Simeon MF Birnbaum Runs Sub 4! 5th HS runner this year. Most shocking one ever (4:07 pb)?

The flat-earthers will find a way to deny this. What are go to reasoning? Ohhh...right, all that extra training during the pandemic.

Uh, no. I simply used to live in South Dakota before recently moving to Tennessee.

You do not believe MOST GUYS (I did not state all) in Olympic &/or W.C. 1500m semi-finals are in 47.00 to 48.99 F.A.T. 400m range? If anyone were faster than than 47-flat 400m in Olympic &/or W.C.1500m semi-finals, we would hear about it non-stop as soon as the athletes show up at Olympic village. As soon as we turned on the tv, 1980 & 1984 Olympics, someone was telling us S. Coe has 46.87 F.A.T. 400m speed. Way back in 1972 Olympics it is common knowledge Miruts Yifter TT a 48.xx 400m at Olympic village. Yes, rolling start. Are you trying to tell me in 2022 most elite 1500m guys are slower than than Miruts Yifter in 400m? I believe J.I. is slower than 48.xx., 400m. I believe S. McSweyn is slower than 48.xx. They race afraid to kick off a slower pace. Most guys in semi-finals, Olympics & W.C. do not race afraid to kick. What is your best guess? Do you believe most 1500m semi-finalists in Olympics & W.C. are 49.xx guys?

Something to know about South Dakota is that runners, especially high school don't have the same opportunities to train in the winter and early spring as those in California, the southwest, and southeast.

Some schools have indoor facilities but they are also few and far between. There are only a dozen cities and towns above 10,000 residents, and only one city over 100,000 and two over 50,000 residents.

Winters are cold and the roads and trails suck in the spring due to snowmelt and rain. Sure one can workout in the gym but getting in longer ones is much harder than areas where the temps are warmer and precipitation less.

It doesn't surprise me to see his times increase so rapidly as he started to get into a better training regimen, state meets etc.

Amazing accomplishment and I expect to see even more his senior year but I also wouldn't be surprised if he has a slow start to his outdoor season next year before peaking again in June.

Very silly thing to say. The guy was a state champ in 2 events (he won the 800 by over 4 seconds), didn't have competition to push him anywhere near sub 4 in South Dakota.

"no one really talks about" - throw some respect on his name, he's a 5x state champ in track and and state XC champ. It's not his fault you guys only pay attention to Newbury Park

Why does every post have to start with "Blank MF Blank Runs X?" Spell out the MF part or get rid of it.

Tim Danielson ran 3:59.4 in San Diego on June 11th, 1966, which made him the 18th American under 4 minutes for a mile. His previous best time was 4:06, training in California, not after going through a brutal South Dakota winter.

DF's make a big difference. Get a pair and run a workout in them. Then switch back to your old spikes. I only wish they had them 30+yrs ago

orrrrr it's because COVID allowed these guys to get solid base training in and not worry about racing a ton early in high school, which in turn led to less injuries and an aerobic base to handle more intense training

This past winter was pretty mild and Rapid City has the mildest winters in the state.

I was wondering what the shoe situation was too, having never seen a picture of this guy. So, for those that follow such things, you'll know that 99% of high school runners wear Nike. I don't mean just these much-hype spikes, but even road runners. Yes, high schoolers road racing is extremely rare, but when it happens, it is in Nike. So it's not just track races.

The Newbury guys each have several pairs of shoes - all Nike, of course - for different things (most not spiked). Kessler wore them until the adidas contract came into play. In fact, in the first video after the contractual obligation existed, there is an awkward moment where he realizes that the presence of the camera means he'd better get some adidas on. So, the point is, American high school runners wear Nike. 99% is probably little low. This not news and I'd be surprised if anyone reading this wasn't aware of such.

However, there was a non-Nike high school sub-4 (sort of) recently. Of course, they all were back in the olden days, but in the modern era - from Webb on - there has been 1 I'm aware of. Daschback. Did it in NB. Does anyone know of another? Obviously not this latest guy. And listen, I'm not holding my breath waiting for more.

I was probably a little more shocked when Hobbs ran 3:57 indoors last year out of nowhere. His PR was slower granted he didn’t really have a junior year because of Covid. With several high schoolers breaking 4 this year the shock wore off a bit

It’s true. Obviously it still snows and stuff but winters in the hills are not the same as east river.

Drew Hunter did it in Adidas. I believe they were Adidas Ambitions.

There are a number of places like that around. I used to think our area was one of the few where December to February running was either 10-20 degrees on ice or your basement treadmill. No indoor tracks or indoor season here either. Kids are always better prepped for fall XC than winter track. A surprising number of good XC runners just take the winter off and start running a few weeks before the first track practice.

When Duncan Macdonald first broke four 52 years ago, in 1970 (eighteenth American to do it), his previous PR was (I believe) 4:06.7. :)

He was the 33rd American to break 4. Check the list up above.
I was standing on the curve calling splits when a friend was running a 10000m race at UCLA. Macdonald won, walked over afterwards and thanked me for calling his splits, which was a very nice gesture on his part. I don't recall what year it was, probably 1975-77.

I recently have raced against Birnbaum in a 3k and beaten him. Birnbaum is exceptionally talented and because of that he is in some capacity being taken under the wings of the Black Hills State University team/coach. In indoor, everyone told me that he was getting trained by them and that he was really fast. Black Hills has som decent milers for D2 and honestly I’m not even remotely surprised to see him break 4, just surprised it was this year. Some of the others on this thread mentioned training in Rapid City. I’m a collegiate distance runner training and living in Rapid, and during the winter it is incredibly harsh. My institution does not yet have an indoor track, so all workouts are done staring at a cinder wall on a treadmill. Easy runs and long runs are out in the elements (no matter how extreme). On problem with this type of training is that you never really seem to know where you are fitness wise. Another reason why it seems Birnbaum came out of nowhere is that South Dakota highschool competition is not the greatest. I personally didn’t run in south dakota for highschool but seeing how low the competition level is, its hard to imagine this kid trying to solo sub 4:10’s in outdoor, seeing as the winter lasts through march and into april. I’m guessing he found out something about himself at arcadia, and when he found people around him in the Brooks PR meet, he had a realization that he had what it took to hold on to the group. The sub 4 was earned over Bergen in the last 100 when it appeared that Birnbaum just wanted it more. He got that from the blue collar grinding he did all winter.