Andrew Hunter 3:36.77 in Padova

Wasn't NCAA champion and Olympic Silver Medalist Leo Manzano 22 when he first broke 3:37?

Anyone know how the race played out? Was Hunter off the pace and then kicked hard, or was he with the leaders?

When has Centro ever actually focused on the 5k though. He's only run it like twice since college. 13:20 was from 3 years ago early in the season most likely off of 1500 training. You're sure judging Hunter's 5k ability pretty harshly when he's only run it once. That 13:49 was in a slow race and he probably could have been around 13:30-35 in a race that actually went for it. I wouldn't underestimate him, once he gets more experience I bet we'll see him drop 20+ seconds.

About 2/10 of a second faster than Centro was when he was 19.

webby wrote:

Wasn't NCAA champion and Olympic Silver Medalist Leo Manzano 22 when he first broke 3:37?

Yes, but he ran 3:37.1 to win NCAAs as a 20 year old, which was as good if not better than Hunter's 3:36.77 in my opinion.

Great result for Hunter in that competition. Hopefully he can continue to get some nice scalps.

No, Just Paul is correct. Hunter will get shredded the first time he has a bad race.

Wonder what they would've thought of Henry Rono when he ran a 4:40 or something mile in the snow in Spokane when he wasn't feeling well ... couple months removed from a 5K WR. He would've been called a loser/washed up here had the internet been around back then.

Great performance by Hunter.

Yes, Hunter is a 5000 runner.

Racing 800m < 1:48 is mandatory for a world class 5000.

He'll need 60-70 miles/week, similar to Lagat.

dsrunner wrote:

He'll need 60-70 miles/week, similar to Lagat.

Lol

Hunter ran the 1:48 when he was a 3:57 guy (and a 4:00 guy in high school competition), in a single attempt. What did Webb run in high school, 1:47? And in any event, being relatively poor at the 800 doesn't automatically mean your best event is the 5000. Iguider has a 1:46 high 800 PR, and while he's decent at the 5000 (12:59), he's clearly best at the 1500 (3:28, and olympic medal).

Makes you wonder if Hunter can run a 1:46/1:47 right now, that would actually show considerable speed and upside.

His coach said his 1:48.6 should've been closer to 1:48 flat last year, and I doubt their training scheme has changed much (if at all) since then.

Just Paul wrote:

Oh, stop. This place will be touting how he's "done" when he runs 3:40 in some race next week. It's a fickle, uneducated crowd here.

And your running credentials Mr. Dickle....oops, I mean Mr. Fickle?????

Wouldn't Tom Byers also have been less than 20 y.o.?

Kiddiidyyd wrote:

Wouldn't Tom Byers also have been less than 20 y.o.?

He ran 3:37.5 as a 19-year-old, not 3:36. Still very impressive.

Race video is up on flotrack (free, the found the footage). Drew hung back the first two laps and went for the lead at 1200, but Souleiman held him off until the home stretch, when another athlete passed them both.

Hunter was older than the usual high school, 1 month older than the cutoff in most states. But it doesn't really matter all that much to his legacy, because as a JUNIOR at 17, he crushed a sub 4 miler, Grant Fisher, maybe even twice.

He has such a jerky motion with the looking down and the side to side movements of his head and the arms. Hard to believe how fast he is with all that. The leader at 800m was at 1:52.9 and Hunter was way back, around 1:55.3. But even he was caught up in a very quick first lap, around 56 low to mid, and they were really moving the first 300m.

Yeah, when he accelerates, he looks like he's dragging a leg iron behind him. Pretty awesome to be able to do that and run so fast and not get hurt.

Now could someone alert Flotrack that they've been hacked and are giving something of value away for free.

But... wrote:

Are we so sure that his future lies in the 5000? What has he ever showed to suggest that it is, other than ungainly form and unproven top-end speed (1:48 as a high schooler after a single serious attempt isn't exactly awful)? He's raced 3000s fairly frequently and hasn't run relatively better than his 1500/mile results. He's only raced a 5000 once. Granted, he ran a tactical 13:50, but even so, he only close in about 59, hardly evidence that the race was incredibly easy for him.

In any event, 3:36 as a 19 y/o is a fantastic result. That he beat Nick Willis and lost to Souleiman by .02 is even better. I hope and expect Hunter to have a successful career. I'm just not so sure it's going to be in the 5000.

First race since being injured for Willis, so it is hardly a big scalp.