12 year old runs 4:36 mile

All comers meets are turning into something special for all ages, so a lot of track directors are adding them to their yearly event format. I like the fact that runners are seeded based on their estimated time, ensuring that the races will be some what competitive across the board.

hart crane wrote:

This article claims that his sister is an All-American cross country runner...

She's got a 12 minute 3200 best.

B.S. ALERT B.S. ALERT B.S. ALERT

The story also says that he is currently suffering from a virus. (???) Also, why would jsomeone tell a mile runner that they are close (14 seconds away) from an attainable record? How many of you could just knock off 14 seconds from your mile time; and in this case, 20 seconds? bull crap.

Just wow... wrote:

Dude's huge! He looks 16. I couldn't tell which one he was from the mature men in some of those pics. The record is a record, but physiologically, he's not a typical 12 year old.

He's the one with the orange shirt and sunglasses, second from the left.

That's not even that fast for a 12 ry. old. Some 12 sy. olds in my area can run 4:29 and 4:32. They're twins and will do really well in high school esp. track season.

Honestly I don't know how good they could be. If the pices fall together for them to have a special team as seniors then they might get a chance to run in College DI which is a special expierience for anyone.

As I said, a 4:36 is not that quick. I even know some kids a little older, but they're running times like 4:19 and 4:22. Our principal gave them a medal and a guy was there to try to sign them to a 4:00.00 mile challenge. Their parents said they're too young though, so that didn't happen to them yet.

QWhen comparing times of youngesters the discussion can get uncomfortable because adults put so much stock in the compeitition; thus I suggest early on while we discuss these talented children that we use some common rules of courtesy:

1. Be complimentary always, this way we end up discussing the positives in each child's racing and training experience.

2. Don't discuss injuries on the board. This can be taxing on the system since so many people might want to help. We also end up with a medicine board phenomena, which we want to avoid, ok?

Let's have fun,

Kedron

good for him, but we'll see wrote:

I know a guy who ran a 4:39 1600 in the summer after 7th grade (a rising 8th grader like this kid). He was definitely mature for his age at the time, but it's still a great time. He eventually ran 4:16 in high school, also great but not among the top kids in the nation like he was as a rising 8th grader. Looking at this kid, who to me could pass for 15, he may end up similar...or who knows maybe he runs sub-4:00. Will be fun to see, but like others I don't put much stock in the middle school-age records due to the vast disparity in physical maturity among boys that age.

Physical maturity definitely plays a role, but the amount of training is a bigger factor. The average age group or middle school kid only practices 3 times a week, no more than about 10mpw and usually does another activity. If you focus just on running and triple the mileage of course you are going to run much faster. This gets you off to a good start as you enter high school, but the reality is if you are running 30pmw entering H.S. and the prescribed mileage for freshmen at your H.S. is 30mpw, obviously there is less opportunity for growth. Add to that, if you hit your growth spurt at age 12, 13 or14 as opposed to 15, 16 or 17, there is even less opportunity for growth literally.

With all of that said, I can't be critical of 12 year old running as fast as I did at 15. Success is good at any age, sometimes in life continued success at anything isn't always meant to be. I can't name a single great person who won the Script's Spelling B, but it is certainly cool to say as a kid your were the best speller in the nation.

There seems to be some skepticism about various aspects of this result, so as a local let me clarify a few things:1. This is a high-quality all-comers meet that has been put on for 40 years (a bunch of Olympians have run the meets over the years, especially from the Stanford contingent which is 20 minutes away). The meet is well-run and they know what they're doing, and it's FAT timing. There should be zero doubts about the legitimacy of the time or the distance.2. Though I don't know his DOB, based on USATF rules Jeremy is presumably born in 2004 and runs 13-14 at the USATF meets this year, but apparently hadn't turned 13 yet as of the day of this meet. Based on school age cut-offs, he probably has a late July or August birthday. That doesn't make him unusually young for his grade, though on the younger side. Nothing to see here.3. I'd take the "trained one day per week" with a grain of salt. His parents were relatively elite athletes and are coaches. And Willie Harmatz, the coach quoted in the article, is a local HS coaching legend who has also coached some elites, like Steve Sherer who popped a 3:56 mile seemingly out of nowhere a few years back and got a lot of attention on these boards.4. I'm surprised that it wasn't more commented on that the "pacer" in the Brooks yellow uniform is Alex Scales, who won Arcadia in the 800 in 1:50.64 as a junior (in HS) this year and is one of the nation's top returning 800m runners for next year. He also ran something like 4:09 in the anchor leg of the distance medley to win Penn Relays this year. The kid runs like a linebacker (and is built like one for a distance runner) and is a beast on the track!That's all. :-)

crappola wrote:

hart crane wrote:

This article claims that his sister is an All-American cross country runner...

She's got a 12 minute 3200 best.

B.S. ALERT B.S. ALERT B.S. ALERT

The story also says that he is currently suffering from a virus. (???) Also, why would jsomeone tell a mile runner that they are close (14 seconds away) from an attainable record? How many of you could just knock off 14 seconds from your mile time; and in this case, 20 seconds? bull crap.

The Brooks guy is still in H.S.? Dude looks post-collegiate.

Yeah, he looks older in those photos. The hat, slight beard and physique make him look older. If you google him, most photos don't look so old. Not to turn this into a thread about him, but he has incredible range: he soloed a 9:13 3200 (won by 30 seconds) in his only serious effort at the distance this year. If he had run the 3200 at Arcadia and not the 800, my bet is that he would have been close to 9:00 if not under it. Will be fun to see how he progresses next year (senior year) and beyond.

Just wow... wrote:

The Brooks guy is still in H.S.? Dude looks post-collegiate.

my favorite part is when they act like you can't measure a mile via the metric system