Stanford 10,000m

At Payton Jordon

Great performance by Sprout.

Did Jacob Thompson celebrate for this one?

Stanford with three runners 27:47 or better? Thats almost as good as UTEP. All sophomores? Thats better than UTEP!

Those Stanford sophomores would be international representatives in most countries. Super impressive.

Could someone provide more info background on Ky Robinson? His progress has been.phenomenal.

Where do the Stanford guys log mileage? Does Palo Alto have soft surfaces? Do they have to travel to run mileage on dirt or trails?

In Kenya, where I am presently based, students from comfortable middle or upper class backgrounds (Stanford equivalents) would never choose running as an option to pursue at that level. As far as I know all Kenyan stars come/came from humble backgrounds. Different mindsets.

I've encountered vanloads of them in the "mountain" trails west of Stanford, and on the flat Bay trail east of campus. Short drives. I imagine they also run on roads near campus, and perhaps some grassy areas are available too.

This sounds similar to what the distance guys at UC Berkeley do. Around Berkeley, everything is roads. Strawberry Canyon is up a steep trail for miles, hardly ideal for daily mileage. UC Davis probably has better options, more rural.

Why has there been no coverage of this on let's run? I wouldn't have known it happened without this thread. 3 guys on the same college team all under 27:50. Very impressive. Do they have a shot at NCAA cross next time? They also have a few other sub 14 guys I think.

While still impressive pre super shoes this is 3 guys under 2820 which doesn’t have same ring to it

Why was PJ such a snoozer this year?

The times are what they are, supershoes or normal shoes. Times change, technology changes. These guys are still super runners and train as elite athletes. The Stanford coach has to be a great coach also to nurture such great talent.

I posted it in the "weak Payton Jordan" thread, but it has received no attention so good to note hear. 3 on one team sub 27:50. 2 true sophomores, 1 true junior I think. Sprout was as good or better than Nico Young thru junior year of hs, then Young passed by him for several years but Sprout is catching back up.

Yeah, can’t wait for a rotating track or shoe with literal GD springs in it because “technology changes” right?

There are limits to technological innovation, and what you suggest would no longer be normal running. One has to draw the line somewhere. In swimming, the full bodysuits which greatly enhanced buoyancy were done away with. In running, the rules already prohibit certain stack heights in the supershoes.

There is no clear concensus on how much the superspikes help athletes in the 10,000. Would Hicks and co. still beat 28 minutes with "normal shoes?" most probably yes. Remember guys like Bickford, Bjorklund, Nenow and co were running sub 28 minutes in skinny non protective spikes 40 years ago.

The guys you mentioned all ran sub-28 dragging huge sets of testicles around the track as well. Can't say the same for these Stanford guys with hair bands, jewelry, Jesus prison tats on their legs, and so forth.

Let's have them try. Nike could pay some people to test shoes against older ones. It would only help sell more shoes.

Cam Levine first time sub 28 since 2015!!! Cam Levins is Back Baby!!!!

So most (if not all) of these Stanford men ran the Big Meet against Cal Saturday, the next day? I see them in the 1500m. Is that right or am I mixing things up?

Yep, they came back the next day. Robinson won the steeplechase easily, and Sprout got 2nd and 3rd in the 1500. I didn't see the race, but I'm going to assume based on those times that it was slow early on with a big last 400. The Cal kid has run 1:49/3:41 this year, so not a huge surprise that he beat Sprout and Hicks on tired legs.