How many HS boys broke 9 minutes for 3,200m in 1997 in US

216

Jay Johnson wrote:

How would I find this information?

20 years later, at the 2017 Arcadia Invitational, 27 boys broke 9 minutes (2 out of the B heat).

not sure, but according to dyestat, winning arcadia time in 1997 was 8:58

If I had to guess I'd say 15 or so. My senior year I believe there were about 25 or 30, most coming from the California state meet. Which makes a point that people should be aware of. The weather in most of the country is straight crap for most of the track season, sometimes all of it. Weather conditions are perfect. More athletes in high school now are showing up at these meets like Arcadia to run fast. How many of those 27 from 2017 were NOT from California? A lot of them likely would have never broken 9 if they only ran within their state.

If I was a college coach I'd recruit the 9:08 guy from Minnesota that only raced in Minnesota over the 8:58 guy from Orange County.

A better guess is 1 or 2. Maybe 16 kids broke 9 that decade.

I was trying to find some lists from the 1990s the other day. I'm pretty sure Track and Field News used to publish list in the back of their magazines, but it doesn't look like they've archived them online.

I wonder what month would have the final US HS list in it. Then maybe try to find it on ebay.

Anyone want to sell me a lifetime of TFN issues? Apparently, they used to bind them at the end of the year which would be nice to have in the LetsRun library.

Some guy is selling 30 years of bound volumes for like $3k. I was thinking more along the lines of "I'll take them off your hands for $100 and pay for shipping."

A better guess wrote:

A better guess is 1 or 2. Maybe 16 kids broke 9 that decade.

From 1990-96 only a handful did it, and we might have had a few years when no one did. Mead HS in Spokane was about the only one producing sub 9 or 9:10 runners on a regular basis. Meb was another standout, running about 8:50-51 in the mid-90s.

Gabe Jennings, Andy Powell, Hall, who was a couple years younger?) kind of broke through in the 1997-99 period.

This site was the standard for a number of years (& glad it's still up), although he got mixed up between 3200 and 2 mile sometimes (converting some 3200 times to 2 miles, while not getting the 2 milers right for a 3200 m conversion).

your welcome

My recall isn't perfect, but looking at the list 14 ran sub 9 in the 90s, Meb was 8:55, Franklin Sanchez ran 8:49 in 1999.

Here you go

http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/TFN/97dec_2.jpg

Thank you. That's a fantastic resource. Love that Marc Davis' entry includes (D. O. C.)

Rojo: The message board can be pretty neat - in just 3 hours the T&F News page is on the thread!

Thank you messertrack. So 3 in 1997 and 27 in one meet in 2017. I can find the total number of 2017 and will post that here.

It would be interesting to have a thread with coaches who have coached for 20-30 years and had success across three decades. I wonder what they've kept and what they've changed re: training. Perhaps more important, do they communicate with kids and parents differently in 2019 than they did in 199 and 2009.

Grateful to be able to post this and get the answer.

Credit to the guy on tracktalk who posted this resource years ago. This is where we went before dyestat and letsrun existed

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats/gods.htm

rojo wrote:

I was trying to find some lists from the 1990s the other day. I'm pretty sure Track and Field News used to publish list in the back of their magazines, but it doesn't look like they've archived them online.

I wonder what month would have the final US HS list in it. Then maybe try to find it on ebay.

Anyone want to sell me a lifetime of TFN issues? Apparently, they used to bind them at the end of the year which would be nice to have in the LetsRun library.

Some guy is selling 30 years of bound volumes for like $3k. I was thinking more along the lines of "I'll take them off your hands for $100 and pay for shipping."

So you want something from him but think you're doing him a favor? I don't think he needs them taken off his hands; I think he's hoping to make a profit else hold on to a pretty cool collection that most others don't have.

recall wrote:

A better guess wrote:

A better guess is 1 or 2. Maybe 16 kids broke 9 that decade.

From 1990-96 only a handful did it, and we might have had a few years when no one did. Mead HS in Spokane was about the only one producing sub 9 or 9:10 runners on a regular basis. Meb was another standout, running about 8:50-51 in the mid-90s.

Gabe Jennings, Andy Powell, Hall, who was a couple years younger?) kind of broke through in the 1997-99 period.

This site was the standard for a number of years (& glad it's still up), although he got mixed up between 3200 and 2 mile sometimes (converting some 3200 times to 2 miles, while not getting the 2 milers right for a 3200 m conversion).

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats/gods.htm

your welcome

This list is just PRs, do it doesn't show the total sub-9 guys for any one year. Eric Hulst, for example, also broke 9 in 74 and 75

I remember looking at the times from the 70's, guys like Ruddy Chappa, Pre, and as a runner in the mid80's those times looked like science fiction.

The elevation of HS distance running has been a great thing for me to observe from afar. Part of me wishes I was young so I could be in it, the other part of me thinks I got lucky I ran when I did. I got nothing for some dude running sub9.

Jay Johnson wrote:

Rojo: The message board can be pretty neat - in just 3 hours the T&F News page is on the thread!

Thank you messertrack. So 3 in 1997 and 27 in one meet in 2017. I can find the total number of 2017 and will post that here.

It would be interesting to have a thread with coaches who have coached for 20-30 years and had success across three decades. I wonder what they've kept and what they've changed re: training. Perhaps more important, do they communicate with kids and parents differently in 2019 than they did in 199 and 2009.

Grateful to be able to post this and get the answer.

I feel like Walt Lange at Jesuit HS in California would be a fantastic interview for this exercise. Dominant teams in individuals in the 80's, and a steady stream of stars over the years, went a little dormant relevancy wise for a few years early in this decade but seems to be relevant again on the national stage via teams and/or individuals again.

Jay, not sure about 1997 though that T and F News list sounds about what I would think! I know I did a talk a few years back that included a bit about distance running trends in the 90s and early 2000s, and in 2000, only 8 US boys broke 9 mins in the 3200 or converted 2 mile according to milesplit. Probably because everyone was running 30 miles a week and tons of fast stuff! So only the most talented kids were running fast times.

rojo wrote:

I was trying to find some lists from the 1990s the other day. I'm pretty sure Track and Field News used to publish list in the back of their magazines, but it doesn't look like they've archived them online

Anyone want to sell me a lifetime of TFN issues? Apparently, they used to bind them at the end of the year which would be nice to have in the LetsRun library.

Some guy is selling 30 years of bound volumes for like $3k. I was thinking more along the lines of "I'll take them off your hands for $100 and pay for shipping."

Well..... I have almost every issue since mid-1964, and I'm 81. And pretty healthy (sorry about that.) My wife, if she outlives me, would probably put them in the recycle bin. But for now I think I'll keep 'em. Rarely look at them but every once in awhile they are great for answering questions like the one raised in this thread.

On the other hand, if you twist my arm - with a hand holding a check for $3K - I might be interested. Or not. :)

Distance Gods wrote:

Credit to the guy on tracktalk who posted this resource years ago. This is where we went before dyestat and letsrun existed

http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats/gods.htm

Well, I (as well as other posters in the early days) did send some data and clarifications to Pat Hoffman back then, so you can give a wee bit of credit to some of us who took an interest in this arcane subject of sub 9 minute 2 milers (&3200 m runners).

If I had to guess, I'd say the entire decade of the 90's there would be way less than 50 people. Maybe closer to 30.