Runners Central Top 25 Greatest High School Female Distance Runners of All Time - On IG

Erin Keogh in the mid 80's was unbelievable. I remember her time at the VA state meet was less than 30 seconds behind mine and I won the boy's race. Amazing runner for the time!

I think these websites conflate an athlete's success in college with high school. If you're looking at high school all-time greats, there are few criteria that matter -

1. Made an Olympic Team

2. Made a World Championship Team

3. Medaled at a Junior World Championship

4. Set a High School National Record

Based on that criteria, I would publish a new list.

And to be clear, #1 and #2 is making an Olympic Team as a high schooler.

No Sarah Bei and no Julia Stamps.

Yeah, I am surprised with the Julia Stamps omission.

Ceci Hopp

Parker Valby

Alex Kosinski

Overall it's a pretty good list, but I wouldn't have included Addy Wiley. She's only on there for her record last year in the 1600/mile which is very suspicious based on her massive sudden improvement and who her coaches were.

Since Cranny is not on this, it must be a HS performance based only list.

In that case, I think Baxter should be higher.

And I guess 800 runners don't count.

Yeah it needs to be said, Cain and Decker were better than Tuohy in high school. Tuohy was dominant and set several high school records, but she was not even remotely competitive at the senior level. Cain was a world junior champion in 2014 and 8th at the 2013 SENIOR world championship while in high school, and a US champion in the indoor mile and 1500. Decker set indoor world records at 800m and the mile, and qualified for the 1972 Olympics at the age of 14 (although she was not allowed to compete due to her age). 1 and 2 need to be Cain and Decker or the list is not worth looking at.

The list says distance runners, so perhaps that includes cross country?

What did Mary Decker achieve in high school XC? I have no idea.

Katelyn Tuohy achieved much more in XC than Mary Cain. More championships and much faster times than Mary Cain at major NY courses such as Bowdoin and Van Cortlandt Parks which Cain ran many times.

Fiona O' Keeffe had a pretty good high school career and is improving as a pro, she at least deserves to be in the top 25.

Lynn Bjorkland and Lynn Jennings.

Agree, but where is Brie Oakley?

I wasn't born when Decker was running in HS so I won't comment on her.

Cain's achievements on track is head and shoulders above Tuohy, they are not even in the same level. Yes Tuohy is the greatest HS XC runner, but making the final of senior WCs at 17yo is wayyyyyy better.

I agree. When I saw that list, I saw a lot of names that I didn't recognize, so I did some research:

• Only 11 on that list (Tuohy, Decker, Girard, Cook, Cuffe, Rainsberger, Sullivan, Hasay, Goethals, Thorvaldson, and Sisson) went on to do anything in college.
• 2 went straight to Pro from HS (Cain and Efraimson) and 1 struggled in college but eventually succeed as a Pro (Girard)
• Despite being highly recruited, 8 never had any success in college (Heald, Fairchild, Trotter, Keogh, Lane, Baxter, Mortensen, and Murphy) due to injuries and/or eating disorders.
• 3 are TBD since they still have eligibility: Hutchins (not looking good so far), Wiley (huge asterisk on her records) and Riggs (still in HS).

As the father of kids that ran in AAU, High School, and now NCAA D1, I have seen it over and over again. Parents and coaches push young girls to train too hard and up their miles. Unfortunately, this results in early success but at the expense of their physical and mental health. Winning races becomes synonymous with their self-image and many also begin to equate being fast with being thin. This leads to a very negative cycle that ultimately ends in eating disorders, bone damage, chronic injuries, etc. We were lucky to get involved with coaches that helped us keep the end game in mind: long term health and running in college if that was their goal. We purposefully kept weekly miles low (no more than 20 as a youth and maxed out at 35 in HS) and focused on healthy relationships with food viewing it as necessary fuel for training and getting stronger.

I bet if you asked all of those girls when they were still in High School if they would rather have been the best in HS or able to achieve their dreams of running in college, most would have chosen the latter.

Sorry -- Schiro, not Girard, struggled in college but eventually found success as a pro

Decker

Cain

No question if somebody looks at their accomplishments.

I think Baxter has a very good argument to be 5-10 spots higher. She was inarguably the best XC runner in the country for 2 years (and top 3 in a third) in one of the most competitive eras of the sport — an era that included Cain, who she beat on the biggest stage in the worst conditions imaginable.

Obviously never had the same track success as some of the athletes on this list saw, but she was also very clearly the best 3k/3200 runner in the country for the better part of two years, and I believe won back-to-back (or threepeat?) CIF state titles which is nothing to scoff at.

An argument could be made for Chelsey Sveinsson to be on this list