High school junior Quentin Nauman 3:58.65 -- closing in 54.713!

Now we know the real reason Powell chickened out.

Actually, they said he closed in 1:54+ which to me is even more impressive. That includes the fact he was 4 wide on the final backstretch, didn’t give up on the homestretch and fought off Tostenson. And a junior.

2-3s. Would love to see these kids in a 3:52 race where they could just sit back and relax til that last 400m. Feels like the HS only races struggle to get the pacing needed to hit the bell around 2:56.

Saddened to hear about his commitment to Oregon. Looking at 4 years of intermittent injury and the stifled development of yet another prodigy.

Yep. Look at what was done to Birnbaum for example. Jerry’s kids really are handicapped.

I wonder if his parents named him after the miler Quentin Cassidy?

goodreads.com

Once a Runner

This is the inspirational cult classic that Runner's Wo…

Open link

And interestingly enough, Birnbaum was already #2 on the team at nationals

Duke is another school with not-so-good coaches that some top runners go to, and they end up not doing well.

Has he considered Iowa State? They took 2nd at nationals

We also saw arrogant loudmouth Socarras get trounced. Kid needed some humbling.

Of course they didnt, Ruxton.

Please use your head and don't spout off every little thought that pops in there

Thanks, David Christ, pleasure to meet you.

If I was Powell I’d dodge him too lol. I wouldn’t let a junior ruin my senior year when I’ve already been crowned king. Avoiding the competition is a good PR and mental move it seems like these days. I’d want to go into college with that undefeated mindset. Losing to somebody when you’re on the verge of breaking a national record from 2003 is max pain. Talk about tough timing.

Yeah, his antics at Arcadia coupled with his boasting were a bit much.

Sorry about that... He's obviously not named after the book's protagonist, since the names aren't even spelled the same. It's just that there was another thread recently debating whether or not that book is "overrated."

And it made me smile to know that fast milers in real life are named Quentin too.

What about you? Are you a fan (or not so much) of Once A Runner?

Always a ton of talk about the HSR but Powell and Nauman are the only guys I could see seriously challenging it. Only two guys out there right now with the speed to do it. (and I guess Cooper, but lord knows we've talked enough about that on here)

Webb's record is officially in jeopardy. Naumann can scare the record this year against a pro field and smash it next year if he stays healthy. Also, he should be able to run a really fast 3k or 2M, given that he had that much left at about 4:06 mile pace through 1320. His pr is 8:52 for 3200m (in April). I bet he gets into the mid-8:30s in a hs only race with better competition.

Mid 8:30s? No way. He seems like a very speed sided runner. I suspect he can still run in the mid, maybe even low 8:40s, but no chance he goes faster than that.

I do think he can run under 1:47 though.

just watched the race, dude is a junior legit ready to threaten 3:53. next year i wouldn't be surprised if he was running hedengren type times. what in the world are we going to do with all of our 1500 talent?

possible ~ 3:54.18

From watching the race, I see that Nauman made a strong move to take the lead around 270m to go, and closed in just under 27, but he faced a very strong challenge from Tostenson most of the way down the homestretch until the latter faded a bit at the end. Since Powell was able to handle Tostenson by a bit, I think he can also handle Nauman this year. Nauman ran a quadruple at states of roughly 8:55 (55 close), 1:47 800m split, 1:49 800m, and 3:59.6 1600m, so I think it's clear he has both the speed and the strength to handle rounds and longer distances. Juniors like this don't come around often and there's no guarantee he'll be faster next year but the odds are that he'll be contesting for national records. I think he'll be under the current 800m record next year if not this year but the new record will be out of reach in the 1:44s.