Good race.
Good race.
Hot take, but I think that two 63 laps to open is pretty much a tactical race with that kind of field.
Heemeyer can close 59, but that won't do it against Stadt who could close 56 point or 57. Kemper would also be pretty close in a kick as well, and I just don't know enough about Athay or Stockett to know how well they can kick, but its surely sub 60.
To run the most dangerous kicks out, I think Heemeyer and Athay could go 60-61.x and then as long as lap 3 is sub 64, either one could take it.
Anything slower than 2:02/3:06 is going to go to Kemper or Stadtlander
If it automatically rolled over at the start of the year, then his senior year would read 19, instead of 18 like his junior year. His junior year of cross and sophomore year of track reads as 17, so you can deduce that his birthday is sometime between now and the end of the track season.
There are plenty of kids that get held back for sports or because their parents fear they would be young for their grade. Saying that there are no 19 year olds running track this spring is factually wrong. Idaho rules only say you can’t compete past your 20th birthday.
Here’s my hot take-
Athay and Heemeyer have both gone out and run pretty smooth races out front.
Kemper, Stadtlander, and Stockett have closed faster in actual races having to respond to a bunch of guys around them. Heemeyer is going to have a tough time with both Kemper and Stadtlander if they don’t let him go to the front immediately and let him run clean. I think that all three of those guys beat both Heemeyer and Athay.
Max CS ran a good chunk slower at Oregon Relays than he did at Pasco because the field didn’t get strung out immediately like at Pasco. Racing with a crowd is different.
No inside info, but I suspect Max ran slower at Relays because the whole race went out slow and that doesn’t suit his skill set right now.
I think if it actually goes out at an honest pace focused on 4:08-9, that suits Heemeyer, Kemper, and Athay the best given what they’ve already run. With this group, the packed heavy traffic analysis is relevant if it slows down the pace more than any psychological effect.
I don’t know where Stockett is at. He and Athay both seem to be steadily improving after skipping indoor in any substantive sense.
That’s part of what I’m saying. A strung out race with relatively easy splits is easier to close fast. A race that has multiple changes in pace due to a lot of runners being around you robs you of your ability to run fast.
Stockett has run 1:53 and 9:10 for 2 miles. He’s very legit and he closed in 60 in his mile.
Don't forget that Heemeyer was injured for all of indoor and the first couple weeks of outdoor.
You can't count out someone who ran 8:59/4:10 while coming back from injury, in the first two serious races of his season.
Same goes for Athay though he has been recovering at a slower rate due to an increased severity of injury and a much longer time away from the sport.
Fun flashback. Turns out middle school XC isn’t a terrible predictor of HS talent. Bob Firman results when the class of ‘24 were 8th graders.
1.
8
Noe Kemper
9:45.00
North Boise
2.
8
Daniel Simmons
9:48.80
Salmon
3.
8
Kaden Helder
9:52.40
Hillside
4.
8
Luke Athay
10:01.70
Taylorview
5.
8
Luke Visser
10:06.10
Preston
6.
8
Bryson Blaser
10:06.20
Lewis & Clark
7.
7
Jack Tobin
10:10.70
North Boise
8.
7
Corbin Johnston
10:15.60
North Fremont
9.
8
Druw Jones
10:18.60
Preston
10.
8
Andrew Ringert
10:18.70
Eagle
11.
8
Isaac Anttonen
10:19.80
River Glen
12.
8
Landon Heemeyer
10:22.70
Heritage
13.
8
Branden Keetch
10:29.60
Lewis & Clark
14.
7
Jack Sheesley
10:34.40
North Boise
15.
8
Lucas Tam
10:41.50
Yolo Flyers
16.
8
Andres Montufar
10:47.00
Lone Star
17.
8
Mat Richey
10:51.50
Sage Valley
18.
8
Mason Smith
10:51.50
Sugar-Salem
19.
8
Kawika Schlenker
10:51.90
Liberty Charter
20.
8
Jacob Bodily
10:52.50
Lewis & Clark
21.
8
Collin Draper
11:00.30
Ogden Track
22.
8
Tommy Hammons
11:01.50
Heritage
23.
8
Luke Stockett
11:03.00
Victory Charter
Typically, Athletic.net puts the age that the athlete will be by the end of the calendar year next to their name so just because it says they are 16 that just means they will be 16 by December 31st, 2024, not 16 right now.
Heemeyer’s junior year of track reads as 18. If what you are saying saying is true, then it would have rolled over to 19 already.
I’m confused. In cross we were told that Rocky is great at cross training and Heemeyer was going to be in the mix for the win at Firman, and he did look good there. Now we are being told that it’s not the case? I do think they nail the cross training and I think he was probably back to training for a while before he opened up the week before Arcadia. Just because he didn’t race doesn’t mean that he wasn’t training seriously.
Mt. View is up to 15 sub 5 guys out of the 25 that have run it this year. I think that might be the highest percentage in the valley at the moment. They have 5 more within 10 seconds. 5 of those sub 5 boys are seniors, 8 seniors total.
Rocky is at 27/45 with 3 more within 10 seconds. 10 of those are seniors, 16 seniors total.
Boise is at 13/30 with another 7 within 10 seconds. 2 of those are seniors, 3 seniors total
Timberline is at 15/26 with 1 more within 10 seconds. 2 of those are seniors, 3 seniors total.
Eagle is at 8/25 with 3 within 10 seconds. 2 of those are seniors, 4 seniors total.
Capital is at 6/15 with 2 more within 10 seconds. 2 are seniors, 4 seniors total.
Centennial is at 7/25 with 7 more within 10 seconds. 3 are seniors, 5 seniors total.
Those are all of the teams that qualified for state out of District 3. There are some caveats there. Eagle has 2 more boys with marks that are superior to sub 5 in the 3200, but haven't broken 5 or even raced it yet. Mt. View has a boy that is a 2:00 boy that certainly could break 5 whenever he runs it. Bryson Blaser hasn't run a 1600 yet.
It would be crazy to see Mt. View get to 20/25 boys sub 5 (or 21/26). Rocky graduates a ton this year. They'll drop to 17/29, so they will have a huge percentage of returners as sub 5 guys.
CDA is at 8/18 at sub 5, with 2 more within 10 seconds. 2 sub 5 guys are seniors, 3 total seniors.
That rocky stat is way more impressive than the mountain view one they have a chance to get 30 guys under 5:00 unreal coaching at rocky this year.
This would be a great race to watch. It is likely shaped by coaching and execution of strategy. How do we measure a kid’s “coach-ability?”
The other variable I can’t quantify is experience in different types of races and calm under pressure. Not sure how we evaluate that?
High School Distance Running Coaches are people I really admire. Building a program and having a lot of depth is probably harder than just pounding the miles with a few stallions. Credits to the coaches in Idaho
for developing so many runners sub 5 in the mile.
How is it more impressive if Rocky gets to 30 guys under 5 out of 45 that have run the event vs. Mountain View getting to 20 out of 25?
I’m guessing that because of the JV district rule, Rocky won’t have any more sub 5’s this actual season. It looks like they will end up with 29/50 breaking 5.
Mt. View looks like they will end up at 16/25, barring Madden Ryan running a 1600 at some point.
Boise looks like 15/30.
I'm wondering if teams will have time trials take place for those who don't get to race JV districts. That could be an opportunity to get 1-2 more for each team.
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