Cruz Culpepper - son of Alan and Shayne - just ran 4:11 as a soph

Was at the Texas Relays and saw the run. Nice kick and just lost to a runner from old High School, advised by a friend of mine. I wondered on my plane trip back to Colorado if he was son of Adam. Impressive race - lots of talent in the field.

Drew Hunter ran 4:10.94 as a sophomore in the mile, but isn't listed here.

When I see Louis Quintana's name I always think back to the outdoor NCAA 1500 in the early 90s where he showed major guts and pushed to a huge lead but faded on the bell lap. My HS distance crew were big fans of him after that. Of course, we were in the DE Valley so we were biased because he went to Nova.

I can't recall who won the race I'm thinking of but Niall Bruton and Paul McMullen were in it.

I saw a video of them interviewing him after the race on TX Mile Split.

Truthchecker wrote:

Factchecker. wrote:

So 4:13+ for a mile.

Which puts on the short list--the post above yours--of the fastest sophomore mile/1600 guys all-time in the US.

And he would be rounding the final bend with the home stretch in sight as Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishes!

Not shabby for an American though.

I get what you are saying. It sounded like you were advocating that hs kids should only do 10 to 15 mpw, which would be just silly. Maybe a very untalented freshman should keep to 15mpw as they are adjusting to training for the first season. But 30 mpw for a talented sophomore seems hard to believe anybody would say is too much, it is only about 35 minutes per day, leaves plenty if time for other hs kid stuff.

I agree it is hard to compare talent in hs, since some kids were in bad programs. Also, some kids just mature earlier. Others respond really fast to training initially, but then plateau very quickly.

I think it is very relevant to be watching a kid who runs 4:11 at 15 years old off of 30mpw and only a few seasons of running interspersed with other sports. We can probably all agree there is potential there, which may or may not develop into something extraordinary. He may not even want to pursue running.

Not impressed . Tell me when he greater than the greatest of all-time, Dean Carnazazazes!

messertrack wrote:

Alan's PR through his Junior year (he ran a 3:51 for 1500 as a Senior) was 4:12 so not too shabby

Evidently he gets his talent from his mother.

I agree that this list is really out of date. Culpepper is probably around 25th all-time. It doesn’t include the whole explosion of modern day milers that we have seen. Some names missing are Hunter, Tamagno, Fisher, Maton, Hengst, and Krahn.

@what's in a name wrote:

What’s in a name? wrote:

Great run, of course but ‘Cruz’? Cringe.

Why does that make you cringe?

You’re right. Cruz isn’t a remotely pretentious name

Marco Koers I believe. Then I think it was that same year at USATF in Eugene he made a huge move down the backstretch with the same guts, going for the win, but faded.

JO Coach wrote:

When I see Louis Quintana's name I always think back to the outdoor NCAA 1500 in the early 90s where he showed major guts and pushed to a huge lead but faded on the bell lap. My HS distance crew were big fans of him after that. Of course, we were in the DE Valley so we were biased because he went to Nova.

I can't recall who won the race I'm thinking of but Niall Bruton and Paul McMullen were in it.

JO Coach wrote:

When I see Louis Quintana's name I always think back to the outdoor NCAA 1500 in the early 90s where he showed major guts and pushed to a huge lead but faded on the bell lap. My HS distance crew were big fans of him after that. Of course, we were in the DE Valley so we were biased because he went to Nova.

I can't recall who won the race I'm thinking of but Niall Bruton and Paul McMullen were in it.

Everyone on this board knows what DE Valley stands for and where it is located.

InsideKnowledge wrote:

Drew Hunter ran 4:10.94 as a sophomore in the mile, but isn't listed here.

That is because that list was from 2009. That was noted in an earlier post.

lmao.....rojo thinks that this will be top soph time in the country? just wait til I step out there for the mile

Viking power wrote:

Truthchecker wrote:

Which puts on the short list--the post above yours--of the fastest sophomore mile/1600 guys all-time in the US.

And he would be rounding the final bend with the home stretch in sight as Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishes!

Not shabby for an American though.

Well, Rupp's 10k AR would have put him entering the final turn, some 200m back when Bekele set the WR.

Viking power wrote:

Truthchecker wrote:

Which puts on the short list--the post above yours--of the fastest sophomore mile/1600 guys all-time in the US.

And he would be rounding the final bend with the home stretch in sight as Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishes!

Not shabby for an American though.

Success at a young age has a lot to do with training volume, I doubt Cruz is training like Jakob.

Earlyish Adopter wrote:

messertrack wrote:

Alan's PR through his Junior year (he ran a 3:51 for 1500 as a Senior) was 4:12 so not too shabby

Evidently he gets his talent from his mother.

His father has a 2:09:41 marathon PR. And 3:55.1 for the mile.

rojo wrote:

Run007xx wrote:

I wouldn't get too excited. Just like Jakob, he's being trained like a pro at only 16 years old. So it just means that he's realising his peak potential earlier - and that there won't be a big step-up when he gets to college or pro. Doesn't mean he's going to be the next Bekele.

Ok, while others have pointed out that isn't the case (and that makes sense as all of the prominent runners I know who have talented kids whether it was Centrowitz, ratcliffe, schumacher didn't touch their kids training in HS), let's assume it was true.

Isn't that what people said about Rupp? Since Salazar was coaching him, he would't improve?

One of the upsides to Salazar coaching Rupp from an early age is that Salazar could map out a 10-20 year "plan" without concerns about short-term (HS meet) payoffs. In some ways this is a great model.

Run007xx wrote:

reality is wrote:

Yup.

People here are so dumb. We're not criticising the kid!! Or his coaching!! We're simply saying let's not wet ourselves cause a sophomore with elite parents ran a 4:11 mile. If he's trained like a pro in HS, by former Pro-Parents, he might not have a big step-up when he goes to college. Whereas kids who are coached in HS by coaches who don't know what they're doing (or - like my coach - prioritise academics over athletics), often show much bigger improvements once they get proper coaching.

Actually being coached by his parents might not be the worst thing in the world. They FULLY understand the demands and long-term issues. If they are okay with his training (and apparently playing tennis--yeah!) and the coaching he is getting then they are in a far better position than any of us as they 1) know their kid, 2)know the coach, and 3 know the demands of training and the sport.

I agree that we should temper our excitement and also not add pressure to the kid because he has famous (in the track world) parents.

I remember when Taylor Phinney the cyclist came along. His mom and dad were similar to the Culpeppers in that they had also been high level athletes in cycling. They brought him along very slowly and he did not devote himself to cycling until around 16 (really loved soccer) and then had a meteoric rise--with some hiccups after that rise.