How talented of an athlete is a high schooler that can run sub 50 400m AND sub 15 5k?

Range Rover wrote:

Discus.

Hunter Davila from Casper Wyoming did it in 2013 I believe he ran

4:13/9:15/ and 15:11 all at altitude and the 15:11 was xc

Guys who stuck out to me as no doubters, who I don't think ever did it were Elias Gedyon, Jantzen Oshier, and Mac Fleet. Fleet might have actually done it. I know he ran very close to 15:00 at Woodward Park and he definitely had sub 50 ability.

I'm not sure about 10 guys per year, but I think it's more like 5-10 each year now, likely less before the mid-2000s. Looking over top-100 milers guys I know from the 90s/00s I would guess these could've and I'm sure there's another 10-20 I don't know of from that period that could've.

Sage

Centro

Jennings

Lukezic

Stember

Jefferson Bros

Chris Lewis

Carl Moe

Pifer

Loudoun Valley probably has 1-2 guys a year that can do it.

I once saw Webb go 49/1:49/4:12 in the same meet. He could have jogged a sub-15 cool down.

I’d say 50% of sub-4:10 milers could do it, which means that the individual is very talented and should get recruited by nearly every big school.

Condemn wrote:

Do these even exist?

They Probably do. I do not know his 400m but I bet Elias Gedyon was probably one of these guys.

I was 51s 400 and sub 16 in high school and one of my friends was a 48s 4:15 15:30 guy.

I am willing to bet there a re a few sub 15 sub 50 guys every year

Range Rover wrote:

Discus.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, probably because he doesn't seem to have a 5k PR, but Andres Arroyo (who ran for Florida collegiately) ran 49.09 in the FAT flat, open 400m dash. He also ran 1:47 in the 800, 4:04 in the 1600, and I believe from his 8:51 3200m PR in high you could extrapolate a sub-15 5k.

Runs 1:44 nowadays, but inconsistently.

sub 15:00 AND sub 50 is incredible for high school!

i, and several i knew were in the 16:20's 5k, 1:55 800m, and sub 50 400m in high school. The sub 50 and sub 15:00 is many levels more impressive and the kind of kid i would want to recruit, especially if their weekly mileage was low.

Andres ran sub 15 in in the Florida high school state meet, I believe

I was close to sub 50 400 in high school and did get under 49 later.

I ran sub 15 5K after college.

I think that combo in high school would be something but I had no distance background at the time.

Mat Smoody, who was an Illinois high school runner from 2004-2008. Could split 48 seconds in the 400, ran ~14:20 on the Dettweiler 3 mile state-XC course. Also ran 1:50 and ~4:10 in high school. Went on to run for Illinois State, but don't think he got much faster.

I have an immediate family member who ran such time in high school. The sub-50 was a relay split with a rolling start, and the sub-15 was a random local road race. Nonetheless, this relative was a 4:10ish miler back when that was much rarer than today, and also a Footlocker qualifier when that was the only national XC meet for high schoolers.

He went on to be a scholarship athlete at a very top NCAA DI track and XC school, and was a multi-time All American. He did not however compete post-collegiately even though his PRs would have been competitive for National team spots back then (though not today).

So, to answer the original question: such times indicate a very, very talented high schooler. Probably in the top 50ish NCAA recruits in a given year. With further development such a person could become world class, but the odds are still long as is the case for every very talented high school athlete not already running world class times.

Im a highschooler from central ohio so the first person that pops into mind is Elliott Cook who could definitely run a sub-15 when he gets in a consistent block of mileage and he has run 49.5 and 1:51 and he ran a 4:13 1600 as a freshman and this year he only started training in March for track season because he was injured for much of the winter. BTW he was only a junior this year when he ran his 1:51 for second at states

I don't feel like those two times add that much talent. I would figure most guys that can run sub 15 for 5k can also run sub 50. There may be a few who are just aerobic monsters, but you have to have leg speed to break 15.

Range Rover wrote:

Discus.

I know of one who ran 49 low (open), 1:50 high, 4:09y and 14:55 on a brutal 3-mile course that would all but certainly translate to sub-15:00 on an easy-to-moderate 5k course.

He is a generational talent for that area given population, if not nationally IMO.

maskedfox007 wrote:

I don't feel like those two times add that much talent. I would figure most guys that can run sub 15 for 5k can also run sub 50. There may be a few who are just aerobic monsters, but you have to have leg speed to break 15.

I don't think that math checks out.

You are asking how talented? I’d say they are 7.85 talents talented.

Happy?

He may have closed in sub 26 a few times, but I don't know about sub 25. That puts you in a real world elite class of runners.

The fast Pac 12 close in the video looks to me to be over 26.

sub 50, sub 15 is probably possible for most of the sub 15 guys on a legitimate course, because that already puts you among the elite in the country, and those guys will tend to run 4:10/9:00 or so. To run sub 4:20, you're probably going to be capable of sub 50, but definitely sub 4:10. Those would be low 1:50s guys.

Fisher's close in the men's 5000m over Knight and Bruce was roughly 27-28.