Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

[gh]

While Steve Magness moved to "only" No. 12 on the all-time high school mile list with last weekend's incredible 4:02.99 (sorry, we don't recognize bastard 1600 times like his official 4:01.58: we convert such marks to mile equivalents +) he soared way higher on what some would consider a far more important list: miles run against high school competition only.

Check out the following list, compiled by T&FN's High School Editor, Jack Shepard. Only four other preps have ever run faster than Magness under HS-only conditions:

3:58.3————Jim Ryun (East, Wichita, Ks) State 5/15/65
4:01.81———Alan Webb (South Lakes, Reston, Va) Arcadia 4/14/01
4:02.0————.....Ryun Invitational 4/23/65
4:02.01———Sharif Karie (West, Springfield, Va) NSI 6/14/97
4:02.4————Richard Kimball (DLS, Concord, Ca) Section 5/25/74
4:02.6————.....Kimball San José Inv 5/ 4/74
4:02.99+——Steve Magness (Klein Oak, Houston) District 4/11/03
4:03.27———Gabe Jennings (East, Madison, Wi) NSI 6/14/97
4:03.33———.....Webb Invitational 5/ 2/00
4:03.85———John Zishka (Lancaster, Oh) Golden West 6/14/80
4:04.03+——Ryan Hall (Big Bear City, Ca) State 6/ 2/01
4:04.2————*Curtis Beck (Santa Monica, Ca) Vons Classic 6/ 9/72
4:04.25———Jason Pyrah (Willard, Mo) Golden West 6/13/87
-----(end of top 13 performances)-----
4:04.64+——Paul Vandegrift (Kennedy, Conshocken, Pa) State 5/23/87
4:04.78———Brendon Mahoney (Marist, Atlanta) Natl HS 6/12/99
4:05.1————Garry Bjorklund (Proctor, Mn) State 6/ 7/69
4:05.19+——*Erik Stanley (Klein, Tx) District(2) 4/11/03

gh
(T&FN editor Garry Hill)

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

Anybody know if there were rabbits in the race for Magness? If not, then truly an impressive run, and perhaps worthy of consideration for inclusion in the Prefontaine Classic Bowerman Mile on May 24th. When are the Texas State HS Championships?

[dl]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

The Texas HS Champs, according to the February issue of Track & Field News, are May 9-10 at Texas (Austin).

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

It's not just Magness. Note the 4:05 for the Stanley kid in second. And how about Sullivan running 4:11 and not advancing to regionals--has that ever happened before?

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

To be even more specific, Magness' race at state (assuming he gets out of regionals -- remember, nothing in the sports world is guaranteed) is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 8:20pm. Of course, you should go to watch the whole meet, which is always incredible. (Nothing beats the class 5A 4x4.)

An easy way to track Magness' progress at regionals is by going to http://www.texastrack.com. It's a fantastic site, albeit sometimes a bit slow in posting results (actually, pretty fast considering poor Phil Murray busts his hump running that site all by himself -- what a guy!).

The top two in each race qualify for state.

[gandalf]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

I shudder to ask: a 4:11 didn't qualify out of this region, but I bet something truly horrid did in another. Anybody got the numbers?

[trackstar]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

Go to http://www.texastrack.com./03t_hs_district_meets.htm and you can compare Magness et al. vs. almost every other district in the state. I haven't looked through all the 5A qualifiers, but a quick scan saw a lot of 4:30s, a couple of 4:20s, and a 4:18.

Lest you think Sullivan (the 4:11 non-qualifier) is the victim of a great injustice, note that he still qualified in the 2M (9:02 metric).

[trackstar]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

> (sorry, we don't
>recognize bastard 1600 times like his official
>4:01.58: we convert such marks to mile
>equivalents +)

I just sent the following message to the Texas high school sports governing body. I doubt it will get anywhere, but it doesn't hurt to ask:

"I have an unusual request to make. Steve Magness of Klein Oak ran a 4:01.58 in his 1600 meter district race last weekend. This is very exciting -- for the first time ever, it is possible a Texas schoolboy might break 4 minutes in the mile.

"But of course, 1600 meters is more than 9 meters short of an actual mile. Converted to a mile, Magness' time actually would be 4:02.99. I think it would be a shame if spectators at the UIL state meet saw Magness break 4:00 in the 1600 and mistakenly thought that they had seen a sub-4 mile, only to find out they were wrong. (To be considered a sub-4 miler, Magness would actually have to run the 1600 in 3:58.60.)

"My request is this: just this once (or perhaps permanently?), could the UIL run the mile instead of the 1600? The track at Meyers Stadium already has a starting line painted on the track for the mile, so it wouldn't require any unusual effort on the part of the UIL. If Magness can break 4, I think track fans would like to see it be over an actual mile, rather than a converted 1600."

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

Lee, your proposal makes too much sense. Foregone conclusion it won't get anywhere, unfortunately.

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

I think you're missing:

#11 4:04.32 Don Sage - York HS, Elmhurst, IL - Golden West (Sacramento, CA), 6/10/2000

[Guest]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

hey, this is steve. I'd never seen the HS only list so thanks for posting it, very interesting! To asnwer a couple questions, no there were not rabbits. I led from wire to wire (58,2:01,3:02,4:01.58). It's a shame that the qualifying is set up like it is. They really should have time qualifying to advance. I mean this is my first time out of district in track(I've been 3rd the last two years.) SO I definately feel for the fast guys who didn't advance and deserve to.

later,
steve

[gm]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

Lee:

as much as I would like to see a full mile at some point instead of the bastard 1600, your request to the UIL folks will be greeted in much the same way as a request to reverse the rotation of planet earth

[trackstar]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

>Lee:

as much as I would like to see a full
>mile at some point instead of the bastard 1600,
>your request to the UIL folks will be greeted in
>much the same way as a request to reverse the
>rotation of planet earth

Yeah, the UIL is definitely change-phobic. I don't think they used auto-timing at the state meet until well into the 1990s, and I'm pretty sure they were still using a sun dial until the mid-1970s. We still can't convince them that a hand-timed 9.9 from decades ago is not the same thing as a 9.90 auto, so until a HS kid comes along who can bust an auto 9.89, our official record books will remain unchanged.

[gm]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

oh, but they DID have auto timing at the state meet for many years... they just didn't use it for anything but choosing places! Jack Shepherd was among the few who ever had any access to those FAT times

several of us have spearheaded a move to "modernity" and have at least convinced them to list MT records and FAT records for most events

[gh]

Re: Magness as HS-only miler: wow!

>I think you're missing:

#11 4:04.32 Don Sage -
>York HS, Elmhurst, IL - Golden West (Sacramento,
>CA), 6/10/2000>>

You are correct sir! Add him to the list in that position. And while you're at it, correct spelling on Vandegrift's city to Conshohocken.

gh