On Saturday, Archbishop Wood’s Gary Martin became the first high schooler in Pennsylvania history to run a mile in under four minutes: AMAZING feat by @ArchbishopWood's Gary Martin who ran a sub 4-minute mile today at the Phi...
Aw, hell naw. I was too busy cheering on my son, who PR'd in that race. I was standing near Gary's coach who didn't know for sure if he was gonna go after it until the first lap. Then he said "Ok, he's committed. Game on."
But you can find his finish here:
AMAZING feat by @ArchbishopWood's Gary Martin who ran a sub 4-minute mile today at the Philadelphia Catholic League Outdoor Championships. He ran it in 3:57:98! Martin becomes just the 14th American high school athlete to break 4 minutes, and is now 3rd all time outdoors! WOW!!! pic.twitter.com/hC2DCgKsX1
Thanks, no thanks. That’s a horrible video. more images of the crowd and the finish glance to your GF’s phone doesn’t even show his time. I can make better time of myself in a washer machine using unscented bleach.
Gary seems so chill-laxed about the whole thing! He's not freaking out with stress on his face or full of angst or anger. It's really remarkable to watch. He so not intimidated by anything or anyone on the track - Ha! Just go out and run and have fun!!! This is a gift and it will carry him far. He looks like he'd come over and fix your computer for free - He's gotta be the Coolest Geek that I've ever seen!!! Unlike a lot of other runners who are stuck on themselves, Gary just does his thing with joy. A lot of other runners could learn from his example.
When did it become fashionable to drop of the decimal parts of the times? In the old days if someone ran 3:59.4 it was always read back as 3:59.4. Nowadays it's 3:59. David Rudisha ran 1:40.91 for 800 meters. Why not say he ran 1:40? It's obvious why. It ain't the same.
I could not agree more. So true, and after a while , and it is a frigging while on these boards, it is annoying, especially when the mark run is closer to the next highest full second, not the lower number used. Which is almost every time on here. In a sport measured down to the hundreths a lot....dropping the .98 here is deceiving
Most will say.."What is the big deal."
Well, just in this event alone..there are two other Hs'ers who ran faster 3:57.xx's...just indoors, one with pacing help, in fact I think both were not in HS only races. This mark is clearly closer to 3:58.o which is obvious and in the old days would have been rounded up to that in any record keeping effort, right?
Below are the PIAA State Qualifying Standards: To qualify for the state meet you need to place in the top 4 at the WPIAL Finals or meet the state standard below. Note: Max number of entries from the WPIAL is 8 people for each event, 4 automatic and only the next 4 that make the PIAA standard. EVENT
1600m 5:18.30 5:10.00 4:31.13 4:24.22
Notice, these are the PIAA standards. So, why are they running the mile?
Did race officials envision a possible sub 4 and change the 1600 to the mile?
The same event did not contest a two mile race but rather a 3200.
Standards for entry into the event listed times for the two mile, 3200, mile, and 1600. I do think it was a full mile, but I'm interested in the reasoning. I think it's part of the story.
I believe the standards you show reflect times required at district meets to advance to state. Gary Martin's district meet is still to come, probably this weekend. At district distances will be 1600 and 3200.
However...there is NO comparison between his performance and Ryun's 3:58.3. Ryun's mark was set on a CINDER TRACK, in the famous KANSAS WINDS with 1965 shoe "technology". Ryun would've run 3:51 or better under the same situation as young Mr. Gary in HS by himself.
I believe the standards you show reflect times required at district meets to advance to state. Gary Martin's district meet is still to come, probably this weekend. At district distances will be 1600 and 3200.
I think those were the standards for entry into this meet, not advance to state. Might be, though. I went to the meet website. I wonder if they staged the full mile to give Martin a chance to go sub four. Pretty cool if so.
I believe the standards you show reflect times required at district meets to advance to state. Gary Martin's district meet is still to come, probably this weekend. At district distances will be 1600 and 3200.
I think those were the standards for entry into this meet, not advance to state. Might be, though. I went to the meet website. I wonder if they staged the full mile to give Martin a chance to go sub four. Pretty cool if so.
The distance at the Philadelphia Catholic League Champs has always been the Mile not the 1600.
The PCL did not become part of the PIAA until 2008 so this may explain the continued use of the traditional distance.
I believe the standards you show reflect times required at district meets to advance to state. Gary Martin's district meet is still to come, probably this weekend. At district distances will be 1600 and 3200.
This is why the 1600m distance is ridiculous.
High schools should either run the mile every time or else run 1500 meters.
Get this kid in the Pre Classic mile. Sub him in for Centro.
All respect to this kid for sticking with his team, not going the private coach route, but c'mon if there was EVER a time to skip the state meet it's to run in the Bowerman mile and give a shot at the High School record in the same race another high schooler also has a shot at it.
There is no story about whether this was a mile or not. I'm from the area and the PCL (that's what the people around here call the Catholic League) has always done their own thing. They've always run the mile. The PCL has a long and proud history amongst it's people, and the people from SE PA know who the PCL is.
Since League/Conference championships don't factor into PIAA Qualifications, it doesn't have one iota to do with the other. The kid is super-freakin talented, an all around nice guy (from the meet's I've been at with his team), and just dropped it on Saturday.