Truly incredible: Guy who ran 9:46 2 mile in HS, only 31:45 in college at Hartford runs and wins marathon in 2:15

None of you will agree, least of all rojo, but what this proves is that running for official school teams is not just a waste of time (though it certainly is) but also disadvantageous to anyone who actually has talent and potential. If you don't have any, and finishing a 1600 (or whatever meaningless distance your school runs) is a challenge, then by all means join the team. And walk-on in college, too.

However, this dude (or Sell, as a poster astutely observed) only florished outside of any official scholastically-affiliated setting. What would have happened if he'd

A) been training exactly according to what works for him(just like Canova will do with each of his athletes individually), not according to a progam intended for who knows who?

B) been running only important races and peaking for these (Hmmm...something a Conova athlete will do as well)

C) perhaps most importantly, competing primarily at the events you are best suited for and therefore most competetive at - as opposed to "I ran 3200 because that's all they had"

Whenever a GOAT discussion surfaces, Haile and Kenny B are of course immediately mentioned (and should be). Beyond that some say Mo, some say Sihine, I say Tergat. Did any of these run NCAA?

If you run an NCAA event, you are a sheep, a follower, a jerk-off. Hey 17 yo out there: if you want to run in NCAA you are a loser. Do you not want to run the Diamond League, WMM, etc, that the short list mentioned above made fame and fortune winning? No? The Heptagonal Meet really is what you aspire to?

Flame on all lemmings!

???

I feel good for the kid but let's be honest, what you're describing was fairly routine in the '80s. Lots of 4:30 / 10:00 minute HS guys who put in the work after college to qualify for the trials.

OK, seriously how many guys ACTUALLY ran that slow in college (not just HS) and went on to run 2:15? That marathon pace is less than a second/lap slower than his 10k in college. Without examples, I'm going to assume you guys are remembering wrong.

You can view his training for this marathon on running2win.com

His username is JonasRunner11

i love stories like this!here's another: look up malcolm richards. st olaf for collegewas 4th american at chicago today. 2:15 best. full time job in San francisco i believehe ran like 15:02 and 31:15 in college and now has 2 legit olympic qualifier times. you can follow him on strava - He'll do these "workouts" and jump in unattached college open races for training and will run a 10k in 30:25, take a breather and compete in the next heat after a 2 minute break and run 30:40he ran 63:27 at the half marathon championships.he's a similar story to this Jonas lad

Jonas Hampton?

He looks like Cam Levins after a couple of weeks in Hawaii.

With all respect to Jonas Hampton, you're overreacting. He ran a 2:15 marathon which I'd kill to have done but plenty of guys who ran in college run faster marathons once they've graduated. For me, the training I did to race better in college was the basis for what I did afterward when I got all of my best times. Very few 17 year year old kids are ever going to run in Diamond League meets or place in WMM races but the goal of placing in something like Heps can push you to run better than you'd thought.

And college racing can be fun. Your teammates will likely be your best buddies as you go through school. If you develop a love of the sport as a college runner you're more likely to keep on after graduation. Note Hampton's explanation in the article as to why he's still running.

for most marathoners qualifying for the olympic trials is the biggest goal that you can have (aside from just running a time PR) because only 2-3 people make olympic teams for the marathon and most of them are foreigners that are american citizens (Meb, abdi). He has qualifed for the biggest race he can qualify for and he's certainly going to run faster. be happy for him.

I'm surprised that the consensus here is that this is not all that good for improvement. On the US Olympic Trials 2016 qualifiers list, not updated, there are about 24 or 25 guys under 2:15 TOTAL. You say that 9:46 is clearly good enough to expect this kind of marathon. Where then are all the other hundreds of qualifiers running better? 10th place 3200m in the California Southern Section alone this year was 9:01.96. 50th was 9:22. 9:30 was 10th in the Central Section and 9:46 was 29th. So, 9:46 in California would probably rank somewhere in the hundreds and that is 1 state.

To give you a better idea of how good it is, Jake Schmitt ran 13:54 in college and he is the first qualifier listed at 2:15 (2:15:09).

Saw him race in college, he seemed to get somewhat mental in track races. would go out a little hard in the 10k and once one person would pass him he'd shut down. some people run a lot better on the roads because it's more by feel and they can't over-think each lap split. he always ran well in XC, i think his XC 10k time is about the same as his track 10k time

Angry Willy wrote:

Not necessarily, but possibly.

One of my college teammates had one gear. His pace for the mile and 2 mile pace were within 5 seconds of each other. He broke 30:00 for 10k on a couple of occasions. On one occasion he set his 5K PR in the last 5k of a 10k, where he also ran his PR for 10k. There are some very unique individuals out there.

That's not possible. He just didn't get any good opportunities to set PRs.

Where did you get the idea I'm not happy for him?

I don't know what a blue collar runner is, but I do know that someone like rojo could never be blue collar at anything. rojo has the same lifestyle as any other street bum: never had a job, squandered an education, lives off the handouts from others. It looks like trust funder falls into the category of "no collar".

I coached Jonas in high school at Pottsgrove in XC and track. He was hard worker who stood out on a team that was filled with mediocrity. The others on the XC team teased him he ran too much and that he was an "over-achiever" because he did workouts harder than anyone else. He did run 15:50 in XC at Lehigh's course, but here in Southeastern PA that gets you a handshake and an "attaboy" (maybe).

I have kept in touch with him and as I saw his times dropping post-college, I asked who him his coach was. He said he had none and that he made up his own workouts based on "feel" and basic running knowledge accumulated from 15 years as a competitor.

I read this site enough to know that there are many posters who poke fun at the concept of "chasing your dream" but Jonas truly is a young man who would not give up on his. He gets no shoe money, has a full-time professional career, and runs only for himself.

I am proud of him.

I wondered the same thing. The only sense I could make of it was he "replied" to the most recent post, but his comments were directed at some other post.

How about the guy in second place , Who ran his 3rd OTC In a little,over a year... I'm slow as can can be and beat him in HS.. True blue collar

jjjjj wrote:

You say that 9:46 is clearly good enough to expect this kind of marathon.

This is where Letsrun loses me. People try to speculate a future post-collegiate marathon time based on someone's HS 2-mile time. In short, good luck. That means next to nothing. The number of variables that enter the equation between the ages of 17 and 23 - or however one is when they finally run a marathon - is astounding. To think that one value can serve as a predictor just doesn't work.

Good on this kid for sticking to it and running well. We need a few more like him. Thanks for sharing the story Rojo.

[quote]mred wrote:

This more an indictment of American attitudes to sport.

The early physical maturity of blacks tends to drive off much of the talent that needs time to develop. Add to that the athletes often quit after college.

mred - I am curious why did you bring up blacks in relationship to this thread.

We are talking about a distance runner? Have you seen a bunch of black guys from the States run 5k,10k, half, or full marathons?

Do you know of coaches in the States forcing kids who are not black to not run distance?

I agree with you that the American system wants results now; this instant, but that philosophical outlook is in almost all walks of life Stateside. This can be summarized in the slogans," get 'er done", "just do it", "perfect is the enemy of good", "this is going to be our championship season".

The reason why people quit after college is because "society" here expects you to go make money, get married, and pay a mortgage - not compete in track meets.