What 800m times would you class as elite, amateur, novice, hack?

Baloney.

My Son is a senior at one of the "big"schools in Columbus Ohio. He runs the 3rd leg on his 4x800 and they are currently top 5 in the state at the Rod Russel Mason Invitational he ran a 1:59 800, made up 75 meters and took his team from 3rd to first when he handed off the baton to the anchor. The finished with a first place time of 8:07

He went on to run against 41 other competitors in the 3200m winning it with a time of 9:43

He has accepted a track scholarship to D2 Malone university Coach Hazen was the 2012 US OLYMPIC Team distance coach. During Malone’s time in the NAIA, Hazen’s men’s squad qualified for the NAIA national meet each and every year, never losing a conference/district meet. In addition, his men’s team recorded 35 top-ten NAIA national finishes.

So, telling me a 1:59 is not a good time for a high schooler in a 4 x 800 team tells me you absolutely do not have the first clue as to what you are talking about.

Oh and the winning time in just the straight 800 at Mason? 1:58.07

Ohio is ELITE for distance running in high school top 5.

Oh and to further prove that you are clueless if you think a sub 2:00 800m for a high schooler is not absolutely FLYING,

NUMEROUS states show that anything sub 2:00 is an AUTOMATIC qualifying time for their state championship.

Its ridiculously easy to google this and see that this is the case.

Anyone tells me that they run a anything at or below a 1:58 800m is telling me you ran track at Div 2 or better on a track scholarship.

If you are running between a 1:52-1:58 in the 800m you are in the area of Div 1 consideration

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/trackandfieldscholarships.htm

Men Division 2

800 - 1:58, 1600 - 4:25, 3200 - 9:55, 5K - 16:15

http://www.tips4running.com/Running-Scholarship.html

Depending on WHERE you are competing makes all the difference in the world. A high school senior running a 1:58 in places like New Mexico and Arizona you are probably placing or winning your state championship and you are getting a scholarship to run track at a D1 or D2 school in your state.

In Ohio you better be a distance runner who has competitive times in the 800,1600 and 3200 times or you aren't may not even get offered a scholarship in track without doing some real hard working in getting your information out there to states that have less competition.

For example, in West Virginia the winning time in the 800m for the state championship at the AAA school level was a 2:00.8 in the 1600 its a 4:31 and the 3200 its a 9.41.58

My son who is the 2nd best 800m on his team the #1 1600 and 3200 m runner would win the 800M and likely win the 3200m and place 2nd in the 1600m in West Virginia.

In Ohio his times are doubtful to get out of the District because of how insanely competitive it is. The winning time in the 3200m in WVa was a 9:41 2015 Ohio State finals time in the 3200 a 9:41 placed 14th Winning time was a 9:00 With 8 guys running a sub 9:20 time

His HS 4 x 800 team ran an 8:00 and finished 2nd in the meet which is the 4th fastest time in the State for this year.

Yo dad Rob,

cool story bro,

you mad, dad?

not very fast wrote:

In an introductory class on quantitative methods this chart of the 800m time distribution was presented, it gave me a good laugh at the time considering the mean is around 1:50. It is made up, however, it might be more accurate for 400m

http://docdro.id/13zty

What a ridiculous example for a statistics class. Not because the mean is wrong, but because real 800m running times are clearly not normally distributed in linear time. And that's something anyone studying, never mind teaching such a course, should be aware of.

A freshman girl in Southern California who runs 800s should be like 2:30 at a regular meet. If it’s not your race (yet) or if you’re short distance don’t expect to break 3:00 but you will soon with practice.

ButIrunThough wrote:

A freshman girl in Southern California who runs 800s should be like 2:30 at a regular meet. If it’s not your race (yet) or if you’re short distance don’t expect to break 3:00 but you will soon with practice.

Who are these people that find threads that have been dormant for years and just post on them like the conversation is presently happening?

So, so weird. Why aren't two year old threads locked?

ButIrunThough wrote:

A freshman girl in Southern California who runs 800s should be like 2:30 at a regular meet. If it’s not your race (yet) or if you’re short distance don’t expect to break 3:00 but you will soon with practice.

In fact you were replying directly to a person that posted in 2012.

This is the strangest website sometimes.

t94bell wrote:

1:40-1:42 = World Best

1:43-1:45 = World Class

1:46-1:48 = Elite

1:49-1:52 = Collegiate Good/High School Best

1:52-1:59 = Collegiate Average/High School Good

2:00-2:07 = Collegiate Poor/High School Average

2:08-2:15 = High School Poor/JV Best

2:16-2:25 = JV Good/Middle School Best

2:26-2:35 = JV Average/Middle School Good

2:36-2:50 = JV Poor/Middle School Good

2:50-3:20 = JV Worst/Middle School Good

3:21-3:50 = JV Abysmal/Middle School Poor

3:51-4:30 = Middle School Poor

4:31-5:30 = Middle School Abysmal

5:31-6:30 = Borderline Pathetic

6:31-7:30 = Pathetic

7:31-8:30 = What?

8:30+ = Nice try troll.

i completely agree with this one.

i ran 1:56 in high school, 1:51 in college. my college best I was not contending for the win at all

never really won any races at all now that i think about it, only relays and the occasional low-key meet where my teammates (faster) was in other events.

Josh Hoey = elite = 2020 olympics????

ex-runner wrote:

ButIrunThough wrote:

A freshman girl in Southern California who runs 800s should be like 2:30 at a regular meet. If it’s not your race (yet) or if you’re short distance don’t expect to break 3:00 but you will soon with practice.

Who are these people that find threads that have been dormant for years and just post on them like the conversation is presently happening?

So, so weird. Why aren't two year old threads locked?

I think they're are just googling the topic and LRC's posts will pop up with your general search. ?

How good?? wrote:

1:40-1:42 = Worlds Best

1:43-1:45 = World Class

1:46-1:48 = Elite

1:49-1:52 = Good

1:53-1:57 = Average

1:58-2:02 = Begginer

2:02+ = Hack

You are truly nuts if you think these standards are true for anybody other than high profile male athletes.

I wager that even the best pro soccer players in the world wouldn’t get past the beginnger standard.

But I assume this is definitely a troll thread, it has to be.

A realistic chart for males in their prime (add 20 seconds on for females):

1:40-1:45: world class

Under 1:50: sub elite/elite

Under 2:00: outstanding

Under 2:15: fast

Under 2:30: excellent

Under 3:00: good/functional basic speed

3:15-3:30: average/beginner

4:00+ : out of shape/hack

For dedicated male track athletes anything under 2:10ish gets my respect.

I ran a 1:53:8 in hs 1:46:9 in college. I guess good for hs, elite for college

There's several things off here.

Unless we're talking about college 800m times, in my area (Idaho) the highschool 800m times look like this:

1:50-2:00 = Elite

2:01-2:20 = Fairly Fast

2:21-2:40 = Average

2:41+= Beginner

800m high school tier system for good times.

There are levels between good and great high school runners.

I made this guide to help talented high school runners to never settle. Always have a birds eye view of your competition. Don’t think locally think global.

My journey

Fastest time: 1:57

- Freshman 2:05-2:15 (1-star ranking)

- Sophomore 2:03-2:09 (1-Star ranking)

- Junior 2:03-2:05 (1-star ranking)

- Senior 1:57-2:01 (3-star ranking)

I am a 3-Star ranking runner

1. Received Many NCAA Division 3 offers. Competed at States (15th out of 25). Top 20 runner in state of Michigan.

2. Conference Championship Medalists (1st-3rd place)

3. Multiple District Tournament Medals.

What I wish I would have did differently

- freshman: 1:59-2:07

- Sophomore: 1:57-2:03

- Junior year: 1:53-1:59

- Senior year: 1:51-1:55

I should have ran cross country my sophomore year.

Star ranking system

1-star ranking: Districts (or city) Meet Material representing their School. This is the minimum time to be a respectable Varsity Runner.

- only competitive at school meets.

- Relay slow legs at fast schools.

400m and 800m Times

55- 2:05

54- 2:03

Varsity runners who are known as fast kids in their school. Not the best runners on the team but they can score at conference.

2-star ranking: Regional Time Trials Material representing their district.

- top 50 state runner.

- Division 3 walk ons

400m and 800m Times

53- 2:01

52- 1:59

NCAA: Division 3 tier (potential 1:49-1:51 runners) love of the Sport liberal arts kids.

3-star ranking: State Meets Material representing their conference.

- top 20 runner in your state.

- Received many D3 offers

400m and 800m Times

51- 1:57

50- 1:55

NCAA: Division 2 tier (potential 1:47-1:49 runners) Division 1 transfer (AKA late bloomers)

- didn’t get great until their senior year. Before hand they were slackers.

4-star ranking: National Material representing their region (ex. Mid-West, East Coast, West Coast, South)

- Top 10 runner in your state

- Received many D2 offers.

400m and 800m Times

49- 1:53

48- 1:51

NCAA: Division 1 Tier (potential 1:45-1:47 runners) also known as the B-standard for Olympic Time trials.

5-star Ranking: World-Class Material Representing their Nation.

- State record holders

- Received many D1 offers

400m and 800m Times

47- 1:49

46- 1:47

Olympic Trial A Standard: (potential 1:41-1:45 runners) potential Olympic Medalist

Ending runners career times

1-star ranking (D3) 1:49-1:51

2-star ranking (D2) 1:47-1:49

3-star ranking (D1) 1:45-1:47

4-star ranking (Olympic) 1:41-1:45

<1:45 = Worlds Best [Olympic / WC finalist contender]

1:45-1:48 = Elite [Makes some money from track, e.g. at least gets free gear to run in]

1:49-1:55 = Excellent [Can enter a weak professional meet, is exceptional in high school]

1:56-2:10 = Good [Solid runner that would destroy any random person on the street, and could be in the hunt to win in any random high school dual meet]

2:11-2:20 = Average [Slowish, but the middle of the pack in your random high school dual meet between 2 non-competitive, schools. Will still beat nearly all non-runners]

2:21-2:44 = Room for improvement [More fit than most, but not competitive in any sense]

2:45+ = Hack/unfit

The debate continues?

Cinder tracks:

--guy who ran against Jim Ryun and ran 800m at nationals said 2-3 seconds slower for 800 on cinder.

--So...3:55 on tartan is the sub-4 mile on cinder?

--Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquouri, Alan Webb.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_students_who_have_run_a_four-minute_mile

--Now, carbon-plate track spikes.

--Don't know the advantage per 800m, but appears to be no less than 1.5 seconds, which is 3 sec or more for mile.

--Did Nick Willis really break 4 min for the mile the last couple of years, if going by the standards of tartan tracks and minimalist track spikes?

--Are the 2020 and 2021 HS girls really that fast in regular track spikes?

Below is an old list, converting some times from 880y.

Richard Joyce runs 1:48.2 for 800m in '65.

That is about 1:46 on tartan tracks.

Don't know if Dale Scott ('72) ran his time on cinder, as many HS tracks will still cinder back then. If so, Dale Scott is 1:45+ in HS.

1:46.45 Michael Granville (Bell Gardens, California) 96

1:46.58 George Kersh (Pearl, Mississippi) 87

1:47.31 Pete Richardson (Berkeley, California) 81

1:47.74 Alan Webb (South Lakes, Reston, Virginia) 01

1:47.9+ Dale Scott (El Cerrito, California) 72

1:48.09 Doug Herron (Bartlett, Anchorage, Alaska) 85

1:48.20 Jeff West (Crenshaw, Los Angeles, California) 79

1:48.21 Jonathan Johnson (Abilene, Texas) 01

1:48.2+ Richard Joyce (Sierra, Whittier, California) 65

1:48.3+ Dave Ayoub (Central, Peoria, Illinois) 77

Adjusting for tartan tracks (no PEDs, no carbon-plate spikes):

(800 competitors)

< 1:43 - World class (i.e. top international meets)

< 1:46 - International class

< 1:48 - National class

< 1:50 - NCAA (top HS)

< 1:52 - NCAA D2, D3 (elite HS)

< 1:54 - excellent HS

< 1:56 - very good HS

< 1:58 - good HS

< 2:02 - above average HS

< 2:06 - average HS

(1600 competitors; add almost 2 seconds for mile)

< 3:50 - world class

< 3:53 - International class

< 3:58 - National class

< 4:02 - NCAA (top HS)

< 4:06 - NCAA D2, D3, (elite HS)

< 4:14 - excellent HS

< 4:22 - very good HS

< 4:30 - good HS

< 4:38 - average HS

subfive wrote:

How good?? wrote:

1:40-1:42 = Worlds Best

1:43-1:45 = World Class

1:46-1:48 = Elite

1:49-1:52 = Good

1:53-1:57 = Average

1:58-2:02 = Begginer

2:02+ = Hack

1:43 - World champion class

1:47 - 1:44 = WC

1:53 - 1:48 = National class

1:59 - 1:49 = Elite

2:00 - 2:05 = Very Good

2:06 - 2:16 = Good

2:17 - novice

I think this is fine/rational. No need for a hack category. Anybody outside of 2:20-2:30 range is probably newer to running or not an 800 runner. Should just stop after 2:15-2:20.

How good?? wrote:

I don't know how bad all the athletes are in america but where I come from if your not running at least 1.51 after a few years training your not going anywhere. Seriously, any chump with the least amount of tallent in the world could still run sub 2:00, is not a quick time.

Nonsense most runners could not break 2 mins.

What's the equivalent about sub 32 for 10km.

It's just that most people outside of college teams don't have the speed ao don't even try to run 800's

MatthewXCountry wrote:

<1:45 = Worlds Best [Olympic / WC finalist contender]

1:45-1:48 = Elite [Makes some money from track, e.g. at least gets free gear to run in]

1:49-1:55 = Excellent [Can enter a weak professional meet, is exceptional in high school]

1:56-2:10 = Good [Solid runner that would destroy any random person on the street, and could be in the hunt to win in any random high school dual meet]

2:11-2:20 = Average [Slowish, but the middle of the pack in your random high school dual meet between 2 non-competitive, schools. Will still beat nearly all non-runners]

2:21-2:44 = Room for improvement [More fit than most, but not competitive in any sense]

2:45+ = Hack/unfit

Looks about right.