100/500 yard or metres? wrote:
I'm talking about teenage kids. I had a high school XC and T&F teammate a long time ago who was a sub-4:45 mile runner and sub-4:45 500 yard swimmer. It's so rare for high school kids who are able to do both well while they are middle school and high school students. Do you look at high school boy sub-5:00 1600m runners and sub-5:15 500 yard freestyle swimmers? Also, high school girl sub-5:30 1600m runners and sub-5:45 500 yard swimmers? Based on your posts, you seem to want to wait until they are done with college. I know those are not high school state championship times, but it is so rare to see kids both running and swimming those times in high school.
This is such a great discussion point! I agree it's rare in HS to get that combo of swimmer and runner as many kids are specializing at that point. The Collegiate Recruitment Program is just one pathway that USAT supports. We realize there are multiple ways to the top. We have a robust Youth and Junior series and High Performance Teams (45+) who are raising up a whole generation of triathletes, not talent transfer athletes like the CRP. Triathlon is an emerging sport for women within the NCAA, so for these junior females they can continue on in college. This last year ASU and USAT partnered to launch Project Podium, which is a men's only program, under the leadership of Coach Parker Spencer. This program gives the men who have had success at the Junior level a place to continue with triathlon instead of going to college to run. We've even had some transfers to ASU of triathletes who went to run collegiately before this program was launched. The standards are high and it's a quality over quantity training squad. Regarding the mile and 500 times from above, the Project Podium standards are 4:14 mile and 4:50 500 free. You can learn more about the first recruiting class here:
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Triathlon/News/Articles-and-Releases/2018/August/09/USA-Triathlon-Announces-Roster-for-Project-Podium-Mens-Elite-Development-ProgramWhile a sub 5' 1600m runner and sub 5:15 500 yard free swimmer would not meet Project Podium standards, I'd be fired up to see him join a High Performance Team and get into the sport. I bet he'd find more success at triathlon with that combo than in single sport where those times are not that impressive. There is a Junior (U19) page on the USAT website under "Elite" to learn more about the draft-legal format of racing at that age.