re: US High School Girl Runs 9:17 for 2 Miles

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Cooper Lutkenhaus

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He will be a name everyone knows after the next two Olympics.

Phenom

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I was going to ask, how often do these high school phenoms pan out long term?

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Most don't. Look up the high school sub 4 minute milers from the last 20 years and there are only a very few that won an NCAA title or did anything internationally.

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training too hard too soon

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my unscientific opinion is this. A lot of these kids end up injury liabilities in college. There’s definitely a perfect medium when dealing with high school runners that are still growing and maturing. There’s definitely way more I could be doing with some of mine but I don’t want them getting to college broken and battered and unable to improve. I have a boy right now that just went 4:15 and has potential to go under 15:20 in xc this year that I’m having to really work to reign in some. Kid’s hungry as heck to be successful and just wants to do more and more which I love but I don’t want him to be broken and barely holding on when he makes it to the next level.

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I was going to ask, how often do these high school phenoms pan out long term? Is it a good chance Jane Hedengren or Parker Valby from Florida last year will become Olympic medal favorites or is it still kind of a crap shoot?

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Valby won't be a medal threat, but it's not because she trained too hard, too early. She just isn't good enough. There were at least 4 women last year who could lap her in an all-out 10k. Hedengren still has time to improve, but there are a lot of women who could run her 2 mile pace for 3k, then speed up the last 2k.

Something like last nights ncaa 10k.


What a shite race

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Track isn't really a glamor sport

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Sprinting is but only during the Olympics or when a 100/200 meter world record is threatened or broken.

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Swimming is the only other sport that I can think of off the top my head that is that much of a solo pursuit.

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Nearly any athletic freak of nature with the tall, lean frame of a swimmer would be a fool to pursue the sport. Unless you turn out to be Michael Phelps, there’s no money or fame in it and no one will give a shite what you do except for two weeks every four years when the five rings in the background make the sport briefly relevant.

Just as bad, there’s no skill transfer because swimming the fricking butterfly is worthless in every other sport. Someone who is blessed with great speed and developed it at least has a chance to do something else if he’s not quite world class level because speed is widely valued in sports.

Kris Humphries agrees.

He was in the same competitions with Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps while he was 11 or 12 and even beat them at times.

Clearly he stopped swimming competitively soon after.

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Track isn't really a glamor sport, and training is boring and solitary. A lot of people just decide that the juice isn't worth the squeeze at some point. If you aren't an Olympic hopeful it becomes tough to justify the sacrifice. Most sports at least have a crowd or teammates to push you on. Track and Field is just you for the most part.

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This is such an ignorant statement. Did you run track? The guys/girls you train with become close friends and having them next to you during training and racing gives you the same feeling of comradery as any other sport. I never felt training was boring. Really difficult? Yes but training for most sports is difficult. I wasn't an Olympic hopeful but I had goals and pushed myself to try and meet those goals just like an athlete in any other sport. Swimming is the exact same way. I swim now with a Masters Team that has people competing in swim meets and triathlons and the social aspect of having a group of friends to train with makes the tough workouts much easier.

I actually agree with both statements honestly. While you’re right about the training component with people like me and you (you more so than me given your times and such) we’re also a rare breed that really love this sport. Coaching kids now that statement is somewhat true. I have such a hard time getting kids to come out that have proven their good at the sport because they want to go do other shite that gets more likes and views on tik tok. It sucks but it is what it is.

Case in point; last year I had a kid that was 17 low as a sophomore quit xc so he could focus on basketball. He was a JV starter and played maybe 10 varsity minutes all year. I know 17 low isn’t setting the world on fire or anything but he was starting to put some things together training wise and I think would’ve been running 16:30 or so the next season had he stuck with it.