Grace Ping vs. Heidi Sumsion

HSRunnerPerson wrote:
Grace Ping is a huge prodigy with tons of talent. She recently moved to Utah. I think she's going to run for Park City. Their program isn't too great... Heidi Sumsion is also a middle school prodigy. Her name isn't known by many people but she's fast. They're both the same age. Heidi's pr's are as follows.
200: 28.34
400: 59.75
800: 2:21.5
1600: 5:09.1
XC (1.5 miles): 8:19
Heidi has never really had anybody that could compete with her in anything over 800m so she hasn't been pushed. Her older sister, Julie Sumsion is also really really fast. She's a 5 minute miler and won state in cross country. To be completely honest, I think Heidi may be faster than her sister though. She will be running at Springville High School. They have a great program there. Their boys team went to NXN and placed like 15th or something like that and they have one runner, Grant Gardner, who is another prodigy. He ran 4:21 as a freshman and now he's a sophomore and placed like 50th at NXN. By their senior year, who will be faster? Ping or Sumsion? My money is on Ping but Sumsion may come close if she actually has someone to try to beat.

I avoid comparing athletes like this. It only puts pressure on them if they hear about it. They want to be the best athlete they can be. Some do not want to be compared to others. I watched an interview of one athlete who was being asked about comparison with Grant Fisher. He replied basically he wanted to be known as good runner himself and not the next Grant Fisher.

The above times are good but just say top 10 for high school girls at state level. There is no guarantee Heidi or Grace will get faster every year or will get any faster than they are now. As others stated their bodies are still changing and the changes may hurt their speed. I have followed the careers of several dozen top high school girls over the past few years. Some have become much faster in college as they have avoided the injuries that plagued them in high school. Others have been in college now their second year and have run no faster or maybe even slower their high school PRs. Some seem to have peaked in their sophomore year of high school and my not get faster until they are in college for a few years if they ever get faster than their high school PRs.

400er wrote:
Grace Ping runs 45 mpw, has a private coach, and flies all over the country in pursuit of age group records. Running is clearly a high priority for her and her family. Meanwhile there are girls around her age running just as fast in the 8 and 16 off of nothing but soccer training. So Grace and this other girl may be good talents, but we need to wait until everyone gets into a HS program to see how things shake out. (Fwiw, I'd be surprised if even half of the FL and NXN finalists on the girls side were training more than 45 mpw)

I agree with the above. My daughter did not run in grade school/school. She peaked at 45 mpw in high school and did not run that much for most of the year. She did not have a private coach. The college coaches look at upside potential. Grace with her early running and private coach may not have much upside potential by the time she reaches college. Yes, she is fast enough now to run at college level but she may or may not get much faster than she is today.

I hope not wrote:
I hope grace ping doesnt run 45mpw. That is not crazy mileage but i believe undertraining is better for someone her age. 30mpw is plenty for an 8th grader (i think she is in 8th grade).
I am in the camp of hoping she rakes a conservative approach for the next few years. She will still be highly successful and can pick things up when she physically matures. She has great potential so she shouldnt allow herself to lose out the the "too disease".
Too much
Too soon

I agree that 45 mpw may be too many miles. But we don't know for sure that the 45 mpw is her peak weekly mileage or something she does during most of her training season. Do we know how many years she has been running and how her training has progressed over that time? High mileage may put too much stress on her developing body. I assume she has not yet had a serious injury--the kind that take 3 to 6 months to come back from. The more mileage she does and does at an early age the more risk she may have of serious injury. I have seen high school girls show promising times in my state, sometimes in their freshmen or sophomore years. Some of these have then become injured and have yet to get back to their prior fast times a few year later. I hope Grace does not let the pressure cause her to push herself or let her parents or coach put her to the breaking point.

400er wrote:
She said 45 mpw when interviewed at UW indoor. I agree less is more at younger ages. I wish her well but I think the jury is out on long term potential, given how she seems to be all in at a relatively young age.

I agree and also wish her and other runners well. I think injury is very likely for any young runner, especially girls, running at this level. I would expect any top 50 high school runner in the nation to have a serious injury a least once during their 4 years of high school. I hope all runners can avoid serious injury. I and other members of my family run and we have all dealt with serious injuries. I have been running now about a year without serious injury. I have not taken the time for granted and look at every day's run as a gift. I hope Grace and other young phenom runners are enjoying their success but one never knows when it will end.

While looking up phenom runner I came across this thread in 2009.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3293444

I only read the first page of posts but thought it was interesting.

Grace is just today's youngest phenom. There have been others and they will be more.

Grace Ping vs. Heidi Sumsion

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