Hey, how fast was Nick Symmonds in high school? Thanks

I couldn't find times, but he won his state meet in the 800, 1600, 3200, and 4x400 both his junior and senior year. Even in Idaho, thats an accomplishment. I'm guessing he went D3 for the academics more so than not having the ability to run DI

I think he was a 1:53 guy, maybe?

i think...800 and 1600 were 1:53 and 4:24, respectively.

and then freshman year at willamete he dropped down to a 4:03 mile. and at DIII nats he doubled and won the 1500 in 3:46 and 1:49 i think.

so as you can see he was probably very under trained in HS.

qaqaq wrote:

so as you can see he was probably very under trained in HS.

or perhaps he had a relatively intelligent coach who didnt burn him out with high mileage.

going with my original post, i think that with the success of nick symmonds, who was definitely unheard of outside DIII until 2006 USA nats, A LOT of people feel that they can run very fast times and become professional runner with the 'right' training. especially after they see the times he put up in his HS days, which is really nothing to brag about. but nick is a hard worker but just generically superior than basically all of us on this board.

also, i think this is how he progressed

HS: 1:53

frosh: 1:49

soph: 1:48

junior: 1:48

senior: 1:45

I don't think it was an issue of being under trained. Tom Shanahan (Nick's coach from Bishop Kelly) stressed racing over time trialing, and it generally meant Nick won the races he ran (as he would of either way), without leading from the gun.

I am fairly certain Nick could have finished high school with pr's faster than 1:53/4:19, but he was learning how to race.

Granted, this was six or seven years ago (so I might be slightly off), but as I recall, Nick ran 1:53 after running the first quarter in 59+, and sitting in 3rd or 4th place.

You can run away from a high school field in Idaho and run a little faster time, but at some point you need to learn how to run in a pack and race. Nick was fortunate enough to learn that at a young age.

I believe these are his high school pr's

1:53

4:19

9:30

Bump

800: 1:53

1600: 4:20

3200: 9:35

In ski boots ? or not ?