Two high school sub-4:00 miles today...and the reaction is "meh"

take a screenshot or something wrote:

I get it, neither challenged Alan Webb's record. But to have two separate high school sub-4:00 miles ON THE SAME DAY, in DIFFERENT RACES, is damn special. I was a freshman in college when Webb ran 3:59 and 3:53, and my mind was blown. Kids, remember today.

Excellent point.

The past two years have been so great for high school boy milers that a meet that features two sub 4 minute miles (something that did not happen once in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s) is a disappointment.

None of them were faster enough to be in those races! let them run HS races and only run these kind of meets when they are ready and earn spots.

Old news wrote:

The coach of one of those kids said basically that he reaction should be "meh."

We are the best country in the world, yet we can only get 1-2 kids a year to run as fast as runners in the 60s did on slower tracks with terrible shoes?

Really? Statistics are fun - you could easily say that in the past two years 33% more runners have broken 4:00 as in the entire decade from 65 - 75 when supposedly most of the gods of track ran. Most would call that progress.

Your statement as well as the one above are misleading because of the way that breaking 4:00 is still such a statistical outlier.

Much more accurate would be to look at the number of college kids that break 4:00 each year then HS kids. What was the number indoors this year - like 30? Now compare that to college times in those golden years. That's where you see the progress made from better coaching, better tracks, and better shoes.

Metric Miler wrote:

Hype created by Letsrun fools.

I enjoyed both races very much. Great run for both the HS kids.

Very well done to Grice and Iguider; both ran extremely well. 3:52 in the crappy race was so solid from Grice, shortly after his 1:46, season is looking good for him.

Kiprop is something else.

Oh boy. Once again…Metric Miler is correct. Darn.

They both ran great and broke 4 again (and Austin also almost did)... all on the same day (should of been in the same race)... with tons of pressure and lots of unrealistic expectations. Grice should of been in the Bowerman mile.

Kiprop looked like he had just finished a jog and was not even breathing hard after that race.

His 1200m split in this race at sea level was around 2:55.5 while his 1200m split in his workout at 7,300 ft. (with 54sec 400s and 23sec200s still to come) was 2:47.

Of course he was not breathing hard after that race...since it was way, way easier than his workouts.

Yea. He runs pretty fast.

Wowie Zowie wrote:

take a screenshot or something wrote:

I get it, neither challenged Alan Webb's record. But to have two separate high school sub-4:00 miles ON THE SAME DAY, in DIFFERENT RACES, is damn special. I was a freshman in college when Webb ran 3:59 and 3:53, and my mind was blown. Kids, remember today.

Excellent point.

The past two years have been so great for high school boy milers that a meet that features two sub 4 minute miles (something that did not happen once in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s) is a disappointment.

Don't forget the 2-mile/3200m too!

Last year more high school boys broke 9:00 than any other year in high school history. Something like sixty kids!

2015 saw more HS sub-9's than the years 1990-2004 combined! Insane.

How about the *junior* who ran 3:39 for 1500?

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4547852

TAI wrote:

[quote]pre-calling wrote:

Other countries do not waste time with HS Track Gibberish. Kiprop was an Olympic Champion at 19. Our absolute best HS Athletes aren't even Kenya's K Squad. Kenya's Jr. Squad is as good if not better than 99.99% of the pro's in the USA 1500 and up.

The USA is stuck in High School and Collegiate mentality which hasn't really produced many Olympic Champions or WR Holders 1500 thru Marathon.

Who was the last Olympic Champion that also ran NCAA 1500M and up?

Peter Rono 1988?

Last American? Last American HS Phenom to win Olympic Gold? WR? Jim Ryan.

HS T&F programs are garbage. Not to say that the HS Boys who went sub 4 today didn't achieve something spectacular, they did, despite our garbage HS Programs.

The reality is they would get eaten alive by many African Jr's.

So why doesn't it hurt 100, 200, 400, LJ, etc. athletes? They all compete in the same high school and college "system" and do extremely well later on on the international stage

Utah Girl Chronicles wrote:

Webb was a once-in-a-generation high school miler, just as Ryun was. Throw the top HS miler in the Pre professional mile for 100 years and there would be only 4-5 years when that HS kid would not finish last. There isn't anything noteworthy in watching a HS athlete scrambling around in last place against world class runners. It is expected.

Leo the lion manzano got beat by a high schooler. Shows that being an olympic silver medalist doesnt mean much.

Ryan is spelled Ryun and he won silver at the 1968 Olympics.

Ryan is spelled Ryun and he won silver at the 1968 Olympics.

Hunter's mechanics have improved tremendously over the last couple years. You should have seen him as a freshman! I know they have worked on this quite a bit, and have seen a couple of specialists to deal with some imbalances (like the side to side wobble he has). He is remarkably durable despite these issues and has never had an injury that meant more than 2 or 3 days down time. Do you have any suggestions for a physio in the Northern Virginia area? As a therapist, could you spell out the things you see when you watch him run?

Old news wrote:

The coach of one of those kids said basically that he reaction should be "meh."

We are the best country in the world, yet we can only get 1-2 kids a year to run as fast as runners in the 60s did on slower tracks with terrible shoes?

" we are the best country in the world " - typical American.

Hunter ran 3:58 at Pre, who was the other one and where?

Why in the hell are these two kids in Different races...exactly why track is dying. I wanted to at least see them race each other.

LRC hyped this up with the poll question the other day. Most thought Hunter would run 4-5 seconds faster than he did. That's why the "meh."

I will go back and watch the race again. I was on the curve (250m) and could get a pretty good look at multiple dysfunctional links from the ground up and from the top down [ poor hip extension (R/L), poor cervical stability> R shoulder stiffness].

I know this is a poor analysis, as it is 36 hours later, 3 AM, and I was seated watching him roll through the Bowerman curve resulting in a viewpoint that didn't expose his flaws the best. Yet it was ugly enough to make me worry for his future. I would have to look at him in order to understand what restrictions are driving what I'm seeing on the track.

He certainly is talented despite his flaws, and if he could get some of the mechanics cleaned up I would imagine that he is coachable and has a lot of upside.

It would be a shame to see his talent wasted simply because he couldn't traverse fundamental excursions in the lower extremity that could be corrected and lead to absorbing coaching cues and the higher workload he will face as he finds his way to the next level. From what I hear he is a good kid and could be a real plus to our program here at Oregon.

It is hard to see talent wasted bc a kid breaks while attempting to hit the deeper workload of a college program. Unfortunately this happens a lot.

I can't think of who is in Northern Virginia. Wish I could help.

.02

No XC season.

Doesnt everyone run sub 4

ck3237 wrote:

Ryan is spelled Ryun and he won silver at the 1968 Olympics.

No $hit MFer. I was referring to him as WR Holder.

Back to the topic. American HS and Collegiate Distance running is a perfect recipe for never winning Olympic Gold or setting a WR.

The American HS males running sub 4 are doing so despite American HS T&F not because of it.

How many African JR\'s RUN sub 4 every year? This is what I\'d call \"a clue.\"