2025 California T&F Thread

I've said this so many times but anytime I see Broen race it annoys me now. That dude is so god damn old to be a HS senior, it pisses me off. A kid born in 2005 still competing in HS is absurd.

To be fair, athletic.net also had Lucas Alberts and Matthew Ogilvie listed as 16 year old freshman last season. So… take those ages as a grain of salt

milesplit.com

Kwanna Smith 15-16yo Boys 400m Runner Up | AAU Junior Olympic Games

AAU Junior Olympic Games

Link:www.milesplit.com/videos/721431/kwanna...

Right, but in this video he competed in the 15-16 age category and this was in early August of 2024. So he was 15 turning 16 before he even begun his freshman year.

He also just looks old

This is why we need a public and private school separate set of state meets. The private schools break cif regulations and cheat while the archdioses often sweeps under the rug. They have no school boundaries.

Public schools you get what you get within your boundaries.

Systematically unfair system. Jesuit recruits.

Tell me you don’t know Walt without telling me. The guy is solely focused on coaching his athletes that are enrolled. He does not need to recruit when he can turn a 18:00 5k runner to a 15:05 in a span of a year (Kyle Jakary).

Agreed. Hate to say it but it's true. Private schools cheat the system and recruit kids whether yall like it or not. It's a problem with every private school in CA and perhaps the nation.

They need to be in their own separate category

Yes, you have said it so many times that now it is you who is annoying everyone else.

I’m dead😭. At least in their distance program, Jesuit doesn’t recruit. A lot of people in the area knows about how legit Jesuit’s program is- they don’t need to recruit (Kyle Jakary and Declan Higgins are great example examples). They get transfers, but those transfers are a result of people from other schools in the area wanting to run in the best program in the area. Jesuit didn’t recruit Brandon Moreno, Spencer Pickren, or Ajani Salcido- they choose to transfer. Sure I can see where you’re coming from though, private schools tend to get a lot of resources which is why their sport programs are top notch. But to slander the Jesuit distance program is beyond wild.

Then there is also the case where athletic also said Isaac Abbott and Kyle Jakary were both 17 year old sophomores last year. I’m pretty sure they just have late birthdays. If anything Matt Strangio should’ve been a grade higher considering he was class of 20 but is born on July 2001. All in all, this age topic is irrelevant- moving on.

You guys are debating two completely different topics. Walt has nothing to do with Kawani Smith and doesn't coach him.

A lot of the birthday shenanigans will be worked out over the next few years. Many kids were "held back" during Covid and thus have an extra year on their classmates. Of course there are those parents who red shirt their kindergartners, but they're the exception.

And no, Walt doesn't recruit. If someone's making the accusation, present some sort of evidence.

I see your point, but I highly doubt the ages athletic.net has posted are reliable. By that logic, everyone on the Jesuit squad (besides Hoferer) should be a grade above- which wouldn’t make any sense. The more reasonable assumption is that the ages posted during xc are the ages they will be during the xc season up until Dec 31 and the ages during track are the ages they will be during the new year up until Dec 31 of that year. Which means, it’s probably the case that most of these athletes that seem to be older than they should (minus the exception of Broen) are chopped up to just fall and winter birthdays.

The ages are always wrong on athletic.net

Also, anyone thinks that Jesuit recruits is just jealous of the program

Exactly. Athletic's ages are notoriously bad. Half the time the grade level is listed as the age. WTF.
Broen repeated 8th grade, as it was during Covid and he used the excuse that the closed schools gave him reason to repeat 8th grade. He apparently also wanted to maximize his HS athletic chances. He turned 19 in November of last year.
Alberts will be 17 in October, so he'll go into his senior year already 18, but will not be 19 during his HS career.

by the same token, who would you rather coach? the freshman high schooler running 4:45 for the 1600 who is still 14 at the start of their sophomore year, or the 16 year old sophomore running 4:30 at the start of their sophomore year?

First one since they’re still developing, which means their potential to improve is already higher than a 16 year old sophomore who runs 4:30 during the beginning of their track season. That’s kind of the point I’ve been hammering in this forum, older is a disadvantage due to older people are already being further along in development than younger (which explains why a lot of people a lot younger than Broen are improving sporadically while he is plateauing). That is why you notice there is always a rising stars heat for frosh/soph boys- it’s because they’re at their peak of development compared to girls who start puberty before middle school (this was actually said in an Instagram comment by Jason Parra out of all people).

Not really. Stuff like this should be talked about and not tolerated. Don't bully people for expressing their opinions if they are not hurting/insulting anyone.

Really? What post was this on? Where can I find this comment?

if i see u mention this again im gonna crash out bro there are literally pages and pages of this thread devoted to this single topic