IMG Academy gets the 4x800 Girls HS Indoor National Record

Great run! Could have been a 9:44.xx but the anchor leg for IMG had to run out to lane 4 when she was lapping girls that were lined up for a handoff. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, just unfortunate timing of when she was lapping them.

I mean good for them and all, but can you really consider it a national high school record when they're not a legitimate high school team? They actively recruit across the US, offering full rides and college-like facilities to top athletes, while having moronic wealthy parents pay $75k-100k / year just to say their kid is on the team. They can't even compete in the Florida State meet due to their status.

And they did it with all REAL girls.

Pretty much everyone who gets a national record in a long distance indoor high school race goes through lap traffic.

They, as high schoolers, would go through less lap traffic if they run in a college race or a pro race

Money does not matter many of USA's best runners came from poverty, especially in the Sprints, Houston McTear set a World Record in The 100 Yard Dash in High School and his whole family was in poverty.

So many people transfer in and out of that school. Many people are only there for about a year or 2

This is a wild take.

Not Wild Many Boxers Also came from Poverty, Example George Foreman, Joe Fraier, Tommy Hearns Hector Camacho, Joe Louis, There are also Many Successful Boxers who came from Privilege like Tyson Fury, Billy Saunders, Oleksandr Usyk Kltcko Brothers Keyshawn Davis Muhammad Ali etc Bottom Line is Money doesnot make the Athlete ABILITY DOES.

I think you’re missing the point. This is a team of elite HS 800 runners from around the world. The 4 runners on this IMG team come from Texas x 2, PA and Chile. It’s not quite the same as a HS team of 4 runners all from the same city.

The girls are very talented and ran a great race. However, this team was assembled. Only 1 girl was on the roster last year with one transferring from Australia and two out of state. They were extremely talented runners before transferring. This seems to diminish the accomplishments of the teammates that battle together through the ups and downs of the developmental process to reach the ultimate goal.

On the boys side, 6 guys broke 16:03 in the 5k, and just about all of them are new to the school

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The reality is this shouldn't be considered a legitimate high school record. The team was assembled by recruiting from around the country and even out of country. The school can't compete in their respective states high school state series because of their illegitimacy and recruiting practices. Of course the girls are talented, that's why they were recruited to attend IMG. It's not taking away from their individual abilities to point this out, but simply stating the absurdity of recruiting girls then claiming to beat legitimate high schools that rely on girls in their immediate area and coaching them up.

schools like IMG used to feel slimy to me. it still does feel kind of bad that they can break national records from “legitimate” schools. but overall i think “superteams” are really great for athlete development and a contributor to why kids are getting so fast these days.

it’s a nice story when a history teacher puts together a great team out of the neighborhood kids, but really there’s a lot of talent being wasted by terrible coaching and lack of competition. we can’t hold these kids hostage so we can get our feel-good cinderella stories.

yes, there are rich kids who aren’t even really that good going to these schools and paying partial or full tuition which seems pathetic. reframe it as a donation to the development of the Erriyon Knightons.

also is hs recruiting really even new?

this has happened at a more local level since forever. i’ve never seen anyone here complain about Quincy Wilson at Bullis. sure, the kids on the roster are mostly from Maryland and Virginia, but the tuition is 60k/year. you think those kids would be at that school if not for track?

even for a public hs like newbury park, there were plenty of accusations that kids dont actually live there/moved there, no?

it’s 2025, the records have already had some dirt on them for quite a while.

not counting it.

Just about everyone on the Mountain Vista girls XC team (NXN champs) transferred in at some point.

I view transferring within a city as different than having people across the country go there just for sports - regardless of if they're paying or getting a full. If you have a talent developing, why not go to the better school for it?

I also don't have problems with people entering the portal for college. If you're a late bloomer, go to a school that's a better fit for your talent level

Agreed it shouldn't count, this is worse than putting together an all star team of kids from the same area since they recruit internationally