Did Gerry Lindgren or any US male go undefeated for their HS careers?

Who?

I can't recall where the chapter and verse on this is, but I recall reading that Lindgren started out cross country way back on his team, but just kept running at the front as long as he could until he could eventually stay in front of everyone.

He's not an American, but Herb Elliott is worth a mention. He never had the experience of losing a race.

It's worth noting that she would no doubt be about to take her first loss if Mary Cain hadn't gone pro.

From:

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/lindgrens-legend-part-i?page=single

RT: When you started running as a sophomore in high school, you weren’t a very good runner, were you?

GL: “When I got into high school, when I first started in cross country, I was the last guy on the team. I couldn’t stay up with anybody. I was way back. I wanted to quick so bad I could taste it. That was my sophomore year. I came from a junior high school, so I started as a sophomore. The coach took me aside and told me that because I was so small and skinny that I had an opportunity to inspire other people, that other people couldn’t inspire like I could because I was so unlikely looking that I could make them run better. Being so wimpy and uncoordinated, I thought probably never ever in my life would I do anything that would ever help other people. And to have this opportunity that I supposedly had to help other people was kind of a emotional turn-on for me. It’s something I wanted to do."

More from the same interview:

RT: So what happened?

GL: “So I started trying to lead everybody in practice, which was amazing because I couldn’t even stay with anybody before and then I was trying to lead everyone by running as hard as I could. When one or more of my teammates would catch me and go by, I would sprint as hard as I could to keep them back and then I’d completely fall apart and still I’d wind up way back. But slowly, it got so that it was harder and harder for them to catch me. And suddenly I was the No. 1 guy on our cross country team. My coach said I had to do that with the runners on the other teams, too.”

RT: How quickly did you emerge as a top-tier runner in high school?

GL: “The season started with a practice race, and in that race I went out really fast and got the lead and then the first guy on our team got by me and I tucked in behind him and decided I was just going to try to stay there as long as I could, and I ended up second on our team. It was quite a surprise and I was terribly happy with it, but our coach yelled at me and said that wasn’t why I should be running. He said I should have challenged him and asked me why I didn’t run faster. Four guys from another school went by us, and I didn’t do anything about it, I just let them go. He said if that’s the kind of cross country I wanted to run, then he didn’t’ want me on his team. So that woke me up a little bit. When we had our first real dual meet, I took off and just ran the whole race as hard as my body would let itself go. And I ended up winning, and it really surprised the devil out of me. By the end of my sophomore year, I had finished second in the state cross country race. It was quite an improvement.”

Couldn't help myself wrote:

It's worth noting that she would no doubt be about to take her first loss if Mary Cain hadn't gone pro.

It's worth noting that there actually is plenty of doubt that Cain could beat Baxter this year. They've both improved about the same amount since last year. So there's no clear evidence that the result would change significantly from last year.

LetsRun.com wrote:

We know Verbicas did it in his 3 years of HS but he was only in HS for 3 years and wasn't American. What about Lindgren? Any women?

SOmeone in a thread on Baxter said Lindgren did it:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5519897

Well Verzbicas lost at least once in a 2 mile race against the Rosa brothers.

Did Bobby Curtis ever lose? He was a 16-time state champ in HS. Nasty.

Couldn't help myself wrote:

He's not an American, but Herb Elliott is worth a mention. He never had the experience of losing a race.

Elliott lost a lot of races at distances other than 1500/mile.

I know Futsum Zeinasellassie was 4 time Indiana 3200m state champ in track

backkick wrote:

Couldn't help myself wrote:

He's not an American, but Herb Elliott is worth a mention. He never had the experience of losing a race.

Elliott lost a lot of races at distances other than 1500/mile.

Ah, so I guess Baxter is undefeated on the track too?

And to the guy who thinks Baxter would beat Cain . . . lol!

ooso wrote:

Couldn't help myself wrote:

It's worth noting that she would no doubt be about to take her first loss if Mary Cain hadn't gone pro.

It's worth noting that there actually is plenty of doubt that Cain could beat Baxter this year. They've both improved about the same amount since last year. So there's no clear evidence that the result would change significantly from last year.

ABOUT THE SAME??/How do you figure that???

Thought we agreed on another thread that the increment of

improvement BY Mary Cain would be matched if Sarah Baxter

continued to improve (15:45 @ MT SAC)

BUT, she's run SLOWER Than her Junior Times

Baxter's Mt. SAC XC Career

Freshman Year (2010) - 16:41

Sophomore Year (2011) - 16:59

Baxter's sophomore record was broken by Davis' Fiona O'Keeffe (16:54) in the Girl's Individual Sweepstakes, which was the race before the Girl's Team Sweepstakes.

Junior Year (2012) - 16:00

Senior Year (2013) - 16:11

1. Sarah Baxter (Simi Valley-SS) 2012 State Meet (also Southern Section record) 16:40

1. Sarah Baxter 2013 State Meet (16:43)

Good Luck this weekend with Efraimson

I believe Jim Ryun only lost once on the track in High School. His first mile of the season--4:32--he finished right behind the state champion. A week later he beat him, running 4:26. Never lost again in HS. By the end of his sophomore year he had run 4:07. Down from 5:30 nine months earlier.

The human equivalent of Secretariat. The term "awesome" is over used, but it aptly described Ryun. A freak of nature (in a good way, of course) like Usain Bolt.

LetsRun.com wrote:

We know Verbicas did it in his 3 years of HS but he was only in HS for 3 years and wasn't American. What about Lindgren? Any women?

SOmeone in a thread on Baxter said Lindgren did it:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5519897

Is this only including XC?

Verzbicas was undefeated in XC, but he did lose during track twice his Freshman year and once his Sophomore year.

Jim Ryun got beat by Gerry Lindgren indoors at the Cow Palace when he was lapped in a two mile.

George Atlas wrote:

Jim Ryun got beat by Gerry Lindgren indoors at the Cow Palace when he was lapped in a two mile.

You forgot to mention he also fell down.

Coll wrote:

Did Bobby Curtis ever lose? He was a 16-time state champ in HS. Nasty.

Dude was killer in HS, but outside his state comps he got beat plenty at Foot Locker, etc.

HaywardField wrote:

I believe Jim Ryun only lost once on the track in High School. His first mile of the season--4:32--he finished right behind the state champion. A week later he beat him, running 4:26. Never lost again in HS. By the end of his sophomore year he had run 4:07.8. Down from 5:38 nine months earlier.

Ryun was 6th in state his sophomore year of cross country, and I believe Gene McClain beat him once his junior year, when McClain was a senior.

I'm pretty sure Lindgren didn't. As I understand it, he wasn't a superstar frosh, and that is what it would take to go undefeated for a full 4 year HS career.

I doubt there has ever been a HS boy that went 4 years undefeated (assuming you limit the scope to kids who ran at national races, as kids that simply only ran locally aren't really in a comparable same situation)