US distance corps gets younger...and faster

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  • aaronk
    Senior Member
    • May 2012
    • 10745
    • Bellingham

    US distance corps gets younger...and faster

    While I place XC at the bottom of my totem pole of our sport's delights, I still "follow" it, even if one eye is on future TRACK developments!
    And one thing I've noticed this XC season (so far) is that there's LOTS of HS course records being broken, with some very good times (though time isn't too important in XC).
    Also, in collegiate cross, some of the younger ones (frosh and sophs) are winning races, or placing high, even in fields loaded with juniors and seniors!
    So, is there a distance revolution going on here in the good old US of A?
    I'd say YES!!....based on results so far.

    Leaving the 2013 Female HS AOY out of it for now (Do I have to say her name?? LOL), the list of names seems endless.
    In fact, for HS'ers, just check the MileSplit/Dyestat lists of their Top 25 individuals, and all (or most) of the BIG names are there, week after week.

    Sarah Baxter, Alexa Efraimson, Elise Cranny, Hannah Long, DiBalsi, Stephanie Jenks etc etc.
    Among the guys, it's mostly among college frosh I've seen this "revolution" happening.
    Edward Cheserek, Jake Leingang, Ben Saarel, to name 3.

    Some have said this compares to 2008 (I believe), when some biggies all were headliners at once.

    Even some older young runners can be included here.
    How about Abbey D'Agostino, who won't be 22 until late May?
    But add Aisling Cuffe, Erin Finn, and the currently idle Wesley Frazier, plus Hannah and Haley Meier, the latter 3 all at Duke.
    (A recent tweet said Frazier may be out for the season. No confirmation on that!)

    If these record breakers (in XC) run as well on the indoor and outdoor tracks, then 2014 looks VERY likely to be a CLASS A season for HS and Collegiate track in 2014, especially in events from 800 to 10000!!

    Can't wait!!
  • aaronk
    Senior Member
    • May 2012
    • 10745
    • Bellingham

    #2
    Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

    One thing I missed asking in the 1st post was.....WHY are all these course records being broken....even shattered....this season?

    Better weather?
    Different...and flatter/faster courses?
    Better athletes?

    Or just that old French saying......Apres moi, le deluge??

    Comment

    • tandfman
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2005
      • 23055

      #3
      Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

      Originally posted by aaronk
      One thing I missed asking in the 1st post was.....WHY are all these course records being broken....even shattered....this season?

      Better weather?
      Different...and flatter/faster courses?
      How do you set a course record on a different course?

      Comment

      • Marlow
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2008
        • 21729
        • Back on my 3-month hiatus!

        #4
        Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

        Originally posted by aaronk
        One thing I missed asking in the 1st post was.....WHY are all these course records being broken....even shattered....this season?
        In a word: internet.
        Kids and coaches can instantly see what rivals are running and ramping up their training more and more. Plus, the huge mountain of training info that is now available. How champions train, etc.
        I also think that we are now cycling back up to high-mileage regimens, which, done safely, is the real 'secret' (ha!) to great distance times. The hand-wringers of the last twenty years thought that Child Services was going to come arrest them if they asked a child to run more than 30 miles a week. I'm not in favor of MEGA-mileage at an early age, but my own daughter ran 40-60 miles a week in the summer to great CC success (15 years ago).

        Comment

        • aaronk
          Senior Member
          • May 2012
          • 10745
          • Bellingham

          #5
          Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

          Originally posted by tandfman
          Originally posted by aaronk
          One thing I missed asking in the 1st post was.....WHY are all these course records being broken....even shattered....this season?

          Better weather?
          Different...and flatter/faster courses?
          How do you set a course record on a different course?
          As GH might put it.....True dat! :lol:
          You're right.....wrong word....or just an extraneous word!

          But it doesn't negate the fact that this season is producing more course records than maybe ever before
          And these CR's aren't being broken by a handful of seconds eithert!
          They're being crushed by.....in a lot of cases....15 seconds or more, and sometimes by as much as 30-60 seconds!
          And some of these old CR's were held by big name people.
          One of Ben True's records was broken recently.

          And the young ones are WINNING some big races!

          Efraimson won Dellinger.
          Finn won Big 10.
          Cheserek won PAC-12.

          Go to MileSplit/Dyestat.
          Almost EVERY race is producing a CR!!

          What this portends for the TRACK season is thrilling to contemplate!!
          The indoor NB meet, the outdoor World Juniors.....!!

          Comment

          • tandfman
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2005
            • 23055

            #6
            Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

            Originally posted by Marlow
            I'm not in favor of MEGA-mileage at an early age . . .
            So I guess you weren't pleased by the news that a 5-year old boy ran a half marathon the other day.

            Comment

            • Marlow
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2008
              • 21729
              • Back on my 3-month hiatus!

              #7
              Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

              Originally posted by tandfman
              Originally posted by Marlow
              I'm not in favor of MEGA-mileage at an early age . . .
              So I guess you weren't pleased by the news that a 5-year old boy ran a half marathon the other day.
              If he ran with his parents at an easy pace - not a problem. When I was little , I ran for hours on any given Saturday.

              Comment

              • huntinwr
                Senior Member
                • Mar 2009
                • 586
                • Vancouver, Washington

                #8
                Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                More course records broken Saturday at Pasco, WA... Tanner Anderson (North Central) and Joe Hardy (Seattle Prep) ran 14:45 in a close finish at the Washington State meet in Pasco, old record 14:58. Alexa Efraimson of Camas, WA narrowly broke the CR with a 17:01 (Amy Eloise-Neale, now with the Huskies, ran 17:03 last year.)

                Comment

                • JumboElliott
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2011
                  • 3148

                  #9
                  Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                  How does Cheserek qualify as a part of the "US distance corps" when he's from the Rift Valley of Kenya?

                  Comment

                  • Marlow
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2008
                    • 21729
                    • Back on my 3-month hiatus!

                    #10
                    Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                    Originally posted by huntinwr
                    More course records broken Saturday at Pasco, WA... Tanner Anderson (North Central) and Joe Hardy (Seattle Prep) ran 14:45 in a close finish at the Washington State meet in Pasco, old record 14:58. Alexa Efraimson of Camas, WA narrowly broke the CR with a 17:01 (Amy Eloise-Neale, now with the Huskies, ran 17:03 last year.)
                    I often read about fast CC times, only to find out most of them are not a full 5000m.

                    Comment

                    • aaronk
                      Senior Member
                      • May 2012
                      • 10745
                      • Bellingham

                      #11
                      Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                      Originally posted by JumboElliott
                      How does Cheserek qualify as a part of the "US distance corps" when he's from the Rift Valley of Kenya?
                      He's not a US citizen??
                      Guess I just assumed he was, being he attended a US high school.
                      So will he return to Kenya after he graduates (or when he turns pro, whichever comes first!!)?
                      Or will he be like Bernard Lagat, who remained here and became a citizen?

                      Comment

                      • Mighty Favog
                        Senior Member
                        • Oct 2005
                        • 1817

                        #12
                        Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                        If the fall has been unusually dry--and around here it has been--then the courses will be firmer and faster.

                        Distance running is on the upswing in many ways. Even among the non-elite post-collegiate crowd. Lets look at finishers at the NYC/Boston/Chicago marathons in aggregate, comparing 2013 to 2000.

                        Men's total finishers: up 31%
                        Men under 3:00: up 46%
                        Women total finishers up 77%
                        Women under 3:30 up 138%

                        Participation is still growing, but people taking it seriously is growing at a faster pace. (Some might pooh-pooh a sub-3:00 but it's a relatively serious undertaking for anyone with a full-time job.). And this with an aging population and aging participation base, so it appears that marathoners under age 40 are doing more than ticking "run a marathon" off their bucket lists.

                        Comment

                        • gh
                          Administrator
                          • Oct 2005
                          • 69718
                          • west of Westeros

                          #13
                          Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                          i place little stock in cross country course records, even "venerable" ones. As the mighty one points out, weather is a huge factor, and not only because of what it can do to the footing, but also much more so than on the track you can get temperatures and winds that nobody is very fond of.

                          Also not to be overlooked is that with XC routes almost always involving some place where the public frequents, you can get minor course changes (because construction, whatever) that nobody thinks to mention when still referring to course record.

                          Comment

                          • aaronk
                            Senior Member
                            • May 2012
                            • 10745
                            • Bellingham

                            #14
                            Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                            Originally posted by gh
                            i place little stock in cross country course records, even "venerable" ones. As the mighty one points out, weather is a huge factor, and not only because of what it can do to the footing, but also much more so than on the track you can get temperatures and winds that nobody is very fond of.

                            Also not to be overlooked is that with XC routes almost always involving some place where the public frequents, you can get minor course changes (because construction, whatever) that nobody thinks to mention when still referring to course record.
                            Maybe the records can be discounted some (but not much! A record's a record, after all!!) because of course adjustments, weather, etc., but look at the MARGIN by which these folks are winning!!

                            Some are winning by as much as 30 to 60 seconds....or more!!....sometimes over some pretty fair opponents.
                            So taking ALL of it into account......
                            CR's being broken left and right (even if tainted a bit by course changes etc).....
                            times (Lots of HS guys running sub-15's, and even sub-14:30's!!).....
                            and margin of victory (Tougher running fast all alone, no challengers or pacers!!)...
                            this seems to be an OVERALL record-breaking XC season at the HS/Coll levels!!

                            Comment

                            • huntinwr
                              Senior Member
                              • Mar 2009
                              • 586
                              • Vancouver, Washington

                              #15
                              Re: US distance corps gets younger...and faster

                              Originally posted by Marlow
                              Originally posted by huntinwr
                              More course records broken Saturday at Pasco, WA... Tanner Anderson (North Central) and Joe Hardy (Seattle Prep) ran 14:45 in a close finish at the Washington State meet in Pasco, old record 14:58. Alexa Efraimson of Camas, WA narrowly broke the CR with a 17:01 (Amy Eloise-Neale, now with the Huskies, ran 17:03 last year.)
                              I often read about fast CC times, only to find out most of them are not a full 5000m.
                              I agree that you can't put too much stock in times, especially when comparing differing courses. But the Washington meet has been held at the same venue since 1988, originally at three miles, and at 5k since 1997, so you have all the previous winners to compare to. Plus, having been to many of them, the weather is almost invariably ideal. Also, Efraimson's time is easily believable, since she has already run 16:35 at the Dellinger meet this year, except this time no one was within a minute of her!

                              Comment

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