Oregon High School State Meet Thread

Tayvon Kitchen crushed the 3000m in 7:58. So sick. It is hot in Eugene today and he ran solo. How awesome for him to finish his HS racing career on such a strong note!

Splits are borderline insane. So good...

200 - 31.784 - 31.784
600 - 1:01.854 - 1:33.638
1000 - 1:04.962 - 2:38.599
1400 - 1:04.320 - 3:42.919
1800 -1:04.790 - 4:47.709
2200 - 1:03.759 - 5:51.468
2600 - 1:02.944 - 6:54.412
3000 - 1:04.506 - 7:58.918

https://live.athletictiming.net/meets/53994/events/individual/2021779

The times are so freaking fast now it's unbelievable. Many of the district meets are now as deep as the state fields from when I was competing 20+ years ago, and that was considered a prime-talent era then. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, but I'm happy to see the kids nowadays doing so well!

Yes! I know a kid down in Oregon who ran 8:40 (3000m) and 3:59 (1500m) and (1:58) and whose best finish at Districts was 4th. He is getting to state only because of a time-qualifier (small q).

Imagine being that kid and in danger of not even going to State.

Isn’t it the new shoe technology?

Chloe Huyler's 24 second gap on the field today in the 3k was also pretty noteworthy. Seemed like a very controlled effort. Unusual to have such a huge gap with so many other strong runners in the race.

Yes but it definitely isn't the whole picture. The whole country has the shoes now but it's only been recently (at least since the Rupp era) where Oregon has boys that are a factor at the national high school level for distance running. Oregon's overall improvement curve since the shoes came about has exceeded the national average.

Or imagine running 8:57 at a JV district meet and only finishing 7th

athletic.net

Track & Field, Cross Country Results, Statistics

Meet results and team scores.

Open link

Curious why the accomplishments of the girls don't get similar coverage on Runnerspace/Dyestat? Chloe Huyler gaps the field by 24 seconds and sets a state meet record (both notable achievements) and Emily Wisniewski wins 5A for an unprecedented fourth straight time and there is no article on Runnerspace/Dyestat talking about either? Only some video clips. This, along with the boy's 3k result were the the major events of Friday. Why is the Oregonian doing a more thorough job of covering the events at the meet than dedicated track sites?

Well, tradition, preservation of history and communicating to a knowledgeable base. National websites are scrambling to keep up with anything more than raw data and national record threats. Local over national always to get the details. Once you start clicking on local articlws, your algorithm is adjusted to bring you more. It's up to you to take the time to read about a high jumper in Kansas or a shot putter in Missouri or a longstanding Shuttle Hurdle Relay record recently broken.....if you are interested. Otherwise, stick to the national performance lists and wait to see who shows up for Nike/NB national meets for head to head.

I agree with you. Those two girls have been "next level" for while now, so there should be more hype around them. Crazy how good they are.

The only reason I can think of why they don't get more press is because there is even another level better than them in the form of Jane Hendengren. As long as there is an "even better" runner to focus on, the national media (and this website) tends to lock in on that.

Most casual fans have headspace for one or two elite kids (nationally) to bet on as the "next best runner," so unless you are one of the top 2-3 in America, you might go under the radar.

runnersworld.com

Jane Hedengren Becomes the First U.S. High School Girl to Run a Sub-15 5K

The 18-year-old phenom said she woke up on Thursday with a sore throat. It didn’t seem to slow her down.

Open link

Yes, the shoes help a ton. Even I, old as I am, benefit from the shoes. The tech is real. The carbon plates do "bounce" inside the new foams. Supershoes are not a gimmick.

But it is more than that. These kids are hitting the times a college sophomore used to hit (an elite college sophomore!) because their whole training schedule is much more accelerated and advanced.

The kids at this level have often been running "club track" with real coaches and real training schedules (and elite competition) since they were 10 years old. That is new. 95% of my cohort in the 1990s started running in 9th grade. That was just way, way too late.

On a podcast, Tayvon commented that he and Josiah first met in grade school when their school district put on a "mini marathon 5k" for 4th through 6th graders. Josiah won it in 18:31 as a fifth grader.

Edit: My kid is walking out the door right now for a post-season, Saturday morning practice (two things I never had) and said, "Dad, we're doing 200, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 300, 200, 600." I asked about the weird 600 at the end and the reply was "It has something to do with lactic threshold but I don't really understand it. Coach can explain it..." So I think the coaching is a lot more scientific and generally more nuanced than just 3xMile or 12x400 (which is what we usually did).

Just pointing out for the nth time that the road shoes and track shoes are completely different, and only the road shoes have been empirically proven to improve economy. And I KNOW that most people don't know what they're talking about, because carbon fiber always gets brought up when the Nike ZoomX Dragonfly spikes do not have a molecule of carbon fiber in the entire shoe.

I know what you mean. The spikes are only marginally better. But the workouts my kid does all week are done in Alphaflys or Vaporflys. The daily training is faster and the volume is higher than in previous generations because of the supershoes.

The fact that my HS kid is doing the volume and quality of track work that I did in college workouts is impressive to me... part of that is the much better coaching but part is also not being trashed after every interval session (like I was).

If they have reporters are at the meet then report the meet as other outlets do. Yesterday's main stories were the 3k performances for BOTH the boys and girls. A state meet record was set in the boy's race and also in the girl's race. You also had a four time champion for the girls, which has never happened before. These were noteworthy performance that could have been noted in a short article, as was done in the boy's race. We are not living in the 1950's anyone and coverage should be balanced and equally supportive of girls' performances. As far as there being better runners, there will always be better runners. Fans of the sport know that there are many more than 2 elite runners at a national level, and any of them could be the stars at the NCAA level. Both of the mentioned female athletes at the state meet are national names with frequent participation at the top events. If you were at the meet the highlights of yesterday were the 3k for the boys and the 3k for the girls, so why not report both?

HOLY SH!T I refuse to believe that's real. I don't care what my eyes tell me

Huyler totally owned the girls 1500 too. Shows a lot of confidence to go out and front run it even with the also talented defending champion in the field.

Great race by Huyler. Meet records in both the 1500 and 3k. Hard to run from the front but the Crater boys do as well.

Nice, lets see if he progresses as well in four years of college.

Agree with you.

Running the 1600 and 3200 is just flat out lazy.

I know Vt. runs the 1500 and 3000, Mass. still runs the mile and 2 mile. Not sure if anyone else does.