We are at the peak of US High School Distance Running

…not so sure. All top College guys had super spikes in 2023. Not all HS had super spikes in 2023 (now they do), which is why you see the improvement this year over last year.

if you look at NCAA indoor 5000m times, you will see that:

50th in 2023 was 13:42

50th in 2024 was 13:46

…of course, 50th was 14:01 in 2018.

The big jump occurred earlier in College.

Remember the Oregon (Nike) guys in indoor in 2021?

They were heads and shoulders above the rest for some reason (lol)

What is the opportunity cost? Peter Coe & David Martin were guarded regarding specifics of S Coe's training until S Coe retired from elite level racing. In 1989, Peter Coe & David Martin began putting together books. Peter Coe went on tour advocating their training. Mileage was reduced, cross-training added included weight training with heavy weights. U.S. high schools training the gals & guys in Peter Coe & David Martin approved manner lead to medals and numerous sub-1:44 800m performances in U.S., 00s & 10s. Some posters on here twenty or so years ago called the era of Peter Coe-type training dark days for U.S. running. The number of sub-9 guys, 3200m did go down under Peter Coe-type training. We have traded fast 800m performances for fast 3200m high school performances with fast U.S. elite male 5000m performances. If U.S. males don't soon begin earning Olympic &/or W.C. medals, it will all be a waste. Now, no 800m medals. When are we going to see someone who attended a U.S. high school earn a 5000m medal?

There were 69 sub 9s at Arcadia in 2024....

Lots of sub-9s

Lots of nonsenior sub-9s at RunningLane in particular

And 17 sub-9s at the California state meet

YO ARMSTRONG, COEVETT hows it going. Guys why did you post anonymously we all know what you think. Is it the fact that you know you always get ignored if you post with your real names?

Seems like we are today. Like let that sink in… 3 high schoolers going sub 4 on the same day

Not yet.

When Alan Webb's 3:53.43/mile hs record is broken, then the "peak" will have been reached.

However, when someone breaks Lukas Verzbicas' 8:29.46/2-mile hs record, then US boy's hs running will have reached an all-time high.

Is class of 2025 the best on the girls side so far?

While shoes have played a role in faster times, I think there are two other factors that have had a big impact on the growth in the number of fast times

1. Kids are running and more importantly training much at a younger age than before. I ran my first 10k in 1987 at age 9 at the tail end of the running boom and it was rare to see more than a couple of kids younger than junior high age at races. Today I see kids as young as six running 5K’s and there are dozens or 9-11 year olds running races with clubs. By the time kids get to junior high many have been formally training for several years already.

2. Training quality , I remember reading about Alan Webb’s training in sports illustrated in 2000 or 2001 and was pretty floored because it was so much more intense than anything we did in HS just a few years earlier. Coaches took notice and that was just the beginnIng. The knowledge and understanding of training and nutrition among top HS coaches is vastly superior today than it was 25 years ago. Separately, and this is becoming true in most sports, top HS athletes now train nearly year round for their primary sport. There are so many more summer training camps, whereas it used to be common for students to play other sports in addition to running it is kore likely thst they top ones now go all in on track / CC.

In short, today HS runners are training much more like college athletes at top programs than they did in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

Rodriguez from Hamilton sub-9 in the open race

American Fork 4x1600 was only 11 seconds off of the 2017 time

Socarras 1:47.66

So many sub-4s this season

Maybe that reason was talent. One of them today is a 3:27.65 Olympic record holder; the other has run 7:30/12:54.