Yared Nuguse watch out - Does the US have another Ethiopian-American star in the making? Yohanes Van Meerten

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6 months ago 12/03/2025 11:53pm EST

Flagstaff High School (AZ) junior Yohanes Van Meerten has been one of this fall’s biggest breakout stars. Born in Ethiopia and adopted into the U.S. at the age of one, he showed promise in a sophomore campaign that was truncated by Arizona transfer eligibility rules. A 14:28 5000m performance at Nike Outdoor Nationals gave the nation a taste of what was to come when he returned to the grass this fall.

Van Meerten has only been running seriously for about 18 months, and accordingly, has a very unique Mount Rushmore of elite runners he looks up to: “who got me into running was Quincy Wilson. I loved Usain Bolt, but Quincy Wilson was a big inspiration for me to go do all this running. With other pros, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is probably one of my favorite long guys and Edward Cheserek. I just found out about him and he’s becoming more of an inspiration…”

citiusmag.com

Q&A: Yohanes Van Meerten Breaks Down His Impressive 2025 Season + Lessons Learned From NXR Southwest - CITIUS Mag

Catching up with high school cross country star Yohanes Van Meerten to reflect on his running career and chat about NXN next weekend.

Open link

PS. And don't give me crap. I know Nuguse was born in the US and this guy was born in Ethiopia.

His performance at the Mt. Sac Invitational is possibly the greatest high school cross country performance of the 21st century.

He's only been running seriously for 18 months and already probably in sub 14 shape on a very flat xc course. I don't get how somebody produces an aerobic engine like that so quickly. Is the altitude that big of a gamechanger? Seems like it's impossible for new talented runners to make a difference in xc and it's easier in track where they can rely on there speed. But he's proving me wrong.

Also there's a sophomore Somali runner Abdinasir Hassan in Colorado who broke 9 in outdoor as a freshman (#5 Freshman All-Time). And was 6th at NXR SW 14:37, might be the fastest hs xc 5k by a Somali American runner, Ahmed Bile (c/o 2012) was the fastest before I believe at 14:38.

Anybody know why Hassan skipped the Colorado State meet? So many talented up and coming runners, it's too much depth now lol. Feels like any guy running 15:10 is completely irrelevant now on the national scene, aside from being on a good team. 15:10 used to mean you were the man in hs any region.

What does a high school sophomore running the 5k have do to with Goose?

6 months ago 12/04/2025 11:49am EST

re: thiskidisscary

thiskidisscary wrote:
He's only been running seriously for 18 months and already probably in sub 14 shape on a very flat xc course. I don't get how somebody produces an aerobic engine like that so quickly. Is the altitude that big of a gamechanger? Seems like it's impossible for new talented runners to make a difference in xc and it's easier in track where they can rely on there speed. But he's proving me wrong.
Also there's a sophomore Somali runner Abdinasir Hassan in Colorado who broke 9 in outdoor as a freshman (#5 Freshman All-Time). And was 6th at NXR SW 14:37, might be the fastest hs xc 5k by a Somali American runner, Ahmed Bile (c/o 2012) was the fastest before I believe at 14:38.
Anybody know why Hassan skipped the Colorado State meet? So many talented up and coming runners, it's too much depth now lol. Feels like any guy running 15:10 is completely irrelevant now on the national scene, aside from being on a good team. 15:10 used to mean you were the man in hs any region.

Hassan transferred this year. Per league rules he could only run JV. It was ridiculous because he had to run JV at Liberty Bell and beat the rest of the field by minutes.

trump will probably have the Somali runner deported by New Year.

Why does Nuguse need to watch out? Is there a rule that there can only be one Ethiopian-American star runner in the U.S.? I think it's okay if there are two.

6 months ago 12/04/2025 4:31pm EST

re: probably this

How old is he though. Not impressive if 19.

6 months ago 12/04/2025 4:44pm EST

re: probably this

probably this wrote:
Why does Nuguse need to watch out? Is there a rule that there can only be one Ethiopian-American star runner in the U.S.? I think it's okay if there are two.

Agreed. Also, Nuguse has consistently said that he plans to return to dentistry, and his intention is to do so by the time he turns 30 (2029). So, even if this kid develops well, Nuguse will be retired from his running career before the kid finishes college.

6 months ago 12/04/2025 5:02pm EST

re: SippyTop

SippyTop wrote:
His performance at the Mt. Sac Invitational is possibly the greatest high school cross country performance of the 21st century.

It was good, in fact I would say exceptional, but the greatest high school cross country performance of the 21st century. For perspective, you might want to watch the 2001 and 2004 FLNC races.

5 months ago 12/04/2025 5:34pm EST

re: thiskidisscary

thiskidisscary wrote:
He's only been running seriously for 18 months and already probably in sub 14 shape on a very flat xc course. I don't get how somebody produces an aerobic engine like that so quickly. Is the altitude that big of a gamechanger? Seems like it's impossible for new talented runners to make a difference in xc and it's easier in track where they can rely on there speed. But he's proving me wrong.
Also there's a sophomore Somali runner Abdinasir Hassan in Colorado who broke 9 in outdoor as a freshman (#5 Freshman All-Time). And was 6th at NXR SW 14:37, might be the fastest hs xc 5k by a Somali American runner, Ahmed Bile (c/o 2012) was the fastest before I believe at 14:38.
Anybody know why Hassan skipped the Colorado State meet? So many talented up and coming runners, it's too much depth now lol. Feels like any guy running 15:10 is completely irrelevant now on the national scene, aside from being on a good team. 15:10 used to mean you were the man in hs any region.

Altitude helps but as with many things in running it just comes down to talent. Running has received a lot of exposure on social media post pandemic and there's just been a ton of new people joining the sport. Meerten probably would have ended up in club soccer or something a decade ago.

The USA has an enormous amount of people. Statistically we should have dozens of these guys on a yearly basis.

5 months ago 12/04/2025 5:46pm EST

re: mictlantecuhtli

mictlantecuhtli wrote:
thiskidisscary wrote:
He's only been running seriously for 18 months and already probably in sub 14 shape on a very flat xc course. I don't get how somebody produces an aerobic engine like that so quickly. Is the altitude that big of a gamechanger? Seems like it's impossible for new talented runners to make a difference in xc and it's easier in track where they can rely on there speed. But he's proving me wrong.
Also there's a sophomore Somali runner Abdinasir Hassan in Colorado who broke 9 in outdoor as a freshman (#5 Freshman All-Time). And was 6th at NXR SW 14:37, might be the fastest hs xc 5k by a Somali American runner, Ahmed Bile (c/o 2012) was the fastest before I believe at 14:38.
Anybody know why Hassan skipped the Colorado State meet? So many talented up and coming runners, it's too much depth now lol. Feels like any guy running 15:10 is completely irrelevant now on the national scene, aside from being on a good team. 15:10 used to mean you were the man in hs any region.
Altitude helps but as with many things in running it just comes down to talent. Running has received a lot of exposure on social media post pandemic and there's just been a ton of new people joining the sport. Meerten probably would have ended up in club soccer or something a decade ago.
The USA has an enormous amount of people. Statistically we should have dozens of these guys on a yearly basis.

To tell the truth ..... a significant amount of XC kids are the ones who either burned out or got cut from soccer. So, XC has actually benefitted from an increase in soccer popularity. In some states, girls or boys soccer is in the spring so they can do both.

5 months ago 12/04/2025 6:50pm EST

re: ndkdo

ndkdo wrote:
What does a high school sophomore running the 5k have do to with Goose?

Because the kid got 6th behind Van Meerten and is another East African diaspora runner now training at altitude early in high school. This is unique.

Runners from an East African background in hs have rarely had this level of aerobic development before. There have been great miler types in the past but they couldn’t get to this level because of the focus on anaerobic training. And rarely do they ever train at altitude before college.
This is a big shift.

This is now an East African American runner appreciation thread.

5 months ago 12/04/2025 7:10pm EST

re: thiskidisscary

thiskidisscary wrote:
He's only been running seriously for 18 months and already probably in sub 14 shape on a very flat xc course. I don't get how somebody produces an aerobic engine like that so quickly. Is the altitude that big of a gamechanger? Seems like it's impossible for new talented runners to make a difference in xc and it's easier in track where they can rely on there speed. But he's proving me wrong.
Also there's a sophomore Somali runner Abdinasir Hassan in Colorado who broke 9 in outdoor as a freshman (#5 Freshman All-Time). And was 6th at NXR SW 14:37, might be the fastest hs xc 5k by a Somali American runner, Ahmed Bile (c/o 2012) was the fastest before I believe at 14:38.
Anybody know why Hassan skipped the Colorado State meet? So many talented up and coming runners, it's too much depth now lol. Feels like any guy running 15:10 is completely irrelevant now on the national scene, aside from being on a good team. 15:10 used to mean you were the man in hs any region.

He has some rather decent youth performances so he has been running at least somewhat his entire life. Still insane but helps put his improvement into context.

5 months ago 12/04/2025 7:12pm EST

re: byucheats

byucheats wrote:
How old is he though. Not impressive if 19.

Normal age. He's 17 as a junior.

Ethiopian and Kenyans have ruled the roost for years. Why is this any different because his parents screwed in another country?

5 months ago 12/05/2025 7:54am EST

re: ndkdo

ndkdo wrote:
What does a high school sophomore running the 5k have do to with Goose?

I agree with this. Nuguse is well-known for his 1500 and mile. I'm not sure what a 5k phenom has to do with middle distance.

5 months ago 12/05/2025 8:08am EST

re: SippyTop

SippyTop wrote:
His performance at the Mt. Sac Invitational is possibly the greatest high school cross country performance of the 21st century.

The greatest high school performance of the 21st century is still Ritz's bronze medal at World Junior XC champs behind a young Bekele in 2001.

5 months ago 12/05/2025 8:12am EST

re: 007run

It's doubtful on his age. Look at Eliud and others. Betting 19.

5 months ago 12/05/2025 9:27am EST

re: 007run

This is a good story and a talented young man, I am just hoping his parents have obtained US citizenship so he is not shipped off by ICE or at the very least left hanging... for many years like Edward C.

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