8th grade prodigy

Has anyone heard of Donny Roys? He's an 8th grader from Medina, OH and he's ran 4:31 in the mile. He has another kid in his conference in 8th grade that has ran 4:48 (Boyert) and another kid in his conference in 7th grade who has ran 5:00 (Colby Alexander). Just imagine this conference mile in a few years.

riley young...chattanooga, tn 8th grader just ran 9:42 3200m...taking up where bumbi leaves off!

I hope they all run much faster over time, but i'm not holding my breath. Present success among very young athletes simply doesn't translate to future success, and this is especially true of girls who have yet to hit puberty in any serious way. We've seen this over and over again.

My best friend in 8th grade was already shaving. By 9th grade he had serious mutton chops, was 6'1" and ripped, and was one of the bright stars of the track team . . . and by his senior year he was not any faster.

Another kid in 8th grade, about 6'2" at the time, could dunk a basketball with ease. Never really got taller and only imporved marginally.

The 3 questions i always have when i hear stuff like this are:

(1) How old is the kid?

(2) Is this person physically mature than his peers?

(3) On what sort of training have these results been achieved?

BTW, one of the things that impressed me about Ritzenhein in his final 2 years of H.S. was that he still looked physically immature.

[quote]dnixon wrote:

My best friend in 8th grade was already shaving.

quote]

Middle Schoolers shave.

Those are sick times

wow

I ran a 5:00 mile in 7th grade, and I am really good now.

luke wrote:

[quote]dnixon wrote:

My best friend in 8th grade was already shaving.

quote]

Middle Schoolers shave.

Those are sick times

but, unless things have changed a ton in the last 10+ years, MOST middle schoolers don't shave. sure, there are always the kids who mature sooner than others, but the majority of middle schoolers don't have anything more than peach fuzz or that nasty moustache 13 year old boys can grow.

Schoolhouse Run For Fun 5K

Medina, OH

05-06-05

Overall Male Open Winners

Place Name City Age Overall Time Pace

1 Donny Roys Medina OH 14 1 16:05.1 5:11/M

2EricNicholson Medina OH 42 2 17:02.6 5:30/M

3 Carter East 17 3 17:23.0 5:36/M

Some kid on my team went 4:57 in 7th grade...

Progression:

8th - 5:05

9th - 4:54

10th - 4:52

11th - 4:30

12th - 4:32

not too impressive. I went 5:36 in 7th and passed him up my frosh year.

Also, this thread reminds me of RYAN DEAK, yeah, remember that guy??? Went sub-5 in 6th grade, insane middle-schooler, I think running 4:2x/9:32 in 8th grade...

Now running over 16 in the 5k in college.

Charles White (NYS) was a 2:39 1000m guy and 4:39 1600m or so--both indoors--as an eighth grader.

As a frosh he has run 1:57, 4:17, and 9:45 (indoors).

I'd say that's a pretty good 8th to 9th grade progression.

Many thought that Brian Rhodes-Devey (of NYS) would be a flash-in-the-pan 8th grader with his mile times, but he just ran 4:13 for 1600m (setting the NYS soph record), and has run 1:53 and 9:1x.

Great! But you're probably the exception, not the rule.

BTW, how good are you?

Kevin Sullivan ran 1:53 for 800m in the 8th grade. My friends and I ( a couple of years older ) all thought he would burn out, but as it turned he was just that talented. You never know ...

I haven't been watching or looking for Ryan Deak in the results anywhere, I kind of forgot him. Is he really running that bad?

Ryan Deak went 14:51 at Cardinal Invitational on May 1 for a pr. May not be elite, but certainly not over 16 mins.

http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf7/15902.pdf?ATCLID=115583&SPSID=4067&SPID=265&DB_OEM_ID=600

Haven't confirmed, but heard Donny Roys went 4:27.9 yesterday for 1600.

He went 4:31, that's what motivated my post. And the other medina kid ran 4:48 (Boyert). Imagine running 4:48 in your 8th grade conference meet and getting smashed by 17 seconds...

Didn't he run 14:2x last year at Mt. Sac or some other meet? I don't think 14:51 would be his pr.

I did not know his name at the time. But I was at the Pioneer Conference yesterday and timed the run at 4:27.9.

I did not hear the official time so it may have been 4:31.

The finish line was so crowded it was very difficult to get close for an exact time. One thing for sure, he has one of the nicest strides I\'ve ever seen, and no, he does not look any more mature then the other 8th graders.

His success was not only limited to the 1600 either, he also crushed everyone else in the 800m and made a HUGE comeback in the 4 x 400 relay to place 3rd.

There is an 8th grader in Alabama named Bill Matthews who has run 4:26 and 9:40 (I'm positive 4:26 is his PR, a little shady on the 3200, but it's definitely within three seconds of 9:40). Pretty impressive. He also finished 5th in the AL state XC meet with close to a 16:00 5k. This kid is going to Footlocker, in my opinion. He is a tiny bit old for his grade, but it clearly isn't a huge advantage as he isn't all that physically developed. He's just been running for a long time, and it's paying off and it's going to continue to pay off for years to come as he runs insane times as an upperclassman.