whatever happened to Drew Hunter?

He got a little faster but not a lot faster and stagnated as a 3:34-36/7:39-45 guy

Hs athlete that had a lot of talent - then trained like professional - didn’t develope racing strategies - won a lot becaus “trained like a professional” and then went pro - now doesn’t win because now everyone is training like a professional and he just isn’t that good - and doesn’t know how to step it up because believes his training that got him to win at hs in the best

Injuries and never had a great training situation. While he didn't have the pro career everyone hoped for, I think Drew, along with Grant, really paved the way for the next generation of runners, it wasn't until them that running sub-4 in hs became as common as it is today. Breaking those barriers seems to have brought attention from a younger audience to the sport and inspired young runners.

Just want to point out Grant was not even the first runner in his class to break 4:00. Maton beat him to the punch on that. But 2015-2017 was definitely a watershed moment for sub-4:00 high schoolers, with the list doubling in size with many more 4:00-4:02 performances as well.

I wonder if he would've been better off coming out of HS these days and getting some sponsorships while running collegiately. The pro contract would've tempted anyone. But that frat house of bros he trained with probably didn't do him any favors

And Nico Young will become Drew Hunter after he turns pro.

Drew who?

Pretty sure running is not a high priority for him considering he has a baby girl. Running will always take a backseat to being a parent. He's probably living his best life now.

Ultimately our purpose on this earth is to reproduce. Everything else is just a sideshow. So Drew has fulfilled his most essential purpose on earth. How many of his haters can say the same?

Biomechanics did him in.

Oh please. Plenty of athletes and runners become fathers and have continued success. To say that it really hampers their progress is just false. Elle St. Pierre freaking gave birth less than a year before becoming a world champ. Mo Farah spent months away from his family for years at training camps and won multiple world and olympic titles. Galen Rupp had kids while being based in Portland and seeing his family daily and was able to make several world champs and olympic appearances (and even snag medals along the way). Not to say Drew Hunter's "problem" is that the US running scene just got very competitive to the point where almost not one distance athlete is a lock for a world or olympic slot these days. Becoming a father has almost nothing to do with that.

Absolutely. Biomechanics aren't good enough for him to consistently handle the kind of training to get to 3:50 or 13:00.

Did the right think by taking a deal that set him up for life. His value would have been highly depreciated by a college career.

I think he actually learned / thought. Winnning was going to be easy the pro level. Like “I’m the. Best hs kid” im Easily in 2 years going to dominate

His contract with Adidias was a 10 year deal if I remember it correctly. I don't know who benefitted the most from such a long contract.

Drew Hunter was not as big an influence as you claim.

Slagowski broke 4 a few months after Drew, Reed Brown broke 4 the next year, then we didn't have any more until supershoes in 2020.

Every kid wearing a tinman shirt at a high school meet was slow as h*ll.

Please what? Are you asking politely for something?

Of course many runners remain focused on running after children. Hunter did not. Nobody disagrees with you on that. Hunter made family his priority. He is very smart with his money. He may be the only person ever who was able to his high school accomplishments to set him up for life. Super smart guy. Nice guy. Family guy.

He had Lyme disease I'm pretty sure which doesn't help. I think he dealt with injuries and then that probably set him back a bunch as well.

He got 8th last year at outdoor nationals. That's about right. He was about the 8th-best American 1500m runner last year. With Nuguse, Kessler, and Hocker--all more talented and younger--just entering into their primes, it's hard to imagine a scenario where he makes a world team at this point. There's a tier below the top tier, with Teare, Wynne, and the top UW guys (Houser, Waskom, Greene) that all have a better dark-horse chance of stealing a spot if one of the studs slips up or gets hurt. Sahlman, Basten, and Gary Martin all have faster mile PRs than he does right now, and are all five-plus years younger. If you were ranking the prospects of US milers/1500 guys over the next 5-10 years, he wouldn't rank in the top 10, and probably not the top 20.

Hunter seems like a smart and thoughtful guy. But his injury history makes it hard for him to take the big training risks that might vault him into that top group, or even into the group behind the top group. I'm very rarely inclined to play the "he's done" game, but the odds are very strongly stacked against him making Olympic or world teams at this stage. Probably his best chance would be if all the big players skipped an indoor nationals, and even then, he'd be a long shot.

He struck while the iron was hot, and he earned himself a 10-year run as a pro, which will be over in a few years. That 10-year deal worked out better for him than it did for Adidas.