Why do Texans suck at distance running?

WFH wrote:

The fastest Local guy we have in the DFW right now that I know of is Colby Lowe. Although im not sure in recent years how much he is running competitevely.

TX has not done too much lately, but 10 minutes of research will tell you that TX has distance runners.

uh no wrote:

Sally V wrote:

Baylor coach Todd Harbor still holds collegiate mile record,I think, which he set like 35 years ago. Reina holds FL record he set 30 years ago.

This is a troll attempt right? Not even a little bit correct

Lawi has the indoor mile record, and if you are counting outdoor mile which isn't run anymore it would be Sydney Maree

Not a troll attempt. Harbour held the outdoor record at 3:50:xx for many years. Has it been eclipsed? I think he ran it in Oslo in summer after his spring track so maybe some record compilers don't allow it.

ashley jansen is gud at running and is frm texas..... she has ebola though.... R.I.P wish her luck in her recovry!!!!111!!!!

Not sure how good they are anymore, but The Woodlands HS cross country program was one of the best programs in the country in the 90's.

The op is just crazy, Texas always has its share of quality distance runners, 3rd best state in the country by shear numbers, probably in the top third or better per capita, as others have said "Leo Manzano"....

H-town runner wrote:

stevie ray magness wrote:

Magness gets a lot of credibility because he takes walk ons and makes them good. All of the money at UH goes into the sprints and field events and almost nothing goes into cross country. Magness did turn Brian Barraza a 9:05 HS two miler into quite a good runner. He ran the 5k at World Juniors. Magness is also incredibly smart and post very good informative articles.

He also gets credit because he coached national class and above kids on the HS, college, and pro level. Critique him for his views if you want, but Steve has coached fast people at every level. And on the pro level I'm not even talking his Nike days, even outside of that we Sara Hall just ran 70min half and he has a couple sub 4 milers to his name.

Oh, he took a sub 4 miler and made him a sub 4 miler. What an accomplishment.

and Barraza (as mentioned by someone else) opened in 4:09, not 4:05. Who cares if they open "fast"? It's all about June, baby.

I would like to see what specific walk ons you are talking about. All I see is a bunch of 4:20-4:40 milers. It's D1, not D3.

Besides the U of H debate, Texas has had some good runners. Magness himself was a 4:01, yes, but it's an Alan Webb story. I guess that's why they like each other so much; they both peaked in middle school.

Hi Ghost of Jimmy the Greek!

Leo Manzano oly silver 1500m

Reuben Reina multiple natl champ

Alan Culpepper

its hard to run in the heat wrote:

The op is just crazy, Texas always has its share of quality distance runners, 3rd best state in the country by shear numbers, probably in the top third or better per capita, as others have said "Leo Manzano"....

I'm not crazy, you just can't understand what has been pointed out many times, that milers aren't distance runners.

Reina, Culp, and the Hausers are good, but not a body of stars comparable to the population size of TX. No sub 13:20 runners?

Obviously the climate has an impact, but you would think if the talent is still there, once they became a college runner they wouldn't have to train in TX anymore and could fulfill their training potential somewhere else. Or heaven forbid, run on a treadmill and workout outside very early.

Barraza opened in a 4:09 but it converted to 4:05 because he ran it on a flat track. His last 800 was completely solo too. Watch out for him he'll be one the absolute best in the country soon. And watch out for UH as well they'll be very good in the years to come.

Converts to 4:05.90 as I told you already

midwestern life wrote:

Reina, Culp, and the Hausers are good, but not a body of stars comparable to the population size of TX. No sub 13:20 runners?

Obviously the climate has an impact, but you would think if the talent is still there, once they became a college runner they wouldn't have to train in TX anymore and could fulfill their training potential somewhere else. Or heaven forbid, run on a treadmill and workout outside very early.

There are 23 states that have at least one of their high school grads (USA born) go on to break 13:30 for 5000 meters through 2014. So TX is one of the 27 states that hasn't. However only standout states IL (6), CA (4) and OR (4) have more than 2.

TX is one of only 7 states with at least 15 male athletes break 9:00 for 2 miles in high school (or the equivalent 8:56.87 for 3200). It's produced the 6th most Foot Locker All-Americans (top 15) of any state. It's also had 2 NXN winners in the first 10 years and 10 top 5 places.

It seems like TX is producing it's share of potential talent coming out of high school, but that hasn't resulted in sub 13:20 performers.

stevie ray magness wrote:

All of the money at UH goes into the sprints and field events and almost nothing goes into cross country.

This is quite true. A former competitor (well, I was behind him...by a lot) of mine in high school went to an NAIA school for 1 year then was going to transfer to Houston. He was going to be ~2nd or 3rd guy and in the middle of the summer he found out there was no athletic money left... I guess the finaid department made it sound like he would be fine and..well..it wasn't...

From there, he started to work in a factory and I haven't heard anything about him since. Kind of sucks because he was a great, dedicated runner and was going to rock it under Magness.

Rueben Reina did not break 13:30? So, that 13:24 was a fluke? Where did you get this information from?

Parker Stinson has run 13:31 so not quite under, however, it looks like he will.

"There are 23 states that have at least one of their high school grads (USA born) go on to break 13:30 for 5000 meters through 2014. So TX is one of the 27 states that hasn't. However only standout states IL (6), CA (4) and OR (4) have more than 2. "

JayHSAlumni wrote:

Rueben Reina did not break 13:30? So, that 13:24 was a fluke? Where did you get this information from?

Parker Stinson has run 13:31 so not quite under, however, it looks like he will.

"There are 23 states that have at least one of their high school grads (USA born) go on to break 13:30 for 5000 meters through 2014. So TX is one of the 27 states that hasn't. However only standout states IL (6), CA (4) and OR (4) have more than 2. "

Yeah that must be a typo from whomever wrote that - my guess is that it is 13:20, as he said that elsewhere in the post and I'm pretty sure more than 23 states have had a sub 13:30 guy.

Sally V wrote:

Texas - Houston and Dallas mainly - had a slew of 2:10 marathoners in late 70s: Jeff Well, Marty Froelick, john lodwick, Ron Tabb, some others can't remember at the moment. This was all in like a 3:year period. Maybe 7 running 2:10. Since then hardly any - Sean Wade is one. But yeah - they basically suck. Univ of Texas lays claim to fastest NCAA steepler of all-time by career PR - also had walk-on who lead NCAA 10k three years on row - but overall they suck in longer distances.

Am I blind, or has Leonard Hilton's name not been mentioned yet?