Matthew Maton 19 years old (College Freshman Age)

Four time Miles wrote:

Oregon is the only school where "plenty of guys are breaking 4".

Hahaha yeah right. Come back to reality.

Not fair! I could have run a 3:59 mile if they had only let me stay in HS until I was 19.

Let us hope he doesn't follow in Germans footsteps .And yay! More of that 40-50mpw high school fantasy crap. If you don't train with him or have access to his training logs you have. No clue how he trains

Some other d baguette wrote:

German Fernandez ran 3:55.02 at 18 years 2 months as a college Freshman. American 19 year olds run 3:59, 3:42/41 every year. Factoring in that he was running 80-90 miles a week during the fall makes his time even less significant.

douglas burke wrote:

Still props to Maton, good time, good prospect.

Props to you, good points, great attitude.

It's never easy breaking 4 in the mile, the first time, or ever, or for pretty much everyone.

Fyvfvyfyfvvfy wrote:

I fell cheated wrote:

I ran sub 4 when I was 19. Unfortunately, I was a sophomore in college and got beat by about 6 guys.

The 10th "all time" US junior mile performance is 3:59.1 by Roscoe Divine. So Maton is very close to top 10 all time US junior. A star can also be put next to his name saying (HS senior), since it is more difficult to achieve that in HS, given that he is not training with the likes of Jenkins, Ches... day after day.

3:59.3 is a very good mile performance for a junior. No, there are not dozen of US junior guys that achieve that every year (only a dozen or so have achieved that ever).

I

Whether or not he ranks in the top 10 as a junior is irrelevant to the fact that he is old for a high schooler.

Look at all of these Juniors whose 1500m times convert to faster times than Matons. I'll bet Maton is older than most of them?

3:37.5 Tom Byers (Ohio St)

3:40.49 John Trautmann (Georgetown)

3:40.54 Gabe Jennings (Stanford)

3:40.64 Earl Jones (Eastern Michigan)

3:40.87 Austin Mudd (Wisconsin)

3:41.09 Robby Andrews (Virginia)

3:41.24 Evan Jager (Wisconsin)

3:41.24 converts to 3:58.9.

Logical fallacy wrote:

I'll bet Maton is older than most of them?

3:37.5 Tom Byers (Ohio St)

3:40.49 John Trautmann (Georgetown)

3:40.54 Gabe Jennings (Stanford)

3:40.64 Earl Jones (Eastern Michigan)

3:40.87 Austin Mudd (Wisconsin)

3:41.09 Robby Andrews (Virginia)

3:41.24 Evan Jager (Wisconsin)

3:41.24 converts to 3:58.9.

ummm, fool, all of the names you listed were 19 many years ago.

And Jim Ryun 3:59.00, 3:55.3, 3:53.7, 3:51.3/3:36.1 en route. All ran at 19 years 2 months or younger.

But comparing Maton to Jim Ryun is a bit ridiculous. Maton ran a great race, it doesn't matter if he's still in high school or not. He isn't doing anything someone has never done before.

Logical fallacy wrote:

[quote]Fyvfvyfyfvvfy wrote:

[quote]

Whether or not he ranks in the top 10 as a junior is irrelevant to the fact that he is old for a high schooler.

Look at all of these Juniors whose 1500m times convert to faster times than Matons. I'll bet Maton is older than most of them?

3:37.5 Tom Byers (Ohio St)

3:40.49 John Trautmann (Georgetown)

3:40.54 Gabe Jennings (Stanford)

3:40.64 Earl Jones (Eastern Michigan)

3:40.87 Austin Mudd (Wisconsin)

3:41.09 Robby Andrews (Virginia)

3:41.24 Evan Jager (Wisconsin)

3:41.24 converts to 3:58.9.

I see your point. All these guys above ended up being nobodies and all had terrible careers that the vast majority of posters on Letsrun would have been embarrassed to have...

I mean, I don't think that I recognize the names of any of these guys...

Good point.

Who the h@$k is Evan Jager? It sounds like a dance.

Seyta wrote:

the advantage that being older confers may vary from person to person, since growth/development varies from person to person.

But that advantage is huge. Growth plates fuse, allowing metabolic energy to be spent on muscular development. That process is more complete at 19 than at 18 or 17.

I don't remember how tall Webb was when he ran 3:53 but I don't think he's any taller now. Ryun too seemed to be at his max height early on.

Everyone seriously needs to relax about this. Whatever circumstances (which are none of our business) resulted in him being a 19 year old high school student, I can almost guarantee that they were out of his control. His eligibility as a high school athlete is most certainly out of his control.

You also can't compare a 19 year old competing against high schoolers to a 19 year old freshman with a D1 coach/team, competing against D1 athletes. .

Kiprop won gold at Beijing when he 19. Running sub 4 at 19 and still in high school is no small feat, but not much when you compare it to what Kiprop did when he was 19.

No Big Deal wrote:

Kiprop won gold at Beijing when he 19. Running sub 4 at 19 and still in high school is no small feat, but not much when you compare it to what Kiprop did when he was 19.

He was second. And probably doped. Hell, he tanked it on purpose in London in 2012 to avoid being tested.

No, Kiprop was awarded first after Ramzi was found to be the doper.

Vid here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyt6NAkgawE

Kiprop had trouble with his hamstring at London. A tall, lean guy like him is prone to this. Actually, he is just getting over another hamstring injury.

Kiprop injured his hamstring because of a high speed and intensity training program at the Kenyan olympic training camp. It has nothing to do with height.

Four time Miles wrote:

Who are all these people breaking 4? Oregon is the only school where "plenty of guys are breaking 4". Maton is headed to the right school.

Gtown kid.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Seyta wrote:

the advantage that being older confers may vary from person to person, since growth/development varies from person to person.

But that advantage is huge. Growth plates fuse, allowing metabolic energy to be spent on muscular development. That process is more complete at 19 than at 18 or 17.

I don't remember how tall Webb was when he ran 3:53 but I don't think he's any taller now. Ryun too seemed to be at his max height early on.

If the advantage really is that "huge" then by all means, it makes far more sense to restrict HS record/competition eligibility based on "degree of maturity" rather than age. After all, what hope could a lanky underdeveloped 18-year-old possibly have against a guy like Webb, who was muscled to the gills and practically had a receding hairline as a HS senior? Or against Jim Ryun, who, within half a decade or so, had already left his running ability behind him.

The thing is, we don't do that, because the speed at which an individual matures is completely out of his/her control. The exact same thing can be said of age. Whatever circumstances led to Maton becoming a 19-year-old senior probably occurred more than a decade ago when nobody could possibly have foreseen that it would eventually throw a running messageboard into turmoil. With the rare exception of cases like Verzbicas, HS students don't get to choose how old they'll be in HS, and don't get to alter their graduation date once it has been established.

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:

Four time Miles wrote:

Who are all these people breaking 4? Oregon is the only school where "plenty of guys are breaking 4". Maton is headed to the right school.

Gtown kid.

Uh, Oregon is king of the mile. Check the all time sub 4 lists :)

asu guy wrote:

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:

Gtown kid.

Uh, Oregon is king of the mile. Check the all time sub 4 lists :)

I think based on Penn Relays Villanova are actually kings of the mile buddy.... #KingJordy

I believe that Villanova has had 50 sub 4 milers, and Oregon has had 41.

Of course most of Villanova's sub 4 milers were from the '70's, while Oregon had some back then, but are definitely king of the sub 4 club these days.