17 year old Harvard commit just ran faster than Colin Sahlman

I don't care about fast or road times. Show me a high schooler that can run a decent trail 100 and I'll be impressed

Henz, Iverson, and Blanks should be an awesome trio at Harvard next year.

I think Shane Brosnan may be up there too. And Colin Baker too if healthy.

This would make an amazing top 5.

Wow.

Gibby keeps getting lucky. Previously was Graham Blanks who was a mid-tier recruit then ran extremely fast in his gap year during covid.

He's a good coach but you can't deny he's benefitted from some extremely good luck.

I predict 3:52 at world U20

He's 10 months younger than Salhman as well

Of course Luxembourg population is very small (0.6 million).

Interestingly however, their #1 runner this year has run 3:34.33, which is faster than the top American (3:34.81).

They also have a faster HS kid than the U

3:59.1 ranks you 8th in the country, which is not that surprising due to population size.

Super good on top end…

Ferenc Kovacs of Woodberry Forest (VA) ran 14:08 and 3:39 (1500) this season. Listed as a sophomore although he just turned 18. From Hungary, the kid isn't being discussed at all on the American circuit.

nc.milesplit.com

Hungary's Ferenc Kovacs dream comes true 9th | Eastbay South Regional

Jason Creasy

Eastbay South Regional

Open link

Worth a watch. He’s a foreign exchange student.

I've run against him before... lost soundly of course (with a host of bodies between us). He's a beast. He ran a 14:08 5000m on the track this spring if my memory serves me right. Didn't know he was 18 though - that's pretty crazy and makes me feel better about losing to him by a minute - he's older than I am - despite the fact that I just graduated.

Cool stuff to see someone I ""know"" mentioned on the message boards here.

I wouldn't call him a mid-tier recruit. He won his NXN regional his senior year. As for getting lucky, isn't that just good recruiting? Half the job for college coaches is to recruit talent and Harvard seems to be doing a pretty good job of that lately. Call it luck if you want but whatever you want to call it, they're doing a good job.

Yeah, but what did he run for the Mile in his league meet?

Very impressive. He is 8 months younger than Colin, but 2 months older than Henz.

He will not be as old as Cade was during his senior year however,

Look to him to break the HS record next year.

Definitely a reach to say that Coach Gibby is getting "lucky" with recruits like Acer Iverson, Graham Blanks, and Matthew Pereira as XC all-americans under his tutelage. Harvard will forever benefit from kids going because of the name brand, but don't conflate that with coaching ability.

Flatt turned 19 at the end of his senior year. If Kovacs turned 18 end of his sophomore year he'll turn 20 just after graduating HS (provided he still is enrolled in the US school system) which would make him almost a year older than flatt, and illegible for HS record consideration. Flatt was barely legal. Is this 3:39 even gonna go into the US record list? Either way it's a really good time. Good for him, it's awesome he gets to compete and participate in us hs competition. Wonder what he will do next year....

The luck is when a 9:13 recruit runs 13:27 in the 5k when you aren't even coaching him.

Can Harvard develop a runner? No. That’s why they now only recruit established foreign talent.

He’s a foreign exchange student so he won’t be in America next season.

Let’s not pretend like Teare’s 3:34.81 is the best USA 1500/mile performance of the year. You have Hocker’s 3:50.97 mile at Pre and the indoor 3:50.17 from Teare and Hocker’s 3:50.3. It’s a down year compounded by Hocker’s ill-timed injury, but to say that 3:34.33 is the fastest is using a technicality.