LRC Exclusive: Drew Hunter's coach thinks Hunter might be able to break Alan Webb's historic 3:53.43 HS mile record

Come onnnnn no way he breaks 3:55. If he does I'll be happily shocked. Webb's hs mile record is so insane i kinda feel bad for webb when people talk about trying to break it as if it's possible.

Glad to see Hunter is both going to take a shot at 3:53 and he's willing to put the info out there.

Of course we have a lot of ifs here

If Blankenship performs to the plan If the pace permits comfort at 2:57 at the 1200 If Hunter is positioned in the pack so his run-in permits him choice to run the needed pace over the last quarter and if he actually can. These are just a couple of the ifs that have to be yesses during the race.Can Hunter get to 1200 in 2:57 I'm sure we all believe he can but the ifs before and the ifs after make a sub 2:55 a 'perfect storm' race and Webbs 3:53.43 requires an exceptionally perfect 'perfect storm' race for Hunter.

More power to him I'd love to see him in the hunt for sub 2:55 with 300 to go.

Plus we have a bunch of guys running in the race that will have their own run fast/ sub 3:50 plans to add to the mix.

On the Hunter thread we can focus on the HS record

On the race thread we can focus on the quest for sub-3:50 fast

The plot --the sub plots- all will meld into the here and now of race day and we get to watch what happens live----- and of course jaw over the what ifs after it's over.

I'm hoping for a race with many plots front to back- how fast will 8th actually be? who runs PR? how fast the last 300,200,100, will the NBC announcers be able to get who is where and doing what straight and on and on.

and then we have Mother Nature lurking about and she may have her own ideas to put in play.

wineturtle wrote:

Glad to see Hunter is...willing to put the info out there.

He'll learn.

Best to walk the walk then talk the talk, especially at that vulnerable age.

Youzzza wrote:

Metric Miler wrote:

Even if he is in 3:51 shape, his performance will depend entirely upon how the big guns decide to run the race.

If it is anything like last year's mile then he has no chance. Hopefully it will be fast because I'd like to see Kiprop break 3:44.

He has no chance of breaking 3:55 so 3:51 talk is silly.

I highly doubt he is in 3:51 shape, of course, I was simply saying that even if he happened to be in 3:51 shape then breaking the 3:53 record will still be difficult in this particular race.

I'm pretty sure Kiprop only ever tries for a fast race at Monaco. Unless he has stated that he is targeting a fast race, then please correct me. The rest of the time he just tries to win.

Last year the field was similar and the leaders went through ~810m in 1:59 then a 1:51 last 800m. For Hunter to just best his PB in that sort of race will be impressive.

Coach Cookie wrote:

What these kids need is more hype about what they're able to do when they're 17-18. Because it has worked so well before!

17-18 year old kids in track and field are basically elite these days so its ok to place some pressure on them. I doubt some hype and expectation will negatively effect Hunter. He has already shown he's a gamer and in good hands.

He'll learn. wrote:

wineturtle wrote:

Glad to see Hunter is...willing to put the info out there.

He'll learn.

Best to walk the walk then talk the talk, especially at that vulnerable age.

Tinman put the info out there, not Hunter. I agree it seems like a lot of pressure-why make so many predictions? Though Hunter hasn't seemed phased by the pressure so far.

Just remember, according to a previous quote from Tinman, there are 10-15 U.S. Drew Hunter-type talents out there just waiting for proper coaching.

I look forward to the day that Tinman's coaching methods permeate the country and there will be a dozen kids clamoring to break 3:55 at Pre every year.

(Note: no ill will against Tinman or Hunter, just sounded a little arrogant)

Bad Wigins wrote:

Kiprop goes to Eugene to run fast, and all they talk about is two mzungu kids about 10 seconds slower than him, and probably slower than 5 or 10 Kenyans their own age.

If I was Kiprop, I'd find an excuse to scratch.

You must have missed this article then...

Hopefully Hunter doesn't stop running after 1600 meters #BringBackTheMile

"I don’t think Drew is especially talented,” said Schwartz, who helped the Hunters structure Drew’s training early in high school and assumed the role of his full-time coach late last spring. “There are lots of guys equally talented in America. I think far too many people think that it’s all about his talent and that’s ridiculous in my view. There are dozens of kids in America that can run under 9:10 that could be running in the 8:40s if they were trained properly; they just aren’t. Drew is probably equally talented to 15 other boys in America.”

This quote was from a February article.

I would really love to know if he still feels that way.

Are there really 15 boys on an equal talent level of Fisher? Or did a truly excellent coach find a truly rarified athlete? At least call it what it is.

Ufonrutntt wrote:

Remember when the Pre mile use to go out "slow"?

When Webb accomplished 3:53, he was back of that pack at:

0:58.1

1:57.8

2:58.4

You mean when the rabbit went out in 1:52? El G was talking a big game and bailed. The pre was never supposed to go out slow, especially that year.

Djehxjidej wrote:

He'll learn. wrote:

He'll learn.

Best to walk the walk then talk the talk, especially at that vulnerable age.

Tinman put the info out there, not Hunter. I agree it seems like a lot of pressure-why make so many predictions? Though Hunter hasn't seemed phased by the pressure so far.

He'll learn not to let Tinman talk the talk before he (Hunter) has walked the walk.

Now everyone will see how good Webb was. His 3:53 is going to be very hard to beat.

RacingtheCanteloupe wrote:

Just remember, according to a previous quote from Tinman, there are 10-15 U.S. Drew Hunter-type talents out there just waiting for proper coaching.

I look forward to the day that Tinman's coaching methods permeate the country and there will be a dozen kids clamoring to break 3:55 at Pre every year.

(Note: no ill will against Tinman or Hunter, just sounded a little arrogant)

I see it the opposite- not arrogant at all, but saying others could accomplish similar things with the opportunity to do so.

In almost every domain, there is a ton of untapped talent all around us all the time.

First, the only people who know how well Hunter has been working out is Tinman and Hunter's parents. There's only one conceivable reason why Tinman would make the comments that he did: he believes Hunter could break Webb's record if everything comes together, but he needs Hunter to believe that this is possible in this race. Simple as that. This is about psychology to maximize what Hunter is capable of.

Before anyone dismisses this, does anyone think that Webb ever ran what he was physically capable of running? I don't, and the reason for that was psychological. If athletes, as I'm just not picking on Webb, had the psychological fitness to match thieir physical fitness, more records would be set. Winning and great performances depend on many factors being right, and psychology is a key one. Psychology may not win the race, but it can certainly sabotage it.

He ran 3:57 indoors. I'd expect 3:55-3:54 by the end of outdoor just due to normal high school kid improvement. In a race like Pre why not 3:53?

My 10 year old just read that and said "thanks for stating the obvious because they're all idiots on LR and it won't be obvious to them".

Wow, that's so very generous of you. You should be charging us for that information.

The predicted wind conditions for Sat afternoon in Eugene are 5-10 MPH.

That translates into double that on the backstretch at Hayward. Hayward is famous for it's backstretch wall of wind in the afternoon. It dies down later in the evening but at race time Sat it won't be ideal.