Kick like a girl wrote:
He was running 5 minutes at the start of the 2019 season. How did this happen? He didn't really get good until senior year XC. He ran more than a 20 second PR to set a new national record?
He “got serious” after breaking 10:00 for 3200m as a sophomore. He had a strong junior season of XC where he made huge gains from the previous fall dropping into the 15:20s. This was spurred on when his dad (the HS coach) decided to have Warhurst and Willis start taking a more hands on approach to Hobbs’ training.
Then, COVID hit and Hobbs jumped all-in with the Ann Arbor based studs, mainly Willis. Two pros paced him to an 8:52 TT last Spring. This fall, he beat the state champ in their only head to head matchup during the season. Then, they were in separate heats (COVID adjustment to the race setup) at state. Hobbs ran the second fastest time ever, behind Ritz, on the MIS course. 15 minutes later Riley Hough ran a couple seconds quicker costing Hobbs the crown. Then, a winter of focused training and BOOM 3:57.