Are most HS distance runners faster now than they were 15-20 years ago?

come on man wrote:

Yea, were almost back to the depth of the 70's

After reading the whole thread I settled on this post to quote. I don't exactly agree, though. The late '70s and early '80s were mentioned. That was exactly when I was in high school. Here's what I have noticed:

I'm not sure if sprinters have gotten faster since I didn't follow it closely enough back then, but I don't think they have. So that's probably a wash. Someone may dig up some research but information is hit or miss from the pre-internet era.

Mid-D HS runners may have gotten faster. That's what this thread seems to be about. Like a few other posters, I'm not completely convinced. First of all, new 'events' have been invented. I quote the word because no meaningful authority considers the 1600 nor 3200 to be actual recognized distances. That having been said, today's youth seem obsessed with them. The problem with comparison to my HS era is that 0 people had ever run either one of them back then. Go back earlier. Ryun didn't, Pre didn't. More recently, I don't think Rupp did.

So to point out how many kids did whatever last year might not mean much since 1, you're comparing different events, often on different surfaces (also mentioned earlier); and 2, times from before the turn of the century are difficult to dig up. Someone like Pre is pretty well documented - a biography lists every track race he ever ran - but it's hard to say how deep the crowd was without the memory of folks my age. And some of them suggest that it isn't any faster now. So, I'm not positive about mid-D but I'll defer to the gang.

Now, about long distance. Today's kids are much slower. It's not close. There are years in which no kid from a given state finishes anything 10k or longer. Some of you will be offended by this fact - yes, it is a fact - and suggest that it is because no one under 19 runs any distance races any more. Explaining why something is true doesn't make it false: to the contrary, it reinforces the truth of the original statement. So it could be simply that none of the recent generations' mid distance stars were interested in longer events. If current NCAA freshman go under the US HS records at 10000 this year, it could be that they're almost as good but just never got around to it before college. We'll see in June or July, but I'm not holding my breath. For what ever reasons, today's teenagers are appallingly bad compared to those decades ago at 10k - marathon.

For those of you curious about this (as opposed to furious that I'm pointing this out) I'll give the younger readers some history. During the '70s running boom, the marathon seemed like the 'main event' or something. It's what Shorter won gold in, and there were American stars such as Rodgers when I was getting into running. According to his autobiography, Salazar always considered the marathon was the real deal. Road races were on TV even then, and my peers and I figured that is what we were supposed to be doing.

Nobody discouraged this. There was no coach telling us to run for him. There were no parents telling us we were supposed to be on the track; they actually drove us to road races just like today's parents do for soccer. My friends ran 10k and marathon. And so did everyone else. Keep in mind that nobody had ever run a 1600 or 3200 yet - they literally hadn't been 'invented'. Fields in our age group at road races were deep.

It is hard to find a trace of those days but I recently went to a marathon in my part of the country (one of my friends at school ran it back then) that actually keeps track of course records for each age group. A young lady near my age still held the record for the division high schoolers would be in. I remember finishing behind her at another marathon back then. I didn't get anywhere near the podium that day, so like I said, there were a lot of kids doing it. Four of us from school went to that one. Just one school.

Anyway, I realize everyone else is referring to shorter track events but I just thought I'd mention longer stuff. On track and road there are some awfully old high school records. The answer to 'are today's high school runners faster than ever?' is a resounding NO!

Yes, I graduated HS in 1980 running track 4 x440 relay, mile, 2 mile and cross county. Road races were my thing, I even ran 2 marathons at 15 and 16, including NYC marathon. I agree that HS runners are much better, but not at 10k and above. Of course talent like Nico Young would crush at 10k and above in HS.

Yes absolutely it’s faster now.

I ran high school in the 90s. The training and racing is very different now.

There was less private coaching and traveling to set time trial races. Also there was less of a emphasis on mileage and threshold workouts. The training tended to be short and hard nearly everyday.

How many high schoolers have broken 4 in the mile in the last 20 years as compared to the hundred years before than even the mile is not run as often as it was when you were young? And you may want to check how many 18 year olds have gone sub 14 already this year as opposed to when you were young. You are completely incorrect except for events of 10k and longer.