Sue Girard was a historically impactful runner (she pretty much paved the way for NY girls distance becoming the nation’s powerhouse) but she was not top 10 all time. She ran 4:51 for the mile and finished 5th at Foot Locker. She had greater success as a pro, but still. Tbh I think Molly Huddle should be on this list. She only finished 4th at Foot Locker but she set a ton of course records in New York and DESTROYED the national record for 2 miles on the track, becoming the first high schooler to run under 10 minutes. Some of her records in upstate NY still stand, even after great runners like Lauren Mullins, Laura Leff, Abbey Wheeler, and Jess Lawson have come through.
Runners Central Top 25 Greatest High School Female Distance Runners of All Time - On IG
High School Running
Distance
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00
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xc_junkie wrote:
Not so sure about this, lots of flameouts and it's missing a few who not only did well in HS, but are doing well at the next level.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.
Melody Fairchild didn't do anything? Bronze in World XC. Multiple world teams, button up on your information. And on a side note, as a coach/dad of D1 girls, you are overlooking the same issue at a greater scale with Boys. Boys flame out more than girls with injuries, depression, and disordered eating you just don't see talked about. Out of the Top 25 in every state in high school boys, over 10 do absolutely nothing post high school.
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How can Kim Gallagher not be on this list?
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Kate murphy would’ve been something special if it wasn’t for her medical condition for sure!
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TUOHY TROLLS GO HOME DEVASTATED AGAIN!!!!🤘💪
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Cool story bro! 👌🤣
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Agree completely with Kim Gallagher. 2:00/4:41 in an era when NO ONE ran those times, went on to win two Olympic medals in 1984 and 1988.
Would also add Francie Larrieu Smith, who won a National 1500 title when she was in high school - then made Olympic teams at 1500, 10,000, and the Marathon.
A special mention for Doris Brown Heritage. She set a national record in the 400 when that was the longest distance a woman could run. Then finished 3rd in the 1960 Olympic trials at 800m (the longest race for women at that time) when she was 17. Doris went on to win 5 world Cross titles and make Olympic Teams at 800 and 1500 (when the 15 was also longest distance a women could race). I'm always amazed at what women of that era had to put up with. Her own high school wouldn't let her use their track.
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smarter than wrote:
Decker
Cain
No question if somebody looks at their accomplishments.
It's impossible to compare Decker with current runners. There was no girl's distance running when Mary was in HS. The longest distance women ran in the Olympics was the 1500. And there was no girl's XC that I can remember.
Mary was strictly a middle distance runner by default. But if you are going to include middle distance then why not Gallagher or even Mu, for that matter?
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JonnyEx wrote:
xc_junkie wrote:
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.
Melody Fairchild didn't do anything? Bronze in World XC. Multiple world teams, button up on your information. And on a side note, as a coach/dad of D1 girls, you are overlooking the same issue at a greater scale with Boys. Boys flame out more than girls with injuries, depression, and disordered eating you just don't see talked about. Out of the Top 25 in every state in high school boys, over 10 do absolutely nothing post high school.
Thanks for the correction. I agree that boys have just as big of a problem.
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Sub-9 guy wrote:
fedfws wrote:
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.
Agree, but where is Brie Oakley?
Yeah, it makes no sense that Rainsberger is 14th and Oakley is not even on the list.
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Of course there was girls track and cross country in the 70’s. And in PA they ran 3 mile cross country and the 2 mile in track like the boys
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Sub-9 guy wrote:
fedfws wrote:
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.
Agree, but where is Brie Oakley?
Not to belabor this, but didn’t Brie Oakley win NXN, set an outdoor two-mile national record and indoor 5000 NR at the time? She also had the CO state record before this year. This was all pre-super shoes. I realize she didn’t do anything in college for various reasons, but she was a star who burned bright for a brief period of time.
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PADad wrote:
Of course there was girls track and cross country in the 70’s. And in PA they ran 3 mile cross country and the 2 mile in track like the boys
Ok, fair enough. But where are the girl's times for 2 miles? We have them for boys in that period. And the first time World Cross held the junior race for girls was 1989.
My point being that a top HS girl did not have the opportunities to race distance against top competition. Senior women were not even running distance events on the track.
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No offense to Tuohy and some of the other girls, but Decker and a few others were WORLD CLASS and beating Soviet & Eastern bloc women while still in HS. Decker is still the most talented I've ever seen in my 50+ years. 53-second 440 relay speed in HS. Injured much of her HS & short collegiate career. A true world-beater.
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You have to have an intellectual mind to wrap your head around what tuohy has accomplished compared to others mentioned appearantly!! 🤣👌
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Oh trust me tuohy isn’t offended by the keyboard burned out warriors!
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gomer wrote:
PADad wrote:
Of course there was girls track and cross country in the 70’s. And in PA they ran 3 mile cross country and the 2 mile in track like the boys
Ok, fair enough. But where are the girl's times for 2 miles? We have them for boys in that period. And the first time World Cross held the junior race for girls was 1989.
My point being that a top HS girl did not have the opportunities to race distance against top competition. Senior women were not even running distance events on the track.
I did some digging and 1977 was the first time the 2 mile was contested at CIF as a girl's event. When did Mary Decker graduate? And CA didn't have a state XC meet until 1987, but it looks like the first girl's XC sectionals were also 1977 - but I could be wrong on this as it may have varied by area.
Title IX was not signed into law until 1972 so I would be curious when girls actually started running the 2 mile in PA as an official event in HS track.
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gomer wrote:
Sub-9 guy wrote:
Agree, but where is Brie Oakley?
Yeah, it makes no sense that Rainsberger is 14th and Oakley is not even on the list.
People forget that Rainsberger ran 4:12 and 9:00 on the track. She was 7th at U20 worlds and I believe her 4:36 indoor mile was an NSAF national record (although you have to disregard Cain’s 4:28 and 4:24 to really believe that). She also dominated NXN and set the course record at the time (although it was a fairly new course). She earned her place.
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Interesting list. Re Tuohy vs. Decker I do not know enough about the status of women's distance running in the 1970s to make a good assessment. Decker was world class in the 800m in high school. Not sure her high school times at other distances.
I would absolutely place Tuohy above Cain. We are talking three national cross-country championships in successive years to none, shattering some of the most hallowed course records in the sport and national records in the mile-5000m. And to be honest Tuohy was as good in the 1500m as Cain, which is why she was breaking her age group records. What did not happen was Tuohy going to run for Salazar and NOP and specializing in the distance. But even giving Cain the nod at that distance I will take Tuohy's high school resume over Cain's, junior worlds and all.
The list tends to place one strong season or even one strong track time over an entire high school career. Can you really place Cook or Hutchins over Baxter or Hasay? How about Chmiel, who in addition to good track performances was 4th, 5th, 2nd and 2nd at NXN (behind an all-timer) and won the Great Edinburgh against the likes of Lane and Battocletti? I would place being able to perform at a top national level over successive seasons, which is superhard in high school. over having one strong season.
I don't think certain runners belong on this list.
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Francie Larrieu
10
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