High School 4x800m Boys record given a scare today

uh_no wrote:

2 seconds isn't all that close

get a clue

The video has been sent to us and now is at the bottom of this thread.

those times are ridiculous, the only school that i can think of with a similar streak might be york from IL. Not sure of the specific numbers, but they typically have one of the better times each year.

In 2000, York ran a 7.43 indoor and then followed it with a 7.34 outdoor, both led by Don Sage, but including soon-to-be Big 10 800 champ Tim Hobbes. So the 7.38 here is a great run, but not near the record- and York's record was then beaten a couple of years later by a team from Michigan.

Although it probably does not extend back as far, Warwick NY certainly has had its fair share of fast times in the 4x8.

Hobbs was never a Big Ten champ.

I was at that race to cheer on my former teammates and it was something special.

There's an article about the race at this link:

http://www.rrstar.com/sports/x317106382

The 300 yard race between Meade and Otis Hill about which Bloom wrote in the linked article was one of the two or three most dramatic races I've ever seen. Meade was thin, whippet-like, while Hill was, as befits a football player, stocky, with muscles bulging out all over the place. After Meade came back on Hill to nip him at the tape, Hill walked off to the infield of the track and rested his arms and head on a hurdle, in a state of complete disbelief and shock, where he stayed for several minutes. It was as if something impossible in the universe had occurred. And on a related matter, Milt Blatt was a terrific coach (as was Doug Terry, the Boys High coach), but an even better man: he really cared about kids who needed caring about.

While not nearly as impressive, Cardnial O'Hara, PA put up some impressive times over part of the same time period.

2000- 7:41.93

2001- 7:47.05

2003- 7:41.89

2004- 7:47.73

2006- 7:52.52

1960s and 70s era runners split off -

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2506882

While North Penn's knack to put up good 4x8 times every year looks incredibly impressive on paper, you have to think that they are also the largest high school in the state. Odds are that out of 3,200 kids in 3 grades that you'll be able to find 4 good 800 runners, especially since they also have a junior high and freshman track program.

Even so, props to the coaches for being able to put a team like that out each year..even with the numbers, the coach still has to be pretty good.

RE: High School 4x800m Boys record given a scare today 5/24/2008 6:02PM - in reply to wineturtle Reply | Return to Index | Report Post

The race was on cinders.

My Comment: The race was on a composition track if it was at St. Johns. Still ,it was an awesome effort.

wineturtle wrote:

Mark Bloom

http://theharrier.com/marcbloomrunning/booklets/nyclassics.php

wrote a great account of that race. St Johns installed an All-Weather rubberized asphalt surface at some point I want to say before this meet but my memory is fuzzy.

cinders,- the lane one (often 2 also) being chewed up badly as the meet progressed added to the slower/less rebound of cinders.

Jackson-Julio Meade 1:54.3,Bill Jacobs-1:57.3,Sam Thomas 1:52.7 Mark Ferrell 1:51.3

Boys-Mark Edmead 1:55.3,John Henry 1:56.6,Mike Randall 1:53.1, Jimmy Jackson 1:50.6

Jimmy returned and has been the coach at (now called) Boys&Girls HS for many years.

Montesquieu thinks cinders I DK. SlowFatMaster for the tiebreaker?

Going to Reebok@Icahn? I'm in.

I stand corrected. I wrote to Marc Bloom who wrote back to say it was an early synthetic surface, albeit not very good.

wineturtle wrote:

wineturtle wrote:

Mark Bloom

http://theharrier.com/marcbloomrunning/booklets/nyclassics.php

wrote a great account of that race. St Johns installed an All-Weather rubberized asphalt surface at some point I want to say before this meet but my memory is fuzzy.

cinders,- the lane one (often 2 also) being chewed up badly as the meet progressed added to the slower/less rebound of cinders.

Jackson-Julio Meade 1:54.3,Bill Jacobs-1:57.3,Sam Thomas 1:52.7 Mark Ferrell 1:51.3

Boys-Mark Edmead 1:55.3,John Henry 1:56.6,Mike Randall 1:53.1, Jimmy Jackson 1:50.6

Jimmy returned and has been the coach at (now called) Boys&Girls HS for many years.

Montesquieu thinks cinders I DK. SlowFatMaster for the tiebreaker?

Going to Reebok@Icahn? I'm in.

Does anybody know if there is a list of the all-time top 100 4x8's or something similar? It would be interesting to see a list with the top 100 performances and a list with the top 100 school records (with dates and team member names).

out of touch with HS rules wrote:

Splitting off- What IS the HS record- what Alphabet group is the "Official Record Keeper", how do they handle yard conversions?

What do the "Official" progression and AllTime lists look like.

24 guys at sub 1:55 in high school in the same race. that's IMPRESSIVE! Wish there was a recording of it. Wish there were recording of any great 4x800s in fact.

norphxc wrote:

Another awesome 4x8 relay, Wish I could've seen it.

IHSA State Meet

1976 2-mile relay (times converted to 3,200 meters)

1. Thornton 7:35.7

2. LaGrange Lyons 7:36.2

3. Rockford East 7:36.8

4. Bloom Twp. 7:37.4

5. Evanston 7:38.4

6. Thornwood 7:39.6

7. Champaign Central 7:40.8

8. New Trier East 7:42

I think the top 6 teams broke the previous HS record

http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x317106382

This race was big news even in California at the time, we were talking about it for weeks. Illinois had some amazing 4x8 races in the mid 70's, those guys just seemed to push each other and get better & better. In 1976 an open 880 in the 1:51 range would put your near the top of the National list and yet it seemed every high school in Illinois had a guy splitting a 1:51. AMAZING.

For anyone who doesn't know, it's the "Julio" story at the top of the page. GREAT story- read it.