Prefontaine Cost an OR HS Team a State Championship

Or maybe they should let kids do this, because it is just HS XC, and children need to learn these lessons - that good intentions are not enough. You need to do the work.

Mike Stahr would go out in 60 in every mile his freshman year of HS, then die. Next year, he made it to 2 laps. Jr year, 3.

His senior year he was unbeatable, in part because he was a touch stubborn sob who knew how to run everybody into the ground.

Yeah, because anyone who ever went out too fast could blame Prefontaine. He's so powerful that even back in the 50's if runners went out too fat they could blame the "Man who is going to be" PRE.

You are joking, aren't you? I hope you're not this stupid in all things in life.

Did he run in sub 13 after running his last 1200m in 3 minutes?

PRE LIVES, bitch

You have a problem with this? No one makes a move when they are on empty but that move can make them realize they were a lot closer to empty than they thought. No coach would have a problem with a kid trying to win a state championship, espescially when the kid is in position to do so with less than a mile to go. He wins and they win by a ton. There is no guarentee that he wouldn't have finished 20th or something if he hadn't made the move and then they still lose.

You have to take chances in racing sometimes to acheive greatness. You obviously have never achieved anything of note.

Heck man, at least the kid went after it. It sounded like a dumb move but most of the time, high school kids aren't gutsy enough to make a big gamble like that. It's easy to bash people who make bold moves, especially someone who was probably sitting on the sidelines.

So he finished his last 1200m in 3:00 and lost two dozen spots? Wow, if closing at 4 minute mile pace loses ground how fast did the winners close?

So, the T-shirts should read:

"I run even pace so I don't get flamed on Let's Run."

"I'm going to make it a race to see who has the least guts."

"Slow and steady makes me a mid-packer."

"Pre dies, but I won't, 'cuz I'm hitting the first mile in 5:30."

"I always race so for the rest of my life I can say, 'What if?' "

The kid's coach is to blame. Obviously he did a good enough job of getting his guys in shape to compete for a state title, but he didn't teach his guys much discipline. I know it's not always an easy task, but if stress proper race tactics from day 1, kids get it. Maybe in the future this coach and others can use this as an example of how NOT to run a championship race.

Wow, this is unbelievable. I witnessed the same event as you but have a very different opinion. First of all, do you know that the kid is a freshman??

His race, for me, was the one of the most impressive of the day. I'm not sure anyone ran harder. This was not a Puskedra, or a Vaughn, this was not an act of a kid running outside of his talent level, this was a kid who ran smart in the beginning and then within the last 200 hit the motherfin' wall trying to win a title.

I am sure Siuslaw is bummed about not winning the title, and I am sure that no one feels worse than the frosh (name escapes me) but knowing a bit about his coach I know that Johnson is okay with his kid doing everything that he could.

I know the kid has run under 16:00 this year, he had to have been one of the favorites.

High school kids have been going out too hard and dying for as long as they've had cross country in high school.

Except it doesn't sound like this kid when out too hard. Sounds like he did a surge with 1200m to go and didn't have it. That is way different than opening with a 4:50 and closing with a 5:50.

Primordial Ooze wrote:

High school kids have been going out too hard and dying for as long as they've had cross country in high school.

I would like to interject if I may with a little wisdom I wish I had known in high school. It takes no "guts" to go after it and try to win a race against runners much better than you. What takes guts is putting in the work day after day, year after year, so that you can hang with and legitimately beat the guys at the front. It seems like high school kids are taught that Pre just went out and won races because he believed he could do it, as if one could set a national 2 mile record off pure will. What they don't teach them is the stuff that no one wants to hear. But that's because getting out there everyday and running more than anyone else just isn't as romantic as "guts".

Read my post. I went back and checked, the kid had the second fastest time in the state and he went out conservatively. He simply bonked, it was not due to coaching error (Chris Johnson has 6 titles) it was not due to him running like an idiot. Only on letsrun would grown ass men jump on a 15/16 year old kid.

we need more people willing to risk in races. a lot of the time it doesnt work (like here) but sometimes it does work and that is how you find out how good you really are.

Billy Mills- "I haven't seen too many American distance men on the international scene willing to take risks. I saw some U.S. women in Barcelona willing to risk, more than men. The Kenyans risk. Steve Prefontaine risked. I risked--I went through the first half of the Tokyo race just a second off my best 5000 time."

My statement was to be applied to the general subject, not necessarily this specific situation.

a journalist wrote:

"Pre dies, but I won't, 'cuz I'm hitting the first mile in 5:30."

i lol'd

[quote]Post-Fontaine wrote:

I watched a kid "Prefontaine" himself into the lead with 1200m to go in the Oregon HS State Championship only to stagger in to the finish 3 minutes later, barely moving forward, with guys streaming by him on both sides. He went from 1st to 24th in the matter of 3 minutes and his team lost by 15. To collapse that badly, that quickly in a 5K he must have already been on empty when he made his move. Had he protected his place he and his team go home with a trophy.

This was only the most dramatic example of kids pulling off ridiculous stunts in trying to win the state meet against all odds. These kids are inundated with Prefontaine quotes about seeing who has the most guts and it inspires them to throw races at the biggest meet of the year.

I don't blame the kids for trying but coaches need to make sure they under the physiological limits of running. The starting line is not an even playing field. Not everyone can win just because really want to.

Let's change the quote on the t-shirts next year.[/quote

If the kid had been trained properly with solid mileage behind him (80-90mpw) he wouldn't have faltered in the last 400 meters. It's just weak training pure and simple. You can blame the kid or the coach - take your pick.

The kid is still in the hospital over two days later. I think anyone would have to agree that he may have over did it a bit.