Every high school kid who has went sub 9

Thanks for that info,

Continuing, does anyone know what happened to Kimball, Beck, Dani and Butler, how they did in later years, etc?

someone wrote:

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that California might be pretty good at the 2 mile. Might be able to say the best in the country...call me crazy!

Call ME crazy while I climb out further on that limb of yours: California, has, by far, the biggest post high school failure rate of any state. Of the 100 California high schoolers who have broken 9:00 for two miles, very few of them ever again live up to their glory days.

Whats your problem Kip, shouldn't you be training to be a cage fighter.

5 8:43.2i Dave Merrick Lincoln-Way. New Lenox, IL '71

despite injury, Merrick still had a pretty decent college career

3 Time Heps Champion

Course Records at Belmont Plateau and Van Cortlandt

All-American in the 10000

Scharsu was actually running some decent 5Ks as a Master recently (~16:00-16:20?)

What was the logic to those of the top 30 that you selected for that list, I couldn't find any. Also, it should be noted that that list is not completely up to date, if no one has mentioned this so far, it's from 2003. So galen is on the list, but only with his 8:10 3k not his NHSR 8:03. How many guys since have broken 8:50? There are exactly 31 on this list with Eric Logsdon being the last at 8:49.91. Heres that list

1 8:36.3 Jeff Nelson Burbank CA '79

2 8:40.0i Gerry Lindgren Rogers, Spokane, WA '64

3 8:40.9 Craig Virgin Lebanon IL '73

4 8:41.5 Steve Prefontaine Marshfield. Coos Bay, OR '69

5 8:43.2i Dave Merrick Lincoln-Way. New Lenox, IL '71

6 8:44.0 Eric Reynolds Camarillo CA '83

7 8:44.03 Alan Scharsu Fitch HS, Austintown OH '78

8 8:44.12+ Dathan Ritzenhein Rockford (8:41.1-3.2k) MI '00

9 8:44.53+ John Trautmann Mon.-Wood. Cen.Val.(8:05.8-3k)NY '86

10 8:44.6 Eric Hulst Laguna Beach CA '76

11 8:45.19i Alan Webb Reston VA '01

12 8:45.2 Thom Hunt Henry, San Diego. CA '76

13 8:45.9 Ralph Serna Loara, Anahaim CA '75

14 8:45.92+ Donald Sage Elmhurst York (8:42.89-3.2k) IL '00

15 8:46.44c Chris Solinksy Stevens Point WI '03

16 8:46.47+ Eric Mastalir Jesuit Carmichael(8:07.60-3k)CA '86

17 8:46.5 Richard Kimball (LaSalle. Concord, CA '74

18 8:46.87 Bobby Beck Salmen. Slidell. LA '79

19 8:46.99 Brent Steiner Shawnee Mission S. Overland Park, KS '79

20 8:47.02+ Scott Fry Perkins. Sandusky (8:08.1-3k)OH '85

21 8:47.77 Jim Hill Oakton, Vienna VA '79

22 8:48.3 Rick Riley Ferris, Spokane WA '66

23 8:48.8 Curtis Beck Santa Monica CA '72

24 8:48.8c Brent Vaughn, Brent Smoky Hill CO '03

25 8:49.1i Mark Dani Valhalla, El Cajon CA '86

26 8:49.4+ Rickey Pittman East Tech, Cleveland OH '80

27 8:49.53+ Galen Rupp Central Catholic, Portland,(8:10.42 - 3k) OR '03

28 8:49.60i Franklin Sanchez LYNN VOKE TECH HS MA '99

29 8:49.66+ Mark Mastalir Jesuit, Carmichael (8:10.54-3k)CA '86

30 8:49.86+ Jon Butler Edison Huntington Beach(8:46.78-3.2k) CA '81

31 8:49.91+ Eric Logsdon Canby (8:10.66-3k) OR '00

I stand by my original argument that this is the list of true studs. 9:00 is vey good in high school, but someone does it every year, now when someone breaks 8:50, that causes people to notice. This is true no matter how fast I've run. I'm not devaluing anyones accomplishments, just saying that these are the most exemplary marks. So we all know about pre, virgin and lindgren, after that who has done anything post high school. Ritz and Webb have done ok for themselves, Sage and solinsky both have NCAA titles, sage was a little inconsistent, but hey, it's still and NCAA title. Scott Fry ran under 13:40 in college, and Jim Hill ran like 13:27. Brent Vaugn has done prtty well and is still running, Galen is still running and has done well while healthy, and I beleive Eric Logsdon is still running and he put up a pretty solid college career with several AA Awards.

As to what happened to Mark Dani, here's the results of the 2003 SD region USATF XC championship:

Top 10 Men

1 Mark Dani,35, 20:07, 5:02

2 Nazario Romero,29, 20:19, 5:05

3 Mike Smith,23, 20:20, 5:05

4 Brian Sullivan,23, 20:29, 5:08

5 David Dominguez,28, 20:43, 5:11

6 David G Dunbar,23, 20:46, 5:12

7 David Kloz,28, 20:57, 5:15

8 Idirse Osman,17, 20:59, 5:15

9 James Sheremeta,39, 21:00, 5:15

10Ian Bartonicek,22, 21:11, 5:18

Polk High wrote:

Call ME crazy while I climb out further on that limb of yours: California, has, by far, the biggest post high school failure rate of any state. Of the 100 California high schoolers who have broken 9:00 for two miles, very few of them ever again live up to their glory days.

That's because they all ran 100+ miles/wk in high school in ain ideal climate... hard to go up from there.

Shouldn't Schoolmeester be on that list?

Does anyone know what Ritz split in either of his fast high school 5Ks (13:51 and 13:44)? Were they faster than his 8:44.13 2 mile time?

I think 8:50ish.

What were Rupp's 5k splits? He went through in way faster than his two mile time listed. Whether you like "Gaylord" or not, dude rolled in that 5k. Stud.

That's because they all ran 100+ miles/wk in high school in ain ideal climate... hard to go up from there.[/quote]

And maybe they just moved on.

Polk high wrote:

How many of that top 30 never did squat afterwards? That's not that impressive is it?

I think having one of the 200 best high school careers ever is impressive. After that, most runners move on to more important things in life. Obviously, I'm grateful to the Lagats and Webbs of the world who choose to continue running for the entertainment of people like me . . . but there are lots of people on that list doing more impressive things now, IMO.

common cents wrote:

after that who has done anything post high school.

Thom Hunt had a great career from the mile to the marathon. Trautmann was the best distance runner in the country in the '92 Olympic year, dominating the Trials 5000m (then he got hurt). As has been mentioned, Merrick had a fine collegiate career.

Add those three to Lindgren, Pre, Virgin, Ritz, Webb, Sage and Solinsky (whom you mention in your own post) and that makes ten of the top fifteen on the list who did extremely well after high school. Given all the variables involved in running success, I'd say that is a pretty good ratio and that running a very fast two mile in high school is an excellent indicator of future performance.

I know there must be a whole thread on this, but what happened with Jeff Nelson after high school?

Jeff Nelson went to teh university of Oregon where he got hurt and strguuled. He transfered to some DII or smaller DI program back in california and didn't do anything that reflected his high school prowess. I think he had injury troubles the whole time, but I could be wrong.

I was top the American at 2 NCAA XC championships and 2nd at 1980 TAC XC championship. I also ran 4:01 mile, 7:50 3K, 13:33 5K, 28:20 10K, 47:39 10M..some of them after achillies surgery. I wouldn't call that "squat".

Yeah (forehead slap) make that eleven out of fifteen.