Cole Hocker-a talent greater than Rupp?

Prefontaine reincarnation wrote:

The kid showed some great confidence as a 19 year old leading the entirety of the race after the pacers dropped off- almost beating an Olympic Gold medalist as he got nipped by .03 seconds.

Forget these overhyped guys like Nico Young, Drew Hunter, etc. I think we found our next Great American Distance Star in Hocker!

I don’t know why the hell a 19 year old kid who just ran 7:45 in a time trial wasn’t in the fast heat. I believe a sub 13:20 or at the very least, the AJR would’ve been broken if he had been in the fast heat. He’s been finishing right behind Cooper Teare shoulder in every single time trial(3 TT’s total) according to his Strava.

It’s too bad he wasn’t in the fast heat, I think he would have been sub 13:20 for sure.

Yeah it’s a damn shame. Hopefully he will get another opportunity to run another fast one like a Payton Jordan. I know he can break the AJR and get in the sub 13:20’s.

The pacers did a terrible job taking them through 2k at 5:30(13:45 pace for 5k) when the pace was supposed to be sub 13:30 pace.

Yes. I would put my money on Hocker and Teare. Young trained like a college runner in high school. He may be near his max.

You can see what he did to Young, and Sprout in the last 400 at NXN 2018 at the 15 min mark of this video. Apparently on less training.

https://nxn.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13&do=videos&video_id=256445

I doubt sub-13:20 but absolutely sub-13:30 and maybe sub-13:25, which would’ve been pretty sweet. Great effort by him.

Prefontaine reincarnation wrote:

rare wrote:

It’s too bad he wasn’t in the fast heat, I think he would have been sub 13:20 for sure.

Yeah it’s a damn shame. Hopefully he will get another opportunity to run another fast one like a Payton Jordan. I know he can break the AJR and get in the sub 13:20’s.

The pacers did a terrible job taking them through 2k at 5:30(13:45 pace for 5k) when the pace was supposed to be sub 13:30 pace.

He turns 20 next year, only has 26 days left for AJR

Hocker is scheduled to run on Friday in Columbia SC

https://assets.sp.milesplit.com/articles/290523/images/screen_shot_2020-12-09_at_11.37.30_pm.png

https://raceroster.com/events/2020/36356/five-and-dime-athletics-meeting

Hocker has really impressed me. I think he has more potential than any American runner in a long time. He’s in that Rupp/Ritz/Fernandez/Derrick tier of runners in their first years of college, and we’ll just need to see how he develops.

He is going to be great at 5k but he won't be a marathoner like Rupp. He is way thicker and not as smooth. Reminds me of Hunter. I predict similar times. Probably 13:15 senior year.

Thorvaldson is Queen wrote:

He is going to be great at 5k but he won't be a marathoner like Rupp. He is way thicker and not as smooth. Reminds me of Hunter. I predict similar times. Probably 13:15 senior year.

I agree that he seems more of a track distance guy than a marathoner. He will have an outside shot at the NCAA records in the 3000 and 5000 (7:37 and 13:08, respectively, although it seems like Rono ran 7:32 and Lawi ran 13:00 in the post-season after college, so I don't know if those count).

Today:

#6 MEN'S 5000M-A START LIST

START TIME: 5:00 PM (DAY 1)

Lane Athlete Team Seed

1 Hocker, Cole Oregon NT

2 Quattlebaum, James Unattached NT

3 Hatler, Chris Unattached NT

4 Vasbinder, Kenny Unattached NT

5 Noble, Christian Lee NT

6 O'Callaghan, Grant Unattached NT

7 Thomas, Jackson CA NT

8 Wachtel, Justin GA NT

9 Hale, Avery Unattached NT

10 Hardy, Santiago AZ NT

11 Espinoza, Joshua Unattached NT

https://www.timinginc.com/wp-content/uploads/liveresults/fiveanddime/2020/index.html

Bump

Looks like he was taken off the start list and didn't run

Justin ran 14:15

Solid time for a HS senior

Prefontaine reincarnation wrote:

The kid showed some great confidence as a 19 year old leading the entirety of the race after the pacers dropped off- almost beating an Olympic Gold medalist as he got nipped by .03 seconds.

Forget these overhyped guys like Nico Young, Drew Hunter, etc. I think we found our next Great American Distance Star in Hocker!

I don’t know why the hell a 19 year old kid who just ran 7:45 in a time trial wasn’t in the fast heat. I believe a sub 13:20 or at the very least, the AJR would’ve been broken if he had been in the fast heat. He’s been finishing right behind Cooper Teare shoulder in every single time trial(3 TT’s total) according to his Strava.

The kid is a great runner but he has a ways to go before he can be compared to Rupp. Rupp effectively ran two 13:22s without a break in between.

I wouldn’t rule out Hocker being a great 1500m guy. He did run 3:58 as a true freshman at 18 year old. He is a very good closer evident by his 56 second last quarter in the 5k. Not bad for his first track 5k ever. I do agree that he’s probably not going to be the Rupp 10k marathon specialist type. He’s probably more of a Eric Jenkins/ Ben True type.

you guys should have seen hocker at footlocker nattys dance though.... dude was super creepy and just watched all of us from the edge of the dance floor the whole time. Pretty sure he's just a running robot

Not sure if the above post is true, but the story is easy to believe.

Hocker also shares the same lack of personality as Rupp. Both are awkward on camera, and lack any charisma or sense of humor. Talent level might exceed Rupp.

Not sure about his running form, or his potential as a future marathoner. Running form can be misleading -- just look at Paula Radcliffe, or the sprinter Michael Johnson....

I will never forget a hilarious old post on here describing how Johnson looked like he had broomstick shoved straight up his ass, while somehow smoking the 1996 Olympic field in the 200m finals, and setting a new world record. Almost spit out my oatmeal when reading that one, and have never forgotten it.

Prefontaine Reincarnation wrote:

I wouldn’t rule out Hocker being a great 1500m guy. He did run 3:58 as a true freshman at 18 year old. He is a very good closer evident by his 56 second last quarter in the 5k. Not bad for his first track 5k ever. I do agree that he’s probably not going to be the Rupp 10k marathon specialist type. He’s probably more of a Eric Jenkins/ Ben True type.

Agreed. He also ran 1:50 for 800m in high school. Clearly he has very good speed as well, probably 48-49 quarter mile speed with 13:20 strength (if that 13:32 had been paced better), that's a dangerous combo for the 1500m. I think his long-term potential is around 3:30, and I think we will see him run 3:35 or faster in college.

Bringing this thread back up. He is far more talented than Rupp on the fact that he has a faster overall mile PR than him at age 19. This guy might be the U.S version of Jakob Ingebrigsten!