An 11th grader runs 200:20.77, 400: 45.27, 800m:1:50.07

I think you have the time frame wrong, but regardless, here's a story for you:

http://www.prep.caltrack.com/2002trackandfieldnotes/020202ObeaMoore&CSULBAllComersNotesPicsRG.htm

any of his "debut" marks would have been as about an 8 or 9 year old, if not younger. with that in mind, you can see what happened...burnt out. just looking at the picture in the link above you can tell the guy is a running demi-god, hell, he even looks like the predator. look how balanced he is symmetrically compared to the runners he is standing by. anyways, i think he may have actually gone faster in the 400 his sophomore year. i remember seeing him race at the state meet and at arcadia...talk about a man, well men including michael granville, among boys. when obea took the baton at the state meet in the 4 x 4 the place went insane. same at arcadia when him and granville went 1:50.

Thanks

I was wondering how could a guy who as a sophmore went 45.1

for 400m just vanish, thanks again you two! It would be great for the USA if he could return and surpass his old

form. Hopefully he can come back and help our other young

great athletes. I will be looking for his next race.

Vipam

his 45.08 is the Penn Relays high school 400 split record (although Philadelphia's own William Reed ran a 45.1h). I believe the problem was in the academics -- Moore could not (or more accurately maybe, chose not to) pass the minimum NCAA standards to run at Baylor or at any school that could coach him. Rumors point to community college, even a brief stint at Life University, with no results. The article is a pretty good synopsis. The guy had incredible range (21.0 200 splint, 1:50 800 split).

so apparently moore ran a 2:00 flat 800m for his first race of the comeback...

anymore news on his comeback bid?

It said on the article he would be racing again in the next week, are there any results from this?

any races since then? Is Moore still training or has he packed it in?

I didn't know Snoop Dog ran in high school.

He's pretty serious about his comeback and he is still

competing this year. Look for him next year!

Iwonderwhosinsecond

If he is serious about a comeback, and remains that way for at least 2 years, you won't have to do any looking for him. I guarantee the Olympics are on his mind every once in a while, and rightfully so. ...As far as people that would be a dream for me to coach, Obea lines up directly beside Gabe based on their ability to vibrate at such intense rates. During the offseason, I imagine neither one would "mess up the rotation" either, so some crazy conversation would be sure to ensue.

BillCarr wrote:

. The guy had incredible range (21.0 200 splint, 1:50 800 split).

He was actually better than that...He ran 20.7x open, FAT and 1:49.xx open, FAT (not splits!)

FAT: 200m 20.77

400m 45.14

800m 1:49.14

all in his junior year! Whats so incredible was the

range in which he was able to excell in a single season!

Wow 99% of the high schoolers wish they could run just one event as well as Obea. No predictions I just wish he remains FOCUSED on running and healthy during his comeback.

Iwonderwhosinsecond

FAT: Fully Automatic Time

Thanks for the FAT definition.

Moore did start very young - as did Granville. They were both training in elementary school. Probably cases of mental burnout. They probably would have run about as fast if they had started running as HS freshman or sophs.

By the way, is Granville still competing? People talk of all the high school 2 milers that faded away but the 800 seems to have the highest rate of burn-out. These careers were very bright early but short.

George Kersh

Pete Richardson

Obea Moore

Michael Granville

Tony Parilla

Brandon Rock

But it is understandable in a sense. To be able to devote the time and money after college and support yourself as an 800 meter man takes some help. And I'm not trying to generalize or stereotype but I think the road for a middle distance runner who has a family background of innercity or lower income isn't probably going to get a check from dad everynow and then to pay for the car insurance or whatnot. And it seems to me that there are a lot more 10k guys out there that are willing to live a lifestyle of semi-poverty for a few years in hopes of breaking through to a big time, knowing that they have the rest of their lives to make money. But others that grew up with less are probably not willing to put that off as easily.

Now this is at the risk of generalizing without knowing all these guys backgrounds, which I've been acccused of doing before.

Granville is training with The Farm Team or at least he was the last I heard, and that wasn't long ago, so I assume he still is.

Brandon Rock only ran 1:57 in high school. He broke out once he got to Arknsas. He wasn't like the rest of your list... hs phenoms. Not even close.

Michael