Is Hunter the Most Talented US High School Distance Runner Ever?

Mike Losapio. Just incredible. He put New Jersey on the map. He then went to LaSalle and set all types of records and I'm pretty sure went to the Olympics or at least the trials several times.

Jim Ryun ran a 3:55 mile in high school at a time the world records was 3:54.1 by Snell.

He defeated the Oly Champ and WR holder Snell less then a month out of high school.

He made the Olympic Team as a 17 year old High Schooler and made it into the semi finals of the 1500m at the 1964 Oly Games.

Jim Ryun is number one. Hands down. Not even close.

I would say that Fisher is the most talented. Not the most successful, although he was very successful. He could have run much faster across the board but he was only running 50 miles a week on average. His coach was definitely setting himself up for long term success. Imagine, could Hunter be doing what he is doing or what is about to if he was only run once a day averaging 50 miles a week? I think not.

Did Webb really destroy the record given that his 3:53 was rabbited, run on a fast track, and under ideal conditions? Could Webb even have broken 4 minutes if he had to run with the same shoes, conditions, and cinder tracks than Ryan did. That Ryan actually beat and held his own with Olympic medalists says a lot.

Jim Ryun was destroyed when he met a woman and went into sin having kids with her.

OK. sure his running form is a little off, but that can be worked on. Whats important here are his results, and I think they speak for themselves. It's definitely too early to crown him for anything other than that 3K record, but I think a lot of you will be very surprised by the end of the outdoor season

dropping from 5:38 to 4:07 as a sophomore shows spectacular RESPONSE to training and spectacular training. 5:38 is not exactly a fast time for a 15 year old even if prior to xc training. I ran 5:32 in 8th grade on probably under 10 miles a week and that was not at all special. I wonder what Ryun's speed was like at the time he started training. But the training was truly special and over the top and he developed into a 1:44 800m runner and 3:51 WR holder in the mile in under 4 years, which is just beyond comprehension and makes you wonder why no one tries a slightly less crazy version of his training today.

Its high school. Put your panties in the dryer and get real

Age is irrelevant. It how fast you run. Right now he's not fast enough to make an Olympic team, and until that happens I hope he has fun in school, and gets an education.

jjjjj wrote:

dropping from 5:38 to 4:07 as a sophomore shows spectacular RESPONSE to training and spectacular training. 5:38 is not exactly a fast time for a 15 year old even if prior to xc training. I ran 5:32 in 8th grade on probably under 10 miles a week and that was not at all special. I wonder what Ryun's speed was like at the time he started training. But the training was truly special and over the top and he developed into a 1:44 800m runner and 3:51 WR holder in the mile in under 4 years, which is just beyond comprehension and makes you wonder why no one tries a slightly less crazy version of his training today.

Other milers have run faster and had better longevity. He peaked at 19... silly to copy his training

Did Webb follow the rabbit? No. He went through in 58.5. Webb ran the faster time, end of story.

jjjjj wrote:

dropping from 5:38 to 4:07 as a sophomore shows spectacular RESPONSE to training and spectacular training. 5:38 is not exactly a fast time for a 15 year old even if prior to xc training. I ran 5:32 in 8th grade on probably under 10 miles a week and that was not at all special. I wonder what Ryun's speed was like at the time he started training.

He ran a 58 second 440 in 8th or 9th grade.

There were 3 or 4 guys faster, so he went out for cross country.

jjjjj wrote:

But the training was truly special and over the top and he developed into a 1:44 800m runner and 3:51 WR holder in the mile in under 4 years, which is just beyond comprehension and makes you wonder why no one tries a slightly less crazy version of his training today.

The training program was great, not so crazy. Bob Timmons was one of the greatest coaches anywhere, and he got an undeserved trashing by having a high school runner beat Snell.

... ... wrote:

jjjjj wrote:

dropping from 5:38 to 4:07 as a sophomore shows spectacular RESPONSE to training and spectacular training. 5:38 is not exactly a fast time for a 15 year old even if prior to xc training. I ran 5:32 in 8th grade on probably under 10 miles a week and that was not at all special. I wonder what Ryun's speed was like at the time he started training. But the training was truly special and over the top and he developed into a 1:44 800m runner and 3:51 WR holder in the mile in under 4 years, which is just beyond comprehension and makes you wonder why no one tries a slightly less crazy version of his training today.

Other milers have run faster and had better longevity. He peaked at 19... silly to copy his training

How many of those with better longevity set world records? Or won an Olympic medal? Or made three Olympic teams?

By the way, Jim peaked at 20, not 19, in a time when the sport was not professionalized. For reference, Komen also peaked at 20, Bekele at 22.

OK but one also has to admit that making a US olympic team in the 70s wasn't nearly as difficult as it is these days

bump

There are at least 27 kids in the US who could run sub 4 indoors with proper training.

Hunter is almost certainly on PEDs but congrats.

His perfomrance is so singular and rare in an era where PEDs are so common and where there is such great incentive to cheat (esp HS where there is no testing and a college scholarship for 250k is in the offing), that it is almost impossible to presume he isn't using EPo or test to help him. I know for a fact that even B level cross county kids use EPO to improve their times in regular communities, it would be very logical for Hunter to be using.

I strongly suspect that guys like Ryun, Elliott, Snell and other greats used testosterone (not illegal then and widely used in Europe since the 1920s by athletes, Paavo Nurmi used it and used by soldiers in WWII, Vietnam). The entire metaphor of Captain America is based on the discovery of synthetic testosterone. Our athletic, military and man culture has been defined by PEDs since WW 2.

Where's ventolin when you need him?

they call me flopro wrote:

The better question is will King Ches and Hunter go 1-2 next year in Cross 1st is a give for the king but can Hunter get 2nd as a true frosh?? I think he can. GO DUCKS

that is a worse question, drew has barely bettered fishers high school feats and fisher was barely top 20 at nationals... and it was obvious fisher was a better cross guy...