You can point to Nico Young's dominance at NXN compared to Spencer, which is fair, but many forget that Leo Daschbach, who would've likely been Nico's best competition at NXN, got injured and didn't race.
Daschbach would've been crushed like everyone else. I truly believe that Nico Young that day would've beaten every high school cross country athlete ever. Ritz, Spencer, Lindgren, Fernandez, whoever.
Let me introduce you to maybe the best unknown High School talent. He is still the only California High School runner to win the 3200/1600 ( put that way because 3200 used to be run before the 1600) in two consecutive years 1984 and 1985. The second time he did it he defeated Jesuit's Mastalier twins.
What he did on very little to almost no running is remarkable. His career was cut short while at USC because of an auto collision.
This past weekend, Blake Haney attempted to become the 2nd male in CA state meet history to win the 1600/3200 two years in a row. His valient attempt came close with a 3rd place finish in the 3200. Here is my interview with t...
You can point to Nico Young's dominance at NXN compared to Spencer, which is fair, but many forget that Leo Daschbach, who would've likely been Nico's best competition at NXN, got injured and didn't race.
Daschbach wasn't even the second best XC runner in the country that season. Josh Methner tore up the Illinois record books all year, including taking down Craig Virgin's course record at Detweiller Park. That record had stood for 40 years until then and withstood attempts from other all-timers like Lukas Verzbicas and Chris Derrick. Hell, Dylan Jacobs won footlocker as a senior and didn't come within 20 seconds of Virgin's record. Methner had a special senior year in 2019, and at NXN Nico buried him with the rest of the field. Strangio, Sprout, Liam Murphy, Nathan Green, it didn't matter. He laid waste to everyone. It'll be a while until we see something like that again.
I don’t know how the NXN course is, but I find it interesting how he was able to break German’s 14:24 CR, said he was shooting for sub 14:00 at NXN, yet didn’t even break 15:00.
I don’t know how the NXN course is, but I find it interesting how he was able to break German’s 14:24 CR, said he was shooting for sub 14:00 at NXN, yet didn’t even break 15:00.
He said he wanted to run sub 14 at NXR, but it was wet and muddy so he just ran to win dat. NXN was just about da win. Brooks all out?
I'm going to throw something out there and I've already told others this. I do believe Jackson Spencer will give Alan Webb's a scare if he does not beat it. This kid is FAST! He is so much better than last fall showing improvement and his times are on par with Webb's on the track their junior years. I also believe he would have went sub 4 last June, but opted for relays. Jackson also has a coach whom will put him in great position to do so. And no....my real name is not Doug Soles. Just an observer.
I'm going to throw something out there and I've already told others this. I do believe Jackson Spencer will give Alan Webb's a scare if he does not beat it. This kid is FAST! He is so much better than last fall showing improvement and his times are on par with Webb's on the track their junior years. I also believe he would have went sub 4 last June, but opted for relays. Jackson also has a coach whom will put him in great position to do so. And no....my real name is not Doug Soles. Just an observer.
I doubt it. I don't think he has the 800m speed to run 3:52. I still think Nauman is the only one out there right now with a realistic shot at it.
I'm going to throw something out there and I've already told others this. I do believe Jackson Spencer will give Alan Webb's a scare if he does not beat it. This kid is FAST! He is so much better than last fall showing improvement and his times are on par with Webb's on the track their junior years. I also believe he would have went sub 4 last June, but opted for relays. Jackson also has a coach whom will put him in great position to do so. And no....my real name is not Doug Soles. Just an observer.
I doubt it. I don't think he has the 800m speed to run 3:52. I still think Nauman is the only one out there right now with a realistic shot at it.
If he does U20 worlds and breaks up the Kenya Ethiopia Uganda pack in the top 15, that'd bump him up massively.
But it all depends on how he acclimates to his first competitive 8K. Plenty of stud HS 5K guys take a few races to get up to speed especially with such a crazy field.
If he does U20 worlds and breaks up the Kenya Ethiopia Uganda pack in the top 15, that'd bump him up massively.
But it all depends on how he acclimates to his first competitive 8K. Plenty of stud HS 5K guys take a few races to get up to speed especially with such a crazy field.
If this guy runs and Spencer beats him, I'm all in.
Top 10 High School XC runners since 2000 (in no particular order)
Jackson Spencer, Nico Young, Dathan Ritzenhein, Colin Sahlman, Grant Fisher, Drew Hunter, Chris Solinsky, German Fernandez, Daniel Simmons, Prince Chesereck
Top 10 High School XC runners since 2000 (in no particular order)
Jackson Spencer, Nico Young, Dathan Ritzenhein, Colin Sahlman, Grant Fisher, Drew Hunter, Chris Solinsky, German Fernandez, Daniel Simmons, Prince Chesereck
Yea I see him running like 13:35 in the 5k or something. Will be surprised if he can break 8:30 or even goes faster than 3:58. I think Nauman and some of these other speedier kids are going to have his number in the mile. I think we are starting to see a clear distinction now between the mile runners vs. 5k strength runners in hs. Look at the strong mile runners the last couple of years like Powell, Tostenson, and Birnbaum the last couple of years, they've had zero top 5 finishes at NXN combined. You can't have the best of both worlds in hs unless you're polished like the Young twins or Sahlman brothers.
A 13:25 5k Daniel Simmons couldn't hold off the other hs'ers in a mile race, how the heck is any other strength based runner supposed to do that. A runner is basically going to have to be a sub 13:20 5k runner, if they want to win basically everything NXN + Arcadia + Nationals + Hoka Mile + National Records.
Top 10 High School XC runners since 2000 (in no particular order)
Jackson Spencer, Nico Young, Dathan Ritzenhein, Colin Sahlman, Grant Fisher, Drew Hunter, Chris Solinsky, German Fernandez, Daniel Simmons, Prince Chesereck
Top 10 High School XC runners since 2000 (in no particular order)
Jackson Spencer, Nico Young, Dathan Ritzenhein, Colin Sahlman, Grant Fisher, Drew Hunter, Chris Solinsky, German Fernandez, Daniel Simmons, Prince Chesereck
Top 10 High School XC runners since 2000 (in no particular order)
Jackson Spencer, Nico Young, Dathan Ritzenhein, Colin Sahlman, Grant Fisher, Drew Hunter, Chris Solinsky, German Fernandez, Daniel Simmons, Prince Chesereck
