"Elite" middle school track and field times

High School Running

7 years ago 05/11/2017 1:42pm EDT

I'm a MS track coach/teacher, and I was thinking today about what would be considered "elite" for the various distances in track.

We have a few very talented girls on our team, who win their events quite easily at every meet. One girl has jumped 5' in high jump, another has ran nearly sub-5 in the 1500m, and yet another has ran 63 in the 400m.

Would you guys consider any of these to be "elite" or close to it?

I'm sure this thread will spiral into a Trump lovefest, but I was bored and wanted to hear what other people thought!

7 years ago 05/11/2017 2:17pm EDT

re: MS track coach

Middle school is usually between 6-8th grade, that's quite a range. It also depends on how you classify elite. National class?

A 6th grade girl running close to 5 for 1500m is excellent, pretty elite. At the USATF junior olympics national championships last year that time would be about 10th place for 11 and 12 year olds (The winner was 4:41) . At 8th grade it's very good but not quite elite. There's a few girls in our city who can do that. Of course, none of this predicts for sure how well girls will do in high school and beyond though. Some gain weight and slow down, some much slower girls get faster etc.

The 63 400 is good but definitely not elite. There are quite a few girls even in 6th grade who can go sub 60. The top 10 11-12 year olds at USATF JO Nats were ALL under 60.

The 5' HJ is quite good for a middle school girl. Even at 8th grade. That's the mark that impressed me the most. Elite.

7 years ago 05/11/2017 2:19pm EDT

re: MS track coach

All of those times/marks are exceptional for middle school girls, with the low 5s 1500 and the 5' high jump being the most impressive.

Trying to figure out what constitutes "elite" times in middle schoolers is both kinda tough and relatively useless. Of the times you listed, the 5:00 1500 and 5' high jump are good enough to score at a high school varsity level. Does that mean that those kids will be better in high school than kids who weren't as good in middle school? Not necessarily.

Kids ages 11 - 14 will come from all sorts of different backgrounds and be at wildly different levels of physical maturity, and what really matters is how much they improve in the next few years.

You're lucky though; you've got a talented group of kids at your disposal. Assuming their high school coaches are solid, they could very realistically be looking at a couple league or section titles a few years down the line.

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