Good time for a 7th grade boy in the 1600?

Is this what Jerry Sandusky wrote on the bathroom walls?

I trained with the sprinters for 2 weeks and would then do a hard mile at the end. on weekends, i would run 1 to 1.5 miles each day. i ran a 6:11 at the city wide track meet.

high school PR's: 4:44, 10:27, 17:06

college PR's: 4:00 1500; 4:16 Mile; 8:48 3k; 9:23 steeple; 15:06 5k; 25:41 8k.

Post-college Pr's: 3:56 1500; 4:11 Mile; 14:51 5k; 25:22 8k.

I have a friend who I used to coach with, and she ran 6:09 for a mile as a 7th grader--yes faster than me. she ran low 17's for indoor 5k as a senior in college. She was 1 spot away from an individual NCAA Championship qualification in D-2 XC.

I ran 605 in 7th grade then quit to do tennis in 8th. I ended up running sub 4:10.

depends. for example, i ran around 6 mins in 7th grade, got very serious in 8th grade, ran 5:08. only ran 435 in HS, but broke 4 for 1500 in college.

one of my college teammates: 4:48 in 8th grade, 420-425ish in HS, only 405 or so for 1500 in college.

i think its probably too early to project what could be while in jr. high. just work hard and have fun!

A good time for a 7th grade boy is to not do the 1600.

In 7th grade I ran the 1500 in 4:19 with relatively no training

7th grade: 5:18

8th grade: 4:56

Senior year of HS: 4:15 1600

I only wished I would've listened to my coaches and not made the excuse, even though it was true of, not being able to afford it. The pain of poverty.

Anything under 6 min is great. I ran about 530ish in 8th grade 4:52 Freshman Year/ 17:15 cross country with a great coach. Skipped my sophomore year came back to track during season no training just surfing and ran 9:38 3,200m toward end of season. My senior year I won 3 individual state titles. 4:15 1600 9:24 3200 14:55 cross country. So basically you have the big factor of mental and physical maturity, proper coaching, and desire. Let kids develop them selfs their are plenty of very fast people. Just when you think your fast think again. But yes I did run college decent times nothing big 14:25 5k

my son went 4:56 as a 7th grader and 4:47 as an 8th grader, probably ran 25 miles a week in junior high. Hes currently a frosh running 45 mpw and is at 4:27 for the 1600.

4:40

5:22

5:01

4:36

4:30

4:21

4:17

4:13

4:08

4:02

4:04

Got a job

There are lots of ways to see this. The mature kid who has run for 3 or 4 or 5 years by the 7th grade and is doing 20 mpw might need to run sub 5 or even 4:50 to be good/have one of the 3 or 4 talents necessary to be a division 1 runner. The immature kid who barely runs and pops a 5:30 in gym in 7th grade is also good/has one of the 3 or 4 talents necessary to be a division 1 runner.

Since predicting the presence/absence of the other two or three talents is harder than converting a time based on guessed maturity, you have to let the kids decide for themselves if they care.

Guys I need some tips I am in 7th grade and my fastest mile is 6:08

USATFGOTO!! wrote:

Come on I have coached two girls that have run 4:47 for 1600, as early as 7th/8th grade. Go to USATF Junior Olympics and scan the years just after Bantam. Some of the boys I coached in the Midget age range, much faster...just ran at Arcadia. However, many are correct, several killer kids at that early age we thought were gonna be monsters in a few years...just fizzeled out. Strange. Alot has to do I think with their real personal passion for distance. The coaches in for the long haul. When he gets knocked down one year...he just has to get up and keep going at it.

A guy who knows what he is talking about, finally. Why would you ask this question on this site and NOT GO CHECK USATF!

runjesse wrote:

As a junior high track coach I was wondering what people would consider a good time for a 7th grade boy in the 1600? Also, if you ran some quick times as a 7th/8th grade boy in the 1600 what did you go on to run in high school and college if you ran there? I have a kid on my team who has ran fairly decent in his first two meets and was just wondering how he might stack up against what people think or have ran.

like previous posters have said, 7th grade mile times aren't a good indicator for future success. For example I knew a guy who ran 6:07 in seventh grade and never broke 5:30, whereas I ran 6:45 in seventh grade and went 4:35 as a senior.

But that wasn't even the question you were asking, so to answer your question, here is my list. These are all assuming that the kid doesn't train seriously and is running at most 20 miles a week(not many kids do that, I didn't run outside of PE class in seventh grade). Kids who run 20+ miles a week at that age are being pushed too hard in my opinion, and they are performing at a level that is not natural for a 12-13 year old.

7:00- The kid is at least somewhat physically competent. Probably not fat.

6:30-The kid has a bit of talent and could develop into a good runner if coached correctly.

6:15- This is pretty good for a 7th grader. It shows that they have some talent, and also a willingness to push themselves to a point where they are starting to hurt.

6:00- These are the kids that could end up being really good. If you have a 7th grader who is going 6:00 or faster for the mile then you have something special.

Of course if you were asking about what an in competition time qualifies as "good" for a seventh grade boy, then the answer is 5:15. There is nothing special about getting a 13 year old to run 5:15 for the mile, it's only impressive if the end up being able to go 4:20 or faster later in their high school career. I know countless kids who were pushed to their max in middle school, ran like 5:10, 5:15 and now as sophomores, juniors and seniors, they have trouble breaking 4:50.

denadinasour wrote:

But a side note. I cant name one athlete that was a stud in middleschool at the junior olympics meets, and continuned to develope to having success at the college level.

Umm...ever heard of Jordan Hassay?

interesting to see Josh Kerr on that list. Other than haven't heard of many of the others except the one that is a triathlete. Running extremely fast young really one means that. They are fast when young! Coach a kid who as 13 year old just ran 4:37 who runs 2x per week. Now that is something to get excited about. Great thing about my program is that I see them as young as 11 and get to work with them till their 18!

I ran a 6:20 in the gym mile in 7th grade (played soccer) now a sophomore in HS I run mid 4:40s, so I was fairly decent then (for never having trained) and am fairly decent now (at least as a sophomore in my state).