a seventh track and field state championship to his repertoire with a win in the 3,200-meter run Friday at the 4A state championships at Dona Larsen Park.

Armstrong led from start to finish and beat Middleton’s Austin Fred by over 12 seconds.

The 3,200 title is Armstrong’s third. He’s won the 800 once and the 1,600 three times. Four cross country championships give the Boise State-bound runner 11 4A state crowns.

Think it gets old?

“No, it doesn’t,” Armstrong said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Armstrong set the all-classification state meet record in the 3,200 last May with his time of 9 minutes, .73 seconds. Armstrong’s goal entering Friday was to finish in under nine minutes for the third time in his career. He broke the tape in 9:13.29. But he had nobody to chase and said he knew he fell off the nine-minute pace early.

“I came through the 800 mark pretty solid,” Armstrong said, “but I was kind of pushing it at the mile mark (4:30). … It’s hard to judge if you fall off or if you’re running too fast or too slow because there’s no one there on your heels clipping at you or in front of you.

“So it’d be nice if there’s somebody there, but it’s OK that there’s not.”

Malachi Armstrong, Elijah’s brother, finished fifth in 9:53.88. The Poky sophomore matched his best finish at state and took second in the 3,200 at districts, right behind — guess who.

“I want him to go smash all my records,” Elijah said.

Armstrong wouldn’t predict his time for today’s 1,600, in which he also owns the all-classification state meet record. But he said a recent sub-four minute mile by a fellow high schooler, Oregon’s Matthew Maton, made him hungry.

Armstrong’s best time in the event is 4:09.04.

“(That) motivates you a little bit,” Armstrong said. “So we’ll see.”