LetsRun - Meet Sydney McLaughlin - The 14 yr old who nearly beat an NCAA champ last week but is too young for World Jrs!

Bump. That's incredible!

Too bad girls improve like 2% from age 14 to adult, if they're lucky enough to imrpove at all

The next Marion Jones?

looks like the second coming of meredith rainey. that girl's so smooth at speed. american record in the 800m if she trained for it over the next decade.

no hurdles expert here but it looked like her strides were off a bit causing some stutter stepping before at least 3 hurdles. Speed seems much better than technique at this point .. makes sense seeing that she is only 14.

whirledpeas wrote:

looks like the second coming of meredith rainey. that girl's so smooth at speed. american record in the 800m if she trained for it over the next decade.

Do you really think she cares about the 800?? Why would she give up the 400h? Think about it before you post.

Very cynical person wrote:

Too bad girls improve like 2% from age 14 to adult, if they're lucky enough to imrpove at all

If she improves 2% - she's world class and 54 seconds in the IH.

Awesome. She's young for her grade too.

Very cynical person wrote:

Too bad girls improve like 2% from age 14 to adult, if they're lucky enough to imrpove at all

So no women improve after 14? It is common to see 14 year olds competing with NCAA champions?

Her brother is a pretty good 200m/400m runner as well.

She may be 14 chronologically, but she looks 18 or 19 physically. She's a woman running against girls.

JJeremy wrote:

The next Marion Jones?

Let's hope not

Link to her race against Little @ USA Juniors in Eugene. She finished second here but cannot go to World Juniors (also in Eugene.)

http://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&do=videos&video_id=121148

Note that she definitely can improve - as she tired over the last 120 m she began to stutter step before the hurdles. That's not even talking about the training she could do post high school. If she remains injury free and continues to train she could become very very good.

Marky Mark Allen wrote:

She may be 14 chronologically, but she looks 18 or 19 physically. She's a woman running against girls.

Well she just ran the NCAA champ to the line and beat other 18-19 year olds, which would make her a woman running against women.

george oscar bluth wrote:

Marky Mark Allen wrote:

She may be 14 chronologically, but she looks 18 or 19 physically. She's a woman running against girls.

Well she just ran the NCAA champ to the line and beat other 18-19 year olds, which would make her a woman running against women.

As I said in a previous post, she could have won that race if she could hurdle with her left leg, which is always better than chopping your steps.

trackcoach wrote:

george oscar bluth wrote:

Well she just ran the NCAA champ to the line and beat other 18-19 year olds, which would make her a woman running against women.

As I said in a previous post, she could have won that race if she could hurdle with her left leg, which is always better than chopping your steps.

...??? I didn't disagree or even comment on her ability to win the race. I was disagreeing with the notion that she's beating up on little girls.

You can compete in the USA Junior meet if you are 14-19 no0t turning 20 the year of the meet, but have to be 16 to be put on the national team.

Very cynical person wrote:

Too bad girls improve like 2% from age 14 to adult, if they're lucky enough to imrpove at all

And I've seen a lot go backwards.

Hopefully she can be one of the improvers.

Just imagine the time she would have run if she didn't stutter step over some of the hurdles. 55 low? Lower?

Such a fluid and graceful runner. Kind of reminded me of Edwin Moses from way back when. Loved watching him run.