Michael Slagowski- 1:48.70 SOLO

malmo wrote:

Short? wrote:

Watch the vid again.....it seems to me that the oval feels a bit too small - Seriously. 10 meter short or something?

Good catch. Replay the video then look at the 400m staggers. The runners on the outer group started in lane 5 on the 400m stagger. That starting line means they were supposed to BOTH curves before breaking. They broke after the first curve.

Whomever marked that track has some 'splainin' to do?

That looks like it might be a 200m stagger to me, there isn't much distance between the lines on each lane. Plus look at the blocks being lined up when they come around for the 2nd lap. I presume those are for the 400 or 4x1.

Nevermind. It looks correct on second thought.

I'm not sure, that first 200m looks awfully fast to me. Like 24 seconds.

The first 200 is 26 seconds, or just under.

Yeah watching the video again, it looks ok. Just hard to see the 200m point because of the crowds on the infield.

A top high school coach here in Idaho, who was himself a low 4:00 miler, thinks the kid will break four this year. He ran 4:11 and 9:26 as a junior.

Igy

All due respect to Tracy Harris (brother of low 3:50's guy Rich Harris), but I don't think he will. I've been saying this to everyone regarding HS sub 4 minute milers- they all have something in common.

Jim Ryun

Marty Liquori

Tim Danielson

Alan Webb

Lucas Verzbicas

Matthew Maton

Grant Fischer

Drew Hunter

Every single one of them was a top-flight, national top 10 cross guy. Michael is very, very good, but he also finished 12th at Nike Portland XC and 45th at NXR Northwest. I think he has similar credentials to Donavan Brazier, who was not a sub 4 miler last year. I'm thinking more like 4:03ish.

Also, people have been misquoting his times. He ran 4:09 in the mile last year and 9:14 in the 3200. He ran 1:51.85 at Arcadia, and never ran a fast 800 after that, though he was certainly a 1:50.low guy last outdoor season.

IdahoGuy,

I will defer to you, but I respect Tracy's view as well. Glad you picked that up. I gave his name to coaches at my alma mater last year. He is pretty impressive and he should.

Igy

He actually ran 4:08 (full mile) and 9:14 as a Junior.

IdahoGuy wrote:

Every single one of them was a top-flight, national top 10 cross guy. Michael is very, very good, but he also finished 12th at Nike Portland XC and 45th at NXR Northwest. I think he has similar credentials to Donavan Brazier, who was not a sub 4 miler last year. I'm thinking more like 4:03ish.

That's an inaccurate assessment of Michael as a runner though. Cross country Michael vs track Michael are totally different animals, and it's not all due to speed. Like he could be a really good xc runner but I'm like 90% sure he hates xc; at least that's the impression I've gotten. In addition, he takes a crazy short break between sports and is on the indoor track one/two weeks after the season dropping hard repeats which leads me to believe that xc is simply used as a method to stay in shape and not as opportunity to prove fitness.

Also quoting bad races and then saying someone is average at xc is kind of a low blow. The dude is a state champion at xc, and dropped a 15:21 on a legit 5k course as a junior (albeit a flatter one). I wouldn't rule out sub-4, even if it is on the unlikelier side.

I don't recall Ryun, Danielson or Liquori being great high school cross country runners.

Igy

The only fast 800 guy who even liked XC was Webb, who had ungodly range.

I guess I answered my own post, Ryun which I would assume was the poorest cross country runner, ran well against mostly college runners in a junior meet.

I never said he is average. I said he is very, very good, but he also is not a top 10 nationally XC talent, which is true. Donavan Brazier ran very similar and finished 6th at the Michigan State Cross Country Championships, losing to Grant Fischer and 4 guys that have/had similar stats to Michael at mile and 3200.

Michael is good, but he also beat a 4:19/9:41 guy by 6 seconds at state (not exactly dominating), and in his 15:21 lost to a guy that had a 9:45 PR at the time. I'm pretty familiar with the Rocky training, and you kind of hit the nail on the head though- short season and then he's indoors dropping hard repeats shortly after. The Rocky guys are run hard, and have very, very good training. I think Michael is very polished as a runner, which is both good and bad.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I don't recall Ryun, Danielson or Liquori being great high school cross country runners.

Igy

"The next two cross-country seasons, Liquori was in a league of his own, winning two straight Parochial A state titles. In his senior year, Liquori put together one of the greatest seasons in state history, setting four course records while finishing the season undefeated."

That 15:21 he ran was not on a legit course. Nearly every kid in that race ran a PR of at least 30 seconds.

At NXR NW this year, he lost his shoe and stopped to put it back on, obviously hurting his chances of doing well.

I think Michael still cares about cross. He cares at least enough to train hard and win state. His best events seem to be the 800/1600, so it would stand to reason his cross performances wouldn't be as impressive as his track times. I wouldn't say he "doesn't care".

His 9:14 3200m performance was very impressive to watch. He was neck-and-neck with another competitor with 300m to go, before putting EIGHT seconds on the other competitor by the finish.

I'll predict a 4:02 for him by the end of the year.

Idaho guy,

I'll give you the point. I think being a fast 800m runner is a better predictor of a fast mile than being a good cross country runner. If he runs 4:09 or 3:59, fast either way.

Igy

Idaho HSer wrote:

His 9:14 3200m performance was very impressive to watch. He was neck-and-neck with another competitor with 300m to go, before putting EIGHT seconds on the other competitor by the finish.

I'll predict a 4:02 for him by the end of the year.

Just by the way he got after it, I'm thinking he can pull off a Ryun and run sub 4:00 in a high school meet, leading from the gun.

He ran very close to even splits 400/400, roughly 54/54.7, where 2 second positive splits are "considered" ideal. He looks like he is going very smoothly and obviously is alone the whole race. So, he is not coming at this from the sprint side, clearly, and he looks like he can keep going. Malmo may be onto something here. We can look forward to some very fast performances at 800m and mile this year, maybe a sub-4 hs race, but definitely sub-4 and 1:46 with higher competition.