Ranking the Greatest Elmhurst (York) HS distance runners

Marius Bakken?

I'd say Marius' Norwegian 5k record trumps all.

Don Sage was the only one to be heard from again...

Good call on Marius.

In 1995, he was 4th at state finals for CC with a 14:40. In 1996, he was 2nd at state in the 800m with 1:53, 1st in 1600 with 4:12, and 1st in 3200 with 9:07. You don't see a triple at the state meet like that anymore.

Where's the love for Joe Kiolbasa?

Matt Plowman?

Need to move White up some. 3x all state (6,2,1) and trying to triple at state might have cause him to a title in track. I think he was also part of a 4x800 record setting team and he ran a 4:07 1600 in a duel meet.

Jim White anchored the York 3200 relay that set a national record in 1:49 and also ran 4:07 for the mile. He should be at least 4th or 5th best ranked York runner.

You forgot to mention how Sage just won a big 50k trail race! What a legend!

George Atlas wrote:

Jim White anchored the York 3200 relay that set a national record in 1:49 and also ran 4:07 for the mile. He should be at least 4th or 5th best ranked York runner.

Even without those accomplishments, I don't see how you're ranking him lower than 5th. 1:53 / 14:30 is incredible range for a high schooler, and an 800/3200 double at a competitive state meet is also pretty ridiculous. With the 1:49/4:07/4x8 NR, you could make a very strong case for having him at #3/4.

Bakken also ran 8:57 for 3200 in a dual meet against Proviso West (no competition) with a 56 second last 400 on a cool, windy spring day. Consider that he spent a total of 8 months in the York program and didn't have nearly the base (at the time) of the other guys referenced. I think he beats everyone on that list at the same age with the exception of Sage and he had a (slightly) superior post HS career to Sage.

How the hell did he end up at York?

Good list.

I ran against Sage, year older than me, in HS. His senior year, he was the most dominant HS runner I ever saw (more so than Torres).

That team was stacked as well. Their 2-6 could have all been top 20 runners of all-time at York.

Amazing how great of a running HS York is and that none of these guys panned out after college to be pro-level runners.

marius bakken is easily the best ever York runner. he tripled 800/1600/3200 at state and won 1600/3200 while runner up in the 800?? wtf

legendary stuff

Ethan Kern, current junior, placed 28th at NXN last cross season. Placed 5th at NXR (3rd as a team), and only one nonsenior finished ahead of him in that race. He and his team could do big things next cross season since no one in the top 7 is graduating.

Look for York to make it to NXN for the first time since 2012.

How many of them Actually succeeded as next level runners? LOL WE will wait!!!1

1 Sage

2 White

3 Cracker

Bakken doesn't count. Was not (American Born)

Interesting topic, at least for the relatively narrow band of Illinois High School distance fans.

Difficult to compare pre-Foot Locker/Nike era performers with post-Foot Locker/Nike. Unless you want to start dredging up postal competition results and heaven knows who has copies of those! For what it's worth:

1 Sage

2 Craker

3 White

Tough to separate Craker and White but Craker's Cross Country State Meet times were arguably superior (20th place as a Soph in 14:43, 2nd place as a Junior in 14:20 and 1st as a Senior in 14:10) vs. White's 6th place as a Soph in 14:44, 2nd place as a Junior in 14:26 and 1st as a Senior in 14:30). Obviously, no allowance made for weather or course conditions. White wins on team titles (Soph-Senior years) with three wins vs. Craker's 1 win and 2 second places (although in fairness they lost twice to Bloom by a total of 9 points so they were close). In the end, for me, it comes down to Craker winning the State 2-mile as a Junior. I am saying that is superior to White's 1st in the 800 and 2nd in the 3200 as a Senior. But only just. Hope I have my facts correct here and not shortchanging​ anyone.

One addition for the later part of the top 11 (15?) list, Bob McCarty. 4th in State mile as a Junior, 5th in State CC in 14:28. And if McCarty doesn't​ make the list with a 14:28 it only underscores how maddeningly deep York was/is!

Should be interesting to see how Ethan Kern will stack up compared to these guys