Fastest 8th Grader in the nation?

Guess we are reviving this thread again.

Fastest MSer this year is probably Quenton Lanese—ran a 9:52 track 2-mile (3218 meters) this last year as a 6th grader. He’ll be a 7th grader this fall.

From a distance perspective, the other contenders would be:

Tyson Manley (FL 8th grade): 9:22 track 3k this spring

Karanveer Patil (IL 8th grade): 9:25 track 3k this spring

Sawyer Hutton (NV 8th grade): 9:16 track 3k this spring

Victor Jaimez Solorio Jr (CA 7th grade): 9:26 3k this spring

There will inevitably be some fast kids who start training seriously for the first time or who get a big puberty bump at these ages but I think those are the best bets based on past performances. Too bad no real true national middle school XC meet. These kids will likely face off at Brooks and Nike in the Spring.

Seventh and eighth graders do not need a National Championship.

But they turn 14 and magically we are all on board? I didn’t say we “need” one. But people would enjoy it. But I forgot, LRC is all about playing 15 sports until high school, don’t put on spikes till HS, and don’t run more the 40mpw even IN high school so you “save” improvement for college. 🙄

Additionally, Ritz’s son is going into 8th grade and was 20th at XC junior Olympics last year in 10:06 for the 3k. Given the genes and how well his sister has been doing he’s one to watch for.

Already exists... it's called USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country... absolute deep fields and huge talents that go onto greatness.

Yeah it's nuts... just look at the all-time 5000m lists at least on the girl's side -

Sisson, Chmiel, Touhy, Kelati, Sheas, Schiro, Appleton, Hasay, Efraimson, Ostrander, etc.

Boys you get Lindgren, Ritzenhein, Prefontaine, Derrick, Virgin, Centrowitz, Cheserek, Salazar, Wolfe, McDougal, McChesney, Teare, Mercado... list goes on..

It's why Letsrun says, talent never goes away. You run fast young, you're going to be great.

Wow. Getting a bit feisty there bucko. No need to get so personal. And I HAVE researched the topic. I’ve also tracked the development of East Africans, Jakob, Wightman, etc. Let’s take a look at the Worlds podium and how many of them started running seriously before HS equivalent age. Heck, this thread exists because people wanna know about this population. If you get so easily triggered by people discussing fast middle schoolers then this probably isn’t the thread for you.

Erik Semling (MN) - 10:05 in the 3200 as a 7th grader.
Ran a 17:22 5k last Xc season.
Runs for Winona Cotter.
Oh, that’s right! That’s the school the Pings ran for when they lived in MN!
The current #1 girl on the team is Erik’s sister Sonja.

Fastest eight-year old 300m Hurdler? Someone sent me the results of a 300m Hurdles (27") race by an eight-year old (not eighth grader - eight-year old!) in 1:11.26. With good form leaping over the hurdles! Check out Carson Bowers in about 12 years.

athletic.net

Track & Field, Cross Country Results, Statistics

Meet results and team scores.

Link:www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/51...

He regularly runs 55+ mile weeks. Not typical of an incoming 8th grader.

Here we go again. Why is that? What's wrong with a national ms meet? They do it for hockey, and many other sports? Usatf has a national meet that goes down to 8u?

I've got a graduating 8th grader on team that is 8:50 in 3k, multiple rising 8th graders sub 16 in 5k. There is definitely something in the water.

it also includes 13-14s, so, they already have a national championship they can go to. Many kids that are *in* middle school don't run *for* their school. They run club or unattached.

Here is a real-life case study ...

I ran a 4:39 1600 in 8th grade at almost age 15 (June Bday). A school record that stood for 20+ years. This was my 1st season of competitive running off of a football/wrestling background so I was not at all over-trained. Our coaches had no idea what they were doing and of course, neither did I.

Much better coaching in HS but never ran more than 50 mpw; more like 30-40 in 10th and 11th grade. Ran 4:18 my soph year in relay; 4:17 junior year; 4:16 senior year at state meet at age 19 (almost). A bit of a bust, especially for my age and early promise.

Ran at a decent D1 college in a very mediocre conference. 3:50/4:07 (DMR 1600), 1:55, 14:32. Was 5-7th man in CC. Never faster than 25:00 for 8k.

That's my story FWIW.

Could it be the new shoe technology?
(which also has lead more people to go sub-4 according to some people)

Seems obvious yes, but I have to say i have kids doing it in torn up sneakers too. So i dont know.

It could also be that so many more people hold their kids back a year, so a lot of those 8th graders could technically be in 9th grade. We have a fast freshman this year who is older than all of our 10th graders. It's probably better to compare times of age groups rather than grades.

physical maturity in a male as well. Some 9th graders in high school still sound like chipmunks and there are 7th and 8th graders with a full grown beard.. Kids mature physically at different ages regardless of their grade or age.