Best High School Runners Who Never Did a Thing in College or After

George Atlas wrote:

jjjjjjj wrote:

"Trautmann continued to separate himself from the field at Georgetown. He won the 1990 NCAA title in the outdoor 5,000 and was runner-up in the '91 indoor NCAA meet. He was a four-time champion in the Big East indoor 5,000 and three-time champ in the conference outdoor 5K.

In February, he was inducted into Georgetown's Hall of Fame."

He also beat Bob Kennedy at the 1992 Olympic Trials in the 5000m, before toe injuries destroyed his career. This winter, he set the WR 45+ in the mile in 4:12.3!

I recall running 15 years ago with a top D2 runner that eventually ran for Hanson's that thought Craig Virgin never did a thing after high school so it doesn't surprise me that the 20-30 year olds on this board are clueless about any accomplishments other than a high school record from runner that competed 10 or more years ago.

clueless

+1

You are spot on.

Some of the posters are clueless and judgemental.

Faysal Mahmoud - top 10 in MN XC AA state meet 3 years in a row (2012-2014). Don’t see anything on him competing in college.

I don't know if someone mentioned this but German Fernandez went from a high school phenom to a nobody in track.

HSRunner3200 wrote:

Who were they? What was the reason for their demise? Obviously some regional and personal bias will exist here, but I'm curious if certain names will surface multiple times.

If you allowed field events, the all-time winner is clear. After triple jumping 54-10 and 56-2w as a high school junior, Kenny Hall competed once as a senior (jumping 49-1) and never jumped again.

Belarussiya wrote:

I don't know if someone mentioned this but German Fernandez went from a high school phenom to a nobody in track.

Fernandez had a stellar freshman season at Ok State, setting World Junior Record in the mile indoors and winning the NCAA 1500 outdoors. He also managed to get a pro contract with BTC and ran 3:34 as a pro. While he definitely didn't live up to the hype of his high school and freshman season, he did have notable success in college and some post-collegiately.

Biggest York disappointment. Jim White.

Maria Hauger - 4-time MN state champ faded after her freshman year at Virginia

High school kid in Australia ran 3:45 1500m 8:06 3k 14:11 5k. Last race was a 226 marathon as 20 year old last year. No races of note since. Google him Josh Torley.

One Moore

dafilthiest wrote:

One Moore

Obea Moore. Soon to be Tyrese Cooper as well.

I guess we can repeat previous names as time passes because they could come off of the list if they run a decent time.

Gessner.

Amy Spencer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Spencer

I think Scott Fry won5 or 6 Big Ten Titles, top five placer at NCAA CROSS. SOLID

stuff

Steve Kaestner, Shoreline High School in Washington State.

Won the large school classification of the mile at the state meet in 1979. I heard he went to a community college as he didn't have the grades for a four year university. Never heard of him since then.

Look up Mary Wazeter. High school phenom from the late 70’s who was running with the like of Joanie Benoit as a teenager. Went on to to become paralyzed in a self inflicted incident as a college freshman running for Georgetown. Wild story that I’m surprised more people don’t know about.

I was in the race when Jim Arriola set the national age group record in the mile. The weirdest part was it was a a all comers race at Cal State University Long Beach in the summer. And I came in second with a time of 4:42. So he was by himself more than 200 yards ahead of anyone in the race. And that record stood for years. I guess he had been running serious miles with his older brother that summer.

Slagowski

Killer Kundargi was a huge stud at Jesuit who range a 4:57 mile once got into UC Berkeley on an academics. He could have been faster but he would peel off training runs and go swimming in the river cuz it was hot AF in Sacramento. He did play rugby at Humboldt State and club rugby for San Francisco RFC cuz you requires ball skills athleticism jukes dropping savage hits and is fun AF unlike running track which is boring AF. He is now the Michael Phelps of the YMCA where regularly dusts up and laps old ladies in water wings. F the Mastalirs Paul Thomas is a King!!!

Input wrote:

Predictor wrote:

Eli Krahn was the top HS frosh in the country running 8:58 and 4:09 in MN. He is a college soph at Princeton.

He actually PRed in a mile last spring. 4:07 at David Hemery. He’s under David Krahn on Milesplit.

Patrick Roos, the 2016 MN state champ, retired in January 2019.

Well..