8th grade girl runs sub 5 mins for mile is that a big deal now days

Yeah. I went on Omegle to brag about my mile time, but nobody cared because nobody has a reference for times.

Yeah, coaches usually know better. But they also know that female runners are dicy after hitting puberty, so it's best not to keep it a big deal, or to make it a big deal at all for whoever runs fast.

This is not just nitpicking: A 1600 is *not* a mile.

Obviously, a girl who runs, say, 4:58.66 for 1600 has not run a sub-five mile--she hasn't covered the distance--but she also hasn't posted a performance that is of equivalent intrinsic value.

I feel the same way when a guy runs 8:57.xx for a 3200 and someone calls him a sub-nine two-miler. No, he isn't: He's a sub-nine 3200-meter runner. That 8:57 is not "worth" a sub-nine two-mile.

I don't know what time this particular 8th-grade girl posted for 1600, but if she just scraped under 5:00 she did *not* run "sub 5 mins for mile."

full 1600

@lease, you seem like a lot of fun.

OP: Yes, if a girl runs under 5:00 for 1600 or a mile, that is a very impressive time for that age. I've coached for over a decade in a very competitive league, and the fastest I've seen a girl in our area run was 5:11. Our school record is 5:24, and that girl won everything she entered.

We had a girl break our record this year running 5:04. She is the fastest in the state. So sub 5 is very good. It is a girls though and we never know how a sub 5 girl at 14 years old will progress or regress. Ping was faster in 8th grade than as a senior.

Yes! Under 5 for an 8th-grader is a great time.

If you have a lot of time on your hands. you can dig through results on milesplit or athletic.net.

coahc wrote:

Back when I ran in VA if any female ran under 5 minutes for 1600 that was a huge deal. Now as a coach of such a young lady in another country just wonder if it is still considered good running?

As a snapshot in time, yes it is a great time. That's a very solid time for any high school girl even (D1 scholarship level).

As a predictor of future greatness though, especially for girls, it's not that...just too many examples of super fast middle school girls who slow down significantly in high school as they physically mature. I've seen that happen to boys too, but way more common with girls.

Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:

Yes! Under 5 for an 8th-grader is a great time.

If you have a lot of time on your hands. you can dig through results on milesplit or athletic.net.

Milesplit shows that 25 or so 8th grade girls have done it going back to around 2004. That part is easy to look up. Someone with more time than me could pull up the full running careers of these girls and see how many continue as great runners.

coahc wrote:

Back when I ran in VA if any female ran under 5 minutes for 1600 that was a huge deal. Now as a coach of such a young lady in another country just wonder if it is still considered good running?

As someone who has ran and coached in VA for 20+ years, I can say that a girl running sub-5:00 is not "huge news." For goodness sakes, we just recently had a girl run under 10:00 for 3200!

It doesnt matter what they do tomorrow. Its really impressive for a 13/14 year old to run sub 5 today. Make sure she knows its a real accomplishment TOADY. Ignore the negative nancies who insist every female becomes terrible when they mature and the trolls who will say no big deal so and so 8th grader just ran a 4:46.

In 8th grade?

I would have been excited at the prospect of adding a sub-5 1600 girl to the roster. Or Sophomore. Or Junior.

It's an outstanding time for an 8th grader. For a high school runner it's nothing special. Here in CA we had 32 sub-5 girls (1600) this year. Sub-5 might not even make the state meet in a typical year.

Katelyn tuohy

458 7th

448 8th

445 9th (training indicated in 440 shape)

434 10th

No improvement 11th and 12 th

431 freshman (1500 converted to mile)

Mary Cain

Similar to Tuohy 7th thru 10th

428 11th

424 12th

Turner pro 1 year of top running some u20 records then injuries

Now someone else do the same for Alexa efraimson and Mary Decker slaney

Ping was 5:02 in 7th grade and 5:17 senior year.

Isn't there an eighth grader in the Fresno area running 4:46?

I. Rex wrote:

It doesnt matter what they do tomorrow. Its really impressive for a 13/14 year old to run sub 5 today. Make sure she knows its a real accomplishment TOADY. Ignore the negative nancies who insist every female becomes terrible when they mature and the trolls who will say no big deal so and so 8th grader just ran a 4:46.

Yea thanks in my coaching of young athletes she has the potential to be pretty good. She trains with my other females twice a week and never has to lead and just follows the pace.

She plays other sports and seems to enjoy running on her own which is always a challenge. Not sure how many 8th grade girls go for 30-40 minute runs on their own.

The ones who run 5 minutes and don't go on 40 minute runs on their own are the ones with large upside. Sounds like this girl is already training at a higher level.

Gillgan wrote:

Isn't there an eighth grader in the Fresno area running 4:46?

Sadie Engelhardt from Ventura - 4:46.25 for the mile.