Who was Don Sage?

obligatory:

Don ran for York high school under Joe Newton. Joe kept him under wraps until his senior year, when he ran 8.42, 4.00 (3.59 1600) and 1.51 (and as part of the then record 7.34 4x8) in various races. You can see his 8.42 in the clip above- but he later also won the 1600 at state. He won IL XC as well, running 14.03 with one of the best hs xc teams of all time. At Stanford he was the D1 national champ in the 1500, and was part of one of the best college xc teams of all time as well. Don now lives in CA, has 3 kids,. His dad was also a top runner, Don Sr.

now he is 42 and runs all-comers meets in eugene

York isn’t the same now as it was when Newton was there

He was definitely in the mix with the big 3 in hs but I don’t think he was in their graduating class. He went to York hs which had a legendary program & is known for its high mileage.His hs coach spoke at a running camp I attended & told an audience of 500 teens that they shouldn’t focus on long term development & to embrace hard training in hs. At the time we were all shocked he said that but looking back I see his point. I even remember him mentioning don in his speech & saying he had him running 90 Mile weeks bc that’s how you get good. Controversial statements for sure but the coach knew how to motivate teens

Your converting a mile time to 1600? Really?

Interesting, have the utmost respect for Joe Newton, but I don't know how I feel about that! Maybe some kids wanna peak in college, or post-college (aka, pro).

Lots of glory in h.s. state championships though, I get it. I've always thought it's better to aim to peak in your mid-20s (men), and early or mid 30s (women). I'm not Joe Newton though, so what do I know? /s.

Here is Sage’s bio from his Stanford days:

gostanford.com

Player Bio: Donald Sage

Donald Sage Class:Senior Hometown:Elmhurst, Il High School:York Community Event:Middle Distances Birthdate:10/05/1981 Honors:Ten-Time

Open link

He was one year ahead of the Big 3 in high school. His senior year, he was runner-up behind Ritz at Foot Locker. He also ran 8:42 in the 3200.

As a college sophomore, he beat Webb and others to win the NCAA 1500 championship. Showing impressive range, he had two top-7 finishes in NCAA cross country as part of those legendary Stanford teams.

well, training hard in high school did get him on to an awesome team, with lifelong memories. I'm still not sure if training 90 miles/week in high school is right for everyone though. Since he had Joe Newton as a coach though, I imagine the progression was gradual. I imagine Newton knew what he was doing.

90 mi/week seems crazy high for a h.s. student.

Doncirkeone

The big three were called the big three for a reason. He was smoked by Ritz at Footlocker, but he still got 2nd beating Alan Webb, Galen Rupp, Evan Jager, and Matt Withrow. He was a 3-time All-American at Stanfurd in XC. Won the NCAA 1500 as a sophomore beating Alan Webb, German Fernandez, Seb Coe and Jim Ryun.

They say Gene Roddenbery got the idea for Star Trek from listening to Sage talk in his sleep.

Did I ever tell you about the time Sage went hunting? Sage decides he's going to hunt down all four of the Banana Splits. He stalks and kills every one of them with a machette. They all begged for their lives...except Fleagle.

To answer the part of your question about guys before the big 3, here’s a 1997 NY Times article about 3 high schoolers aiming for a sub-4 mile that summer: Gabe Jennings, Jonathon Riley, and Sharif Karie.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/13/sports/sights-set-on-4-minute-mile-for-3-high-school-runners.html

I think the idea is that if you deliberately hold back in high school you’re less likely to ever reach your potential. Train hard in H.S. and get a scholarship to a good college program, arriving on campus prepared for the training. Take it easy in H.S. and maybe you never even make a college team, or if you do it’s a weaker program and you’re less prepared to train at a high level.

We make a lot out of H.S. stars who only improve from 3:59y in HS to 3:39 in college, or whatever. But how many kids are there with that same potential, who run 4:14 in HS and quit running their sophomore year of college after struggling to adjust to the training and picking up an injury, because they were dicking around at 35 mpw in HS?

90 mpw is still high even for top HS boys, though. I don’t have data, but I bet most HS boys who go on to top college programs top out 10-30 mpw below that (with peak volume weeks between 60-80 mpw) in high school. And a lot of top college programs will be less interested in HSers who have gotten good by hammering 80+ mpw, as there’s less room for improvement.

None of this is to say that high mileage at a young age is bad, or that what happened at York wasn’t exceptional, but rather that there are multiple paths to take to be good in HS and beyond.

Also, what a “let’s remember some guys” thread. Don Sage! Matt Withrow! Jonathan Riley! Sharif Karie (sad post-running career story for him…).

The problem is everyone thinks they have the same potential or have the same improvement curve.

You don't.

Train hard. Get good. Leave nothing behind.

Alan

I believe he won the NCAA 1500m over Webb in 2002 -- Webb was not in contention

Mike Stember ran a 4:04 1600m in 1994 as a HS Jr.

I think that was the beginning of the renaissance of HS miling

Kept him under wraps? Did Newton instruct the local newspaper reporters to ignore Sage’s success?

He kept Don out of races that had more national press, and he also kept a kind of press silence. Until Don was a senior. Don was running sub 4.20 in junior high. And yes, I provided both his 1600 and mile time, since it has been reported that way for 20+ years.

BTW, Don ran more than 90mpw at York. My kids topped out at 120. One of my kids just visited Don this past fall.