The H.S. 2-mile record is Kessler's for the taking

after seeing that 8:39 and how easy it was, I think we should start talking about the HS mile record. It's tough, but he could do it in the right pro race.

Are the shoes the issue here?

This takes me back 12 years or so, when Alex Hatz could routinely close in an easy-looking 55.x after going out in 3:10. A lot of knuckleheads confidently predicted he had a good shot at sub-4 with a faster-paced race. Well, the one time he went out in 3:04, he closed in 69.

Kessler has shown he can close in 56 off of 7:43. That's awesome. It's also a long way from 8:29.

Simple Runner wrote:

On a windy, humid day he ran 8:39 with massive negative splits: 4:26, 4:13 with a 56 last lap. Insane. Not a stretch to break L.V.'s 8:29 with better conditions and competition.

Huge negative split but that last mile was only like 1s faster than the pace you want him to hold for the whole race. This is a like an 835 effort with even pacing not an 829. Maybe competition and peaking get him the rest of the way there.

And let's not ignore how awesome 839 is. LV, nelson, fernandez, cheserek,hunter and nico are the only faster times I can think of. That's a pretty exclusive list.

Unlike most runners Kessler also has serious upper body strength. He was a national class youth rock climber.

ddidididid wrote:

Simple Runner wrote:

On a windy, humid day he ran 8:39 with massive negative splits: 4:26, 4:13 with a 56 last lap. Insane. Not a stretch to break L.V.'s 8:29 with better conditions and competition.

Huge negative split but that last mile was only like 1s faster than the pace you want him to hold for the whole race. This is a like an 835 effort with even pacing not an 829. Maybe competition and peaking get him the rest of the way there.

And let's not ignore how awesome 839 is. LV, nelson, fernandez, cheserek,hunter and nico are the only faster times I can think of. That's a pretty exclusive list.

If you’re including 3k conversions Hastey’s 8:00 is faster right?

But Kessler also has a 3:57, I totally think he could hit that 8:29

ddidididid wrote:

Simple Runner wrote:

On a windy, humid day he ran 8:39 with massive negative splits: 4:26, 4:13 with a 56 last lap. Insane. Not a stretch to break L.V.'s 8:29 with better conditions and competition.

Huge negative split but that last mile was only like 1s faster than the pace you want him to hold for the whole race. This is a like an 835 effort with even pacing not an 829. Maybe competition and peaking get him the rest of the way there.

And let's not ignore how awesome 839 is. LV, nelson, fernandez, cheserek,hunter and nico are the only faster times I can think of. That's a pretty exclusive list.

i agree the run wasn't worth 8:29 (and also it wasn't very windy), but the dude clearly didn't even press until 400 to go. had he gone with 800 or 1200 to go he would've run 8:35-37 today, depending on how early. if the leader had gone out in 4:20, I have no doubt Kessler could have run in the low 8:30s today.

he can break it if he wants to. he strikes me more as a racer than a dude that will run alone for records. if he gets in a college or pro race that is paced correctly i think he can definitely challenge 8:29, 7:56, and even 3:53.

Simple Runner wrote:

On a windy, humid day he ran 8:39 with massive negative splits: 4:26, 4:13 with a 56 last lap. Insane. Not a stretch to break L.V.'s 8:29 with better conditions and competition.

According to the splits from the website Hobbs was 4:27 high at the mile and 8:39 low at the finish so he was about 4:11.4 last mile not 4:13

Was this an onsight or redpoint?

my two pennies wrote:

ddidididid wrote:

And let's not ignore how awesome 839 is. LV, nelson, fernandez, cheserek,hunter and nico are the only faster times I can think of. That's a pretty exclusive list.

If you’re including 3k conversions Hastey’s 8:00 is faster right?

Missed one. 😁 The point is to enjoy one of top dozen or so performances we have seen rather than wonder what might have been or what might be. Running sub 840 is a pretty rare event for a HSer.

With it being a 2 mile and not a 3200 both of you are right in a way. Most likely it is 4:27 for 1618m then 4:11 for the last 1600 or 4:26 for the 1609 and 4:13 for the last mile as a 2 mile is 3218 meters.

Seen this before... wrote:

This takes me back 12 years or so, when Alex Hatz could routinely close in an easy-looking 55.x after going out in 3:10. A lot of knuckleheads confidently predicted he had a good shot at sub-4 with a faster-paced race. Well, the one time he went out in 3:04, he closed in 69.

Kessler has shown he can close in 56 off of 7:43. That's awesome. It's also a long way from 8:29.

To play the other angle, verzbicas was a relatively long way from 3:57 as well.

Hopefully he and RH can get in a mile race together.

easily

Seen this before... wrote:

This takes me back 12 years or so, when Alex Hatz could routinely close in an easy-looking 55.x after going out in 3:10. A lot of knuckleheads confidently predicted he had a good shot at sub-4 with a faster-paced race. Well, the one time he went out in 3:04, he closed in 69.

Kessler has shown he can close in 56 off of 7:43. That's awesome. It's also a long way from 8:29.

Lol Alex Hatz. The kid who ran probably 80+ mpw for his final 2.5 years vs the rock-climbing phenom running half of that and clocking 3:57 indoors. Dumb comparison. Not saying he can run 8:28 but Alex Hatz has no relevance.

Genuine question from a European: why don't Americans just run the 3000m? No one else in the world runs the two mile with any regularity. Isn't it better to run distances that get people prepared for the kind of championship races they'll face? And doesn't it make the records kind of soft since it's hard to put them in global perspective?

BuckleUp wrote:

Was this an onsight or redpoint?

lol

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

Unlike most runners Kessler also has serious upper body strength. He was a national class youth rock climber.

If that helps us evaluate whether he can break the 2-mile record, I don't see how.