The Validity of the 400 meter dash High School National Class Records has been called into question as AGE ADVANTAGE of athletes who start the academic freshman year at 15 yrs and older, when all of the previous National Class record holders started the academic freshman year at age 14, is not being addressed by the record keepers.
We have a broken system that has allowed one student athletes accomplishments to be counted when he started the academic freshman year at the age of 15 when ALL of the previous 400 meter dash national class record holders started the academic freshman year at age 14, giving the older athlete a 1 year handicap to break all of the National Class Records. Why? Because the record keepers don't recognize age advantage when compiling national class records. The playing field isn't level.
Tyrese Cooper, William Reed, Obea Moore: 400 meter dash records
Miami Norland Senior High's Tyrese Cooper-Birth date 3/21/2000
Age when he began his academic freshman year-15
Age when he broke the indoor freshman national record- 15 yrs 10 months.
Age when he broke the indoor sophomore national record- 16 yrs 11 months
Philadelphia Central's William Reed - Birth date 4/1/1970
Age when he began his academic freshman year-14
Age when he broke the indoor freshman national record -14 yrs 10 months.
Age when he broke the indoor sophomore national record -15 yrs 10 months
Pasadena CA John Muir High School's Obea Moore -Birth date Jan 10th 1979
Age when he began his academic freshman year-14
Age when he set the outdoor sophomore national record -16 yrs 6 months.
Tyrese Cooper, according to a Milesplit article 3 yrs ago, was 15 yrs old in the 8th grade (when the majority of 8th graders are 13&14 yrs old), yet the record keepers have not acknowledged the age advantage of athletes like Cooper who start the academic freshman year at 15 years old and above, when all of the other previous 400 meter dash national class record holders started the academic freshman year at age 14. This AGE ADVANTAGE has allowed Cooper to have records when he did not fast as the previous record holders when he was their age. Cooper has been given National Class Records because he started the freshman academic year at age 15 years 5 months when all of the previous 400 meter dash national class record holder started the freshman year at age 14.
Cooper is now 16 yrs 11 months old and older than most of the juniors, but is being given sophomore national records as a result of starting school a year later than the other athletes who were previous record holders. Last year when he was the age of a high school sophomore (while still categorized as a freshman) he was not able to run faster than the previous sophomore national record holders, William Reed and Obea Moore in the indoor or outdoor 400 meter dash. This is just one example of an AGE ADVANTAGE in the compilation of High School National Records.
Cooper , who started his sophomore academic year at age 16 ,is older than most of the juniors who start the academic year at age 16, but is being allowed to go after Obea Moore's sophomore class record of 45.14 in the outdoor 400 meter dash A record Obea Moore set when he started the sophomore academic year at the age of 15. Cooper did not run as fast as Obea Moore last year when he was Obea Moore's age. Obea Moore set the outdoor sophomore national record (45.14) at age (16 yrs 6 months). Cooper ran 45.23 (@ 16 yrs 4 1/2 months) when he was approximately the same age as Obea Moore last year but was categorized as a freshman, but was the age of high school juniors who typical begin the academic junior year at age 16. Cooper now gets an additional year (until he is 17 yrs, 5 1/2 months old) to break a sophomore class national record that Obea Moore set at the age of 16 yrs 6 months. I think you can see this is unfair. We are comparing one athletes accomplishments who started the sophomore year at age 16 with ALL of the previous record holders who started the academic sophomore year at age 15.
Cooper was an entire year older than William Reed when he broke William Reed's sophomore national record in the indoor 400 meter dash.
The record keepers don't take into account the AGE ADVANTAGE of the athletes who are freshman who based on their age should be in the sophomore and junior class, or sophomores who based on their age should be in the junior and senior class. The only thing that matters to the record keepers is academic class. The vast majority of sophomores start the academic year at age 15. Cooper started the academic year at age 16, like the vast majority of high school juniors.
Tyrese Cooper never ran as fast as William Reed when they both entered the academic school year at age 14, or when they both entered the academic school year at age 15. Cooper never ran as fast as William Reed in the indoor 400 meter dash when he was William Reeds age (15 yrs 10 months old) ,the age of a sophomore, while in the freshman class last year, but only because Cooper is older than most of the Juniors was he given William Reed's sophomore national record when he did not run as fast as William Reed when he was Reed's age and again was given the record simply because he had a 1 yr handicap to break the sophomore national record.
Last year when Cooper started the the academic freshman year at the age of 15 (when all of the previous 400 meter dash high school national class record holders started the academic year at the age of 14), he ran 47.97 at age 15 yrs 10 months old. William Reed stared the academic sophomore year at age 15, when he was 15 yrs 10 months, the same age as Cooper when Cooper set the Freshman National Record, Reed ran the Indoor 400 meter dash in 46.84 seconds
There is no question that Tyrese Cooper is the fastest High School 400 dash sprinter in the world today!! Faster than Jamaica's Christopher Taylor!! And like Christopher Taylor who started the academic year at age 16, he is the age of a high school junior. I marvel at his feats like a true track fan. I think his coach is one of the most dedicated hard working men in America. We need a million more people in this world just like him. He is one of the most admirable men that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. As a teen in Philadelphia, I marveled at the sprinting and the strength of William Reed@ Philadelphia Central especially at the Penn Relays. I marveled at the relationship that he had with his dad. As a track fan, I marveled at the feats of Pasadena California & Muir High School's Obea Moore at the Penn Relays. As a young child I remember my dad losing his mind screaming the name of Reinaldo Nehemiah when he ran a 44.5 split in the 400 meter relay as a high school student athlete at the Penn Relays.
But to be fair, Tyrese Cooper did not run as fast as Obea Moore or William Reed when they all started the academic year at age 15!! The record keepers are giving Willam Reed and Obea Moore's records away to a tremendous athlete who was not as fast as William Reed in the indoor season or Obea Moore in the outdoor season when he was their age. The record keepers are allowing an athlete to go for sophomore class national records who started the academic sophomore year at 16 when ALL of the other previous 400 meter dash sophomore national record holders started the academic sophomore year at age 15.
When Cooper was in the 8th grade he started the academic year at age 14 (like the average high school freshman). When Cooper 9th grade he started the academic year age 15 (like the average high school sophomore). Now that he is in the 10th grade he has started the academic sophomore year at age 16 ( Like the average high school junior), All of the previous 400 meter dash national class record holders started the academic freshman year at age 14
It is doubtful that Cooper would have ANY of the High School Freshman or Sophomore 400 meter dash national records (indoor or outdoor) if he started the academic freshman year at age 14 and the academic sophomore year age 15 like all of the previous 400 meter dash National Class record holders. ALL of the previous 400 meter dash National Class Record Holders started the academic sophomore year at age 15.
This nothing to do with age group records, USATF records or AAU records. This has nothing to do with any group of athletes. This strictly about the compilation of High School 400 meter dash national class records and those who compile National Class Records who have not taken into account the marked age disadvantage of athletes like William Reed , Obea Moore, Onzie Coleman, Aldrich Bailey, and Darrell Robinson and all of the previous 400 meter dash national high school class record holders who started the academic freshman year at age 14, the academic sophomore year at age 15 and the academic junior year at age 16 when their accomplishments are being compared to those of Cooper who started each high school academic year 1 year older than all of the previous High School 400 meter dash National Class Record Holders.