16-year old runs 13:58 in Japan!!! What's the US age 16 record?

U.S. under 20 performances that I can think of:

18? German Fernandez 13:25?

19 Dathan Ritzenhein 13:27 (turned 20 before end of year so not on the junior list)

19? Chris Derrick 13:29

19 Matt Withrow 13:35

18? Galen Rupp 13:37

18 Gary Lindgren 13:44

18 Dathan Ritzenhein 13:44

17 Chris Derrick 13:51?

I know of no 16y very close to 14. I'd think that 14:10 might be the best.

Galen Rupp ran 13:37 at 18

Gerry Lindgren ran 13:44 at 18

Dathan Ritzenhein ran 13:44 at 19

Steve Prefontaine ran 13:52 at 18

Craig Virgin ran 13:58 at 17

Aren't the Japanese notorious age cheats like the Kenyans?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 15, 16, 17 and probably 18 year old records are incorrect. I'd throw Kipchoge on there, but he's been so good so long, it has to be close to correct, otherwise he'd be like 40 years old and running 204.

Just have one thing you wanted: Canadian Junior Record for 5000m is Bruce Kidd from 1962 - 13:43.8 at 18 yrs. old. Thanks to Orville Atkins on this very forum.

oh please wrote:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 15, 16, 17 and probably 18 year old records are incorrect. I'd throw Kipchoge on there, but he's been so good so long, it has to be close to correct, otherwise he'd be like 40 years old and running 204.

helps when you can toss out certain evidence because it doesn't fit your narrative, doesn't it?

Brett Larner reports it came in the final and 41st heat of the 5ks at the Nittai University Time Trials.

That naturally leads to some questions.

Does anyone know what's the best in US history at age 16?

I guess why were at it - what's the official (not that I believe it ) record for Kenya?

Ethiopia?

Canada?

UK?

Also how many 5k heats do they run at Mt. Sac? Stanford?

41 heats even at just 15 minutes each would take more than 10 hours.

rojo wrote:

Does anyone know what's the best in US history at age 16?

I think i can sort of answer the question:

American SCHOOL record for 16 y.o (and only a frosh, first year HS comp) . -

Lukas Verzbicas: 14:18.22, indoors won by 43 seconds.

The next day ran 8:57 2 mile.

So yes, the Japanese guy is better. But LV's race was indoors, he won by absurd margin, and came back big the next day with his 8:57. My only point: he was probably capable of a paced sub 14:10 outdoors if at that time he had had a race like that to run.

So yes, this Japanese kid is at LV's level or better for talent. Hard to believe.

Maybe they will finally produce a great 5k/10k runner ?? Nah....he'll probably just move to the marathon, run 2:06, and get crushed by the 2:03 kenyans/eth's.

kelk wrote:

Aren't the Japanese notorious age cheats like the Kenyans?

Japan records births in pretty much the same way as the US.

Btw, the U.S. has had several athletes who possibly could have run 13:58 at age 16, but most of our 16 yo don't have a strong enough aerobic foundation to run that fast at such a young age. Also, the 5K is not a commonly run distance in the U.S., it is usually only run at national meets and those athletes tend to be H.S. juniors and senior age 17 and 18. Our best young distance runners tend to focus on the mile, they will drop down to the 800 or move up to the 2-mile. At the H.S. level t&f is a team sport and the U.S. kids focus on events that will score points for their team or events at invitation/national meet and rarely do you get the best runners in a 5K.

With that said, 13:58 is super impressive for a 16 yo no matter how you cut it; however, it is a little less impressive if this 16 yo is running 100 mpw and is focused on long distance.

Charlie Stache wrote:

oh please wrote:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 15, 16, 17 and probably 18 year old records are incorrect. I'd throw Kipchoge on there, but he's been so good so long, it has to be close to correct, otherwise he'd be like 40 years old and running 204.

helps when you can toss out certain evidence because it doesn't fit your narrative, doesn't it?

I have no horse in this race. Maybe Kipchoge is 38 or something. Really I don't know. I do know sub 12:50 as a junior is too hard to believe.

Tyrannosaurus Rexing wrote:

rojo wrote:

Does anyone know what's the best in US history at age 16?

I think i can sort of answer the question:

American SCHOOL record for 16 y.o (and only a frosh, first year HS comp) . -

Lukas Verzbicas: 14:18.22, indoors won by 43 seconds.

The next day ran 8:57 2 mile.

So yes, the Japanese guy is better. But LV's race was indoors, he won by absurd margin, and came back big the next day with his 8:57. My only point: he was probably capable of a paced sub 14:10 outdoors if at that time he had had a race like that to run.

So yes, this Japanese kid is at LV's level or better for talent. Hard to believe.

Maybe they will finally produce a great 5k/10k runner ?? Nah....he'll probably just move to the marathon, run 2:06, and get crushed by the 2:03 kenyans/eth's.

Thanks for the effort but I didn't ask for the Lithuanian best 5k record for a 16year old. I asked for the American.

I know that the 5k isn't popular in the US in the HS ranks. So how about this? What's the best 2-mile (3200) run by an American citizen at age 16. I'll have JK convert it to 5k.

So we'll have the conversion and then the actual mark.

What is the fastest 5k an American citizen has ever run in high school period? Anyone know?

rojo wrote:

Thanks for the effort but I didn't ask for the Lithuanian best 5k record for a 16year old. I asked for the American.

I see your point, but that's why I said "sort of" and why I emphasized american SCHOOL record for 16 y.o.'s. He was raised here, trained here, went to school here, competed in our system. It's relevant. If he had gotten citizenship when he was 15 suddenly you'd be interested?

Age 16 is probably around 8:50. Ritzenhein or Hulst?

Tyrannosaurus Rexing wrote:

rojo wrote:

Thanks for the effort but I didn't ask for the Lithuanian best 5k record for a 16year old. I asked for the American.

I see your point, but that's why I said "sort of" and why I emphasized american SCHOOL record for 16 y.o.'s. He was raised here, trained here, went to school here, competed in our system. It's relevant. If he had gotten citizenship when he was 15 suddenly you'd be interested?

I'd be a little more interested but would probably be interested in the 'American born' record - ha ha.

Basically, I know a few people of East African descent can run much faster than 13:58 at age 16. I"m not sure if anyone else can. That's why I'm asking. I guess Verzbicas clearly isn't of East African descent but am wondering if there are anymore.

oh please wrote:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 15, 16, 17 and probably 18 year old records are incorrect. I'd throw Kipchoge on there, but he's been so good so long, it has to be close to correct, otherwise he'd be like 40 years old and running 204.

Actually, running 2:04 at close to 40 is more believable than his "junior" times.

rojo wrote:

Basically, I know a few people of East African descent can run much faster than 13:58 at age 16. I"m not sure if anyone else can. That's why I'm asking. I guess Verzbicas clearly isn't of East African descent but am wondering if there are anymore.

I hear ya.

Best 16 y.o. performances I can think of off the top of my head:

Franklyn Sanchez indoor 2 mile 8:49 (however, I don't think he was born here, not sure of veracity of birth certificate/age> And I *think* he was still 16)

German Fernandez some of his x-c performances his senior year when he had not turned 17. (he did by end of season). I know this is not track, but it IS x-c. He ran his historic 14:24 CA state meet course record just weeks after turning 17. Maybe this Japanese kid is almost 17? Still, relevant enough: it shows what a 16 y.o./just turned 17 y.o could run: likely near 14:00

So again, this Japanese kid is as good as our best talents ever: Fernandez, Verzbicas, etc.

Kipchoge's junior times are fraudulent. Same goes for most Kenyans.

LV was 22 in high school.

This Japanese kid is likely one of the fastest juniors ever. A shame his legit time gets buried under the pile of cheaters.

Tyrannosaurus Rexing wrote:

I know this is not track, but it IS x-c.

Meant to say: but it IS *5k*