We are at the peak of US High School Distance Running

Deeper than last year

Here are last year’s Arcadia results

This is what happens when you realize 4:20 isn't fast.

Ethan Edgeworth running an Alabama record of 8:38 (4:23/4:15 splits) is crazy to me. Ethan Strand won doubles or triples at state for 4 years, and he set a totally new standard when he ran 8:59 in 2021. I think he was top 5 in the NCAA mile this year.

8:38 is just on a totally different level, and he can clearly run faster with splits like that. And he was 6th. Didn't Centro win Arcadia in like 8:40? 7 guys tonight ran under 8:40, and 8th was the NXN champ who ran sub-4 indoors. 27 under 8:50, and 36 under 9.

I'd agree with your title, but I'd say "We are at the peak of US High School Distance Running so far". Honestly, next year if they just went out a couple seconds faster, they could average significantly faster. Tonight, the top guys were running 65s, then closed in 57. LV's record is on borrowed time.

2023: 16 sub-8:50, 7 sub-8:45

2024: 27 sub-8:50, 16 sub-8:45

Patrick Koon ran 8:44.95 for 7th last year; his 8:41.46 was good for 14th! this year. Crazy.

This is a different race, but Red Mountain H.S., Mesa, ARizona. Never heard of them, but I thought they did a nice job in 4 x 8. Namely, I thought they were going to run away with it, but ended up 6th.

enjoy it while it lasts

doping busts a-comin'

No kidding. Too many too-good-to-be true performances as of late, especially by freshmen/sophomores

LV is Louis Vuitton, not Lukas V

Loudoun Valley

At least 10 out of the 37 sub-9s tonight are using gray area stuff or flat out doping. Who is it? Kids aren’t magically better now simply because of “better nutrition” and “training advances”. It’s not super shoes. You can’t convince me otherwise. There is zero chance of getting caught in HS. You can easily buy the stuff anonymously online or use Dad’s TRT prescription. The reward is a $250K scholarship.

In this forum, until another HS boy joins the sub-4 / sub-8:30 club... LV is Lukas.

If we are at the peak it will be downhill from here. So are you predicting HS distance running will decline after this year?

You’re delusional. Talk to these kids and realize how delusional you are.

College running - clubs - are about to get much faster

Are shoes faster in 2024 vs 2023?

He's not.

highschool doping to access football opportunities has been going on since the 90s and will never stop in the united states until the stakes are lowered. What in your right mind would tell you that it's delusional to extend that to a minority of elite HS runners fighting to keep their heads above water in the notoriety race during the most cutthroat and oversaturated era of accessing athletics opportunities in the history of HS track. add to that the background and aspirations of some parents, and the current state of access to product either via complicit parents or a weekend on the internet.

Meet some of these kids competing and then tell me their doping. Doubt you ever competed at a high level. These kids are hard working, honest, and above your petty accusations.

Between the various boys' 3200s I counted a total of 69 sub 9:00. Beyond these there are so many others running sub 9:10 both here and all over the country. It's usually expected that the best college (and beyond) runners will emerge from the group with the fastest high school times. But that's not always the case. We can point to late developers, those who ran low mileage, etc. The beauty of this depth is that some 9:03 runner will turn into a college stud, and not always at a top college program. I wish I had a crystal ball to predict how all these kids will turn out.

The great Steve Prefontaine would have gotten 11th and Craig Virgin 9th. Amazing!

No they won’t have. They would run much faster if they ran now.

Don’t compare the enhanced times of today to past runners. It’s a stupid comparison. The conditions are completely different now.