Altitude conversion truthers get in here. He's gonna break the national record by Verzbicas
It's not as impressive as had he done it at a higher elevation city around Denver, like the state meet at 5,500', but it's still impressive, probably worth 8-10 seconds faster at sea level. So, I agree, the 8:29 two mile could be the goal.
Some of it's the new shoes, for better recovery in training AND faster racing. Worth a second per lap. Being saying this for a couple years now and they're only getting better.
Some of it's the new shoes, for better recovery in training AND faster racing. Worth a second per lap. Being saying this for a couple years now and they're only getting better.
Which means LV could have run 8:21 with the new shoes.
The splits are super impressive too. The top 4 closed in 60-61. Steadman of Herriman ran faster than he did at Arcadia, at altitude, with a 2:05 last 800. Simmons was 2s slower than at Arcadia, but 20s ahead of Steadman with a 2:05 last 800. Ben Jaster ran 8:38 at Arcadia and 9:07 here. Looks like he went out with Simmons and ended up in no man's land by 1200. Ben Bradshaw ran 8:58 at Arcadia and 9:08 here.
Those are all seniors, and I hope they get to test their fitness at sea level. I think they could come pretty close to matching NP's 2022 times. Simmons is as fast, if not faster than NP's best were. Jaster already ran 8:38, putting him with Aaron and Leo. Evans has run 8:46 as a junior, and I think Bradshaw can knock a lot of time off his 8:58.
I've been telling you guys for years that Newbury Park wasn't that special, and that Brosnan didn't get super lucky with talent, he just nailed the coaching. Mostert and Soles are proving me right. I think the thing that separated Brosnan is that he got his athletes to train like professionals. Mike Smith had the best men's team in the country for years, and he recently said that when Nico came in as a freshman, he trained like a pro athlete and raised the bar for the whole team. Just to reiterate: An 18 year old kid walked into the best college training group in the country and raised the bar for everyone.That should tell you a lot about the mindset they had at NP.
I think the success Herriman and AF are having right now probably isn't due to a big change in how Mostert or Soles are coaching. My guess is that 1) The kids are more willing to fully buy into their coach's training after seeing the results NP got, and 2) Having 2 of the best programs in the country 30 minutes away from each other raises the bar for both of them.
And just because I know people will try to use Nico Young running 12:57/26:52 at age 21 as evidence of incredible talent, I'll point out that Nico Young had maybe the only HS coach in the country that truly believed the best college guys were capable of running sub-13. Show me an 8:30 low guy who goes to NAU, and I'll show you someone who's gonna run sub-13/27 soon. I'll also point out that UW's 3 guys who have combined for the last 4 NCAA 1500/mile titles all grew up less than an hour away from the UW campus.
How does the state meet qualifying work in Utah? In my state, only 2 kids per region can advance and only 2 kids from each school can run district and regionals.
That's a lot of kids in the 3200. Super impressive depth by American Fork!