To those who think the gift of genes is an indication of talent and superior success:
Let's look at the three Hunter boys whose genes come from the talented running specimens of Marc and Joan Hunter. The boys are very different, despite coming from the same gene pool.
The oldest one ran before Loudoun Valley had an indoor season, so we only have his XC and outdoor track times to look at. Still, it is clear that he was not an elite runner. Then came a phenom named Drew, whose indoor times were outside of the VA state competition sphere, due to his talent. And currently Marc and Joan have a son who is tearing up the track, having just won two VA individual state indoor championships (1600 and 3200), and he also ran in the victorious 4 x 800 relay team. Though he is another talented Hunter as a runner, he's not of Drew's caliber.
A relative comparison between each boy's best , but only through Feb 28 of his senior year at LVHS, from the oldest boy to Drew to the youngest. These are from MileSplit:
5000m XC: 17:03.40>>>14:20.80>>>15:14.40
800m: 2:15.89 (Outdoor)>>>1:52.98 (Outdoor)>>>1:56.10 (Outdoor)
1000m: --none-->>>2:28.95 (Indoor)>>>2:32.48 (Indoor)
1600m: 4:59.60 (Outdoor)>>>4:03.88 (Outdoor)>>>4:17.15 (Outdoor)
Mile: --none-->>>3:57.81 (Indoor)>>>4:16.67 (Indoor)
3200m: 10:57.55 (Outdoor)>>>8:59.67 (Indoor)>>>9:07.24 (Outdoor)
2 Mile: --none-->>>8:42.51 (Indoor)>>>9:14.55 (Indoor)
Same coaches...same gene pool...very different results. Just because a kid has great genes doesn't guarantee great success. In fact, on the current LVHS team, there are two brothers who are very different in their levels of success. One is a national caliber athlete, like his older brother who is running at the Div I level in college. The other is just not as talented as his two older brothers.
Genes alone don't guarantee anything. Maybe, just maybe good coaching is a factor in helping any individual reach or exceed potential. The dynamic duo of Marc and Joan Hunter fit the bill. Not everyone they train will be a champ, or will be willing to work hard enough at it to be of championship caliber. Joan gave some good examples of various types of athletes they have coached. Probably not a single kid would have been at the level reached if not for his or her coaches.