Marcelo Mantecon - 8th grader from Belen - 9:17 in the 3200

And he does not appear to be one of those freaks of nature ahead of the growth curve kids. If I was his parents/coach, I would have him pick up another activity to supplement his running and not obsess over breaking records every time he competes.

How old?

A 14-year-old running 9:17 = Amazing.

A 13-year-old running 9:17 = Once in a generation talent.

I agree!

One year makes a huge difference at that age.

Yeah, check out the difference in age word records. Goes from 9:41 at 13 to 9:02 at 14.

Being 14 in 8th grade isn’t uncommon at all. Many people turn 14 while in 8th grade

Of course. I was born in July, so I was younger than most. I was 13 for the entire 8th grade school year.

If this kid is that young, that would be very impressive.

He's like 5'2 and has yet to grow. Great performances.

He was already varsity on their state high school champion team in the fall, a season in which he smashed Rheinhardt Harrison's state middle school xc course record by 12 seconds in 9:30. He has a beautiful, fluid stride, a natural runner. He didn't look like one of those kids who is already physically mature. He's also run 4:26 1600m this year. His 8th grade teammate, Armando, who just ran 4:37, also ran around or dipped under Harrison's old course record, running around 9:42 to win his division of the state middle school championship, which Marcelo skipped to compete in the district or regional high school meet. Running with a very strong hs team helps and this team is said to run very hard workouts and training from early on and they have five or six eighth graders who ran under 10:20 for the 3k xc ms state course. But Marcelo's the only one of the 8th graders with that kind of stride where you can see the bright future. He has now run 2 flat as well, so the speed has improved a lot but the times on the fl milesplit page show him to be better the longer the distance.

Video of 8th grader winning Aussie champs with 59.2 last 400m over 1500m. A different world for sure. He ran 1:58.5 for 800m and 4:04 for 1500m this year and is just raw. Nothing he has done in training explained these performances.

I keep seeing threads about this team pop up so it must be a teammate or parent and it gets sad because you read about how this program just churns through runners. The Vento kid already quitting the sport at the Univ. of Florida after a season; stories of their last year #1 running states with a stress fracture and suffering multiple fractures.

Kudos to the program for being top 25 in the country, but at what cost? There are already rumors of the top kid transferring out because of this reputation and history. It's really sad. You meet guys like this in the workforce, burnt out, shadows of themselves with nervous breakdowns, teaching/coaching to live through other kids. Hopefully this Mantecon kid is the breakthrough the program needs. Someone who can grow and love the sport beyond his 6-12th grade experience.

Tyson Manley, a seventh grader who just turned 13 recently is putting up good numbers this season as well.

Being able to watch racing videos of all levels 24/7. Also training information, not just articles but discussions. It's all out there.

Anyone know Mantecon’s age or birthday?

9:14 here

fl.milesplit.com

FHSAA 3A Region 4 2023 - Complete Results - UPDATED

MileSplits official Complete Results - UPDATED formatted results for the 2023 FHSAA 3A Region 4, hosted by Miami Northwestern HS in Miami FL.

Link:fl.milesplit.com/meets/538352-fhsaa-3a...

Vento was off to a rough start at the beginning of 11th grade XC (2019)

9:14 to win just over his 11th grade teammate. Also at that meet, you have to notice that a 10th grade girl ran 11.6 (100m)/13.5 (100mH) and a 9th grade girl jumped 19'6 1/2"!

A 9th grader went 20.94? Is this correct? Lol

2:00/8:38 3k/4:10 or 4:11 and ran a leg of Magis's (track club for Belen Jesuit runners) winning 8:36 4x800m relay. The 3k was Friday night, the rest Saturday.