Karissa Schweizzer Outkicks Shelby Houlihan for 8:25 AMERICAN RECORD as they and Quigley break old American record

Most of you probably dont realize how much she has improved over the past 6 years. Her senior year in HS, she finished only 3rd in her state at Drake Relays running 10:03 and getting crushed by Stephanie Jenks who ran 9:26. So she went from somebody who would get lapped by another high school girl in Iowa in an indoor 3000, to running the American record 1:38 seconds faster. This would be the same as a 23 year old guy (yes she is only the age of some college runners) running 7:30 who had only run about 10 flat for 3200 in high school.

former Iowa great wrote:

Most of you probably dont realize how much she has improved over the past 6 years. Her senior year in HS, she finished only 3rd in her state at Drake Relays running 10:03 and getting crushed by Stephanie Jenks who ran 9:26. So she went from somebody who would get lapped by another high school girl in Iowa in an indoor 3000, to running the American record 1:38 seconds faster. This would be the same as a 23 year old guy (yes she is only the age of some college runners) running 7:30 who had only run about 10 flat for 3200 in high school.

A woman going from 10:00 to ~8:30 is equivalent to a man going from 10:00 to ~7:30? Did you mean a 9:00 man? And comparing by shifting by a minute doesn’t really work anyway because the man would still be shaving off a larger percentage and thus improving more.

Noticed in race pics that Schweizer and Grace looked to be in different spikes (thicker soles) than Houlihan and Quigley. Are the thicker spikes the new-wave of carbon/foam tech?

Her flat speed has always been faster than Coburn's. Quigley is showing that she is a super talent, would be interesting to see if tried to run the 1500 at the trials. Obviously, the steeple is an easy bet for her because the top 3 are so far above the rest. She could be a legitimate threat on the flat races too if she wanted!

She ran 10:03 3000. She dropped to 8:25. That is 1:38 which would be about like a guy running a 10 flat 3200 equivalent to 9:15 3000 and dropping to 7:30 which is 1:45 improvement.

Just trying to show non-Iowans at what level she was in HS. And women improve much less than men after high school so the comparison should be even more extreme. High school girls run college and national class times but high school boys do not.

gubyenletsrun wrote:

Quigley is going to SLAY in the steeple this year. She is already perfect for it and now her flat speed is better than Coburn's.

Quigley’s flat speed has always been faster than the other Americans. She just has to stay healthy. Exciting to see what she’ll do this summer if she stays injury free.

former Iowa great wrote:

She ran 10:03 3000. She dropped to 8:25. That is 1:38 which would be about like a guy running a 10 flat 3200 equivalent to 9:15 3000 and dropping to 7:30 which is 1:45 improvement.

And who has done that?

former Iowa great wrote:

Most of you probably dont realize how much she has improved over the past 6 years. Her senior year in HS, she finished only 3rd in her state at Drake Relays running 10:03 and getting crushed by Stephanie Jenks who ran 9:26. So she went from somebody who would get lapped by another high school girl in Iowa in an indoor 3000, to running the American record 1:38 seconds faster. This would be the same as a 23 year old guy (yes she is only the age of some college runners) running 7:30 who had only run about 10 flat for 3200 in high school.

So how is that achievable, when other athletes who were better and trained just as hard haven't made anything like that improvement?

former Iowa great wrote:

She ran 10:03 3000. She dropped to 8:25. That is 1:38 which would be about like a guy running a 10 flat 3200 equivalent to 9:15 3000 and dropping to 7:30 which is 1:45 improvement.

Agree that it's a crazy improvement, but you're exaggerating a bit. Her best time in high school was 9:54, so she improved by 1:29, a 14.9% improvement. So it's probably more equivalent to a guy running 8:49 in the 3k improving to 7:30, which would also be a 14.9% improvement.

bigtool05 wrote:

former Iowa great wrote:

She ran 10:03 3000. She dropped to 8:25. That is 1:38 which would be about like a guy running a 10 flat 3200 equivalent to 9:15 3000 and dropping to 7:30 which is 1:45 improvement.

Agree that it's a crazy improvement, but you're exaggerating a bit. Her best time in high school was 9:54, so she improved by 1:29, a 14.9% improvement. So it's probably more equivalent to a guy running 8:49 in the 3k improving to 7:30, which would also be a 14.9% improvement.

So what do you make of her running 8.25 for 3k (indoors) when her previous pr was 8.41, and her current pr's for the 1500/mile are 4.06/4.27? (She beat a sub-3.55 runner in that 3k race).

I wonder what some might say if a Kenyan runner was making these sorts of huge performance spikes. Actually, I don't wonder.

Schweizer's best outdoor mark in any distance was 14:45 from Doha where she had improved both in heats and final from 15:02 or so. That's equivalent to about 8:34-35. So she improved a lot since then, but it also was a perfectly paced race and she is young enough to make considerable improvements. Still, it is a huge improvement and would imply that she could run AR in 5000m outdoors with a time around 14:30. Her improvement is in the same ballpark as Houlihan's 2017 -> 2018 (more than 25 secs. in the 5k and about 6 secs. in the 1500m) and the latter was mor than a year older (25 in 2018).

(I'd have expected Houlihan ~8:28-30, Schweizer 8:33, Quigley 8:35, so they all overperformed but Houlihan still within error of guess.

runfan2012 wrote:

Her flat speed has always been faster than Coburn's. Quigley is showing that she is a super talent, would be interesting to see if tried to run the 1500 at the trials. Obviously, the steeple is an easy bet for her because the top 3 are so far above the rest. She could be a legitimate threat on the flat races too if she wanted!

She would likely make the 1500 team, but the SC still represents the better international medal opportunity. The Ethiopians suck at the SC, so she’d only have to contend with 2 Americans, 3 Kenyans and Gesa Krause for a medal

That facility is the track equivalent of the Vaporfly - boing boing!

still here? wrote:

She would likely make the 1500 team, but the SC still represents the better international medal opportunity. The Ethiopians suck at the SC, so she’d only have to contend with 2 Americans, 3 Kenyans and Gesa Krause for a medal

The Kenyans besides Chepkoech were strangely weak in the Doha final after very strong performances in the DL; Jeruto and Chepkemei (I think) will not be there again (but maybe next year? not sure how long the change of allegiance to Kazakhstan or whereever takes). There is still Yavi (4th and only 20 yo) and Chemutai/ETH (5th) who edged out Frerichs. Krause is often weak in flat races but overperforms at championships. I am also expecting great things from Moller of Denmark (7th in Doha with 9:13 at only 22 yo).

But Quigley's main opponent may be her own body; if she gets injured again, she might not have the edge in speed. And one should also note that steeplechase championship races are rather different from lab condition indoor with 3 teammates.

So it would be like a guy who had a PR of 9:30 for 3200 in high school running 7:29 for 3000 at 23 years old to break the American record. It is funny that a 9:30 won't get you a walk-on spot on most D1 teams.

I had thought Krause’s ceiling was 9:15ish, but she recently broke out with a 9:07 and beat Coburn in the process. I agree her foot speed is lacking. I also think she’s too shy of going out with the leaders and prefers to finish strong. Even in her 9:07 she overhauled 3 or 4 runners in the final 600. Kinda like Ritz did when he set the 5k AR.

Based on what I could find, Schweizer's improvement:

2018 8:41

2017 9:06

2016 9:17

2015 9:35.64

2014 9:56.39

2013 9:54.58

2012 10:22.92

2011 10:03.59

Oh,

2020 American Record 8:25.70!!