Are you wondering what it takes to get an edge on the competition in track and field recruiting? If you are involved in track and field, you know there are a ton of great athletes out there competing for just a few scholarships each and every year.
Apparently, the most covered events of the recent national championship meet revolved around LaShawn Merritt, Sanya Richards and Dwight Phillips. To wit:
LaShawn Merritt took the 400 in 44.50. Merritt won the Gold Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, beating rival Jeremy Wariner, then ranked No. 1 in the world. Wariner did not compete in the nationals this year. Wariner is apparently waiting for the right moment to sneak up on Merritt and run by him. Despite Merritt’s success, he is far off of Michael Johnson’s world and American record of 43.18 in 1999.
Sanya Richards won the 400 in 50.05, far off of her American record of 48.70 set in 2006. Richards holds the American high school record of 50.69 set in 2002. In other words, her victory at the nationals this year was 64 one-hundredths of a second faster than 7 years ago. You decide how much progress is being made.
Dwight Phillips won the long jump with a leap of 28-01.50 (8.57m). Phillips won the Gold Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and is chasing Mike Powell’s world record of 8.95m set in 1991.
In my experience as a competitive runner at the high school and college levels, and in masters (40+) and seniors (50+) competition, I have learned that speed is a God-given gift. However fast you can run with sufficient training in a time trial is how fast you can go all out. If you can’t break 12 flat for a 100-meter dash, you are not going to run 10 flat with the best coaching in the world.
Arthur Lydiard, arguably the best distance running coach in the world, has some interesting thoughts on the subject of speed. No less a coach than Bill Bowerman has said that “there is no better distance coach in the world” than Lydiard. In Lydiard’s book, Running – The Lydiard Way, the grand master of coaching says this:
“Your basic speed-not your build, leg length, or weight-should determine what distance you run. If you can’t run the 200 faster than 26 seconds, for instance, forget all about half-miling. All the training in the world won’t make you a champion at it.
“(Murray) Halberg’s best 200 was about 25 seconds. To run 800 in 1:52, he ran flat out all the way, and near his best sprinting speed. He just couldn’t run any faster. However, his stamina was such that, soon after running one 800 that fast, he could run another just as fast again.
“A man who can run 22.5 for 200 is basically fast enough to become an Olympic 800-meter champion, if he has the stamina.
“If you can barely break a minute for 400 meters, you can’t hope to succeed (in) 800 meters, no matter what you do. If you can’t run a 400 in 51 seconds, you can’t run an 800 in 1:50. And if you can’t do that, you don’t have a chance in today’s racing circles.
“Athletes and coaches often do not appreciate the significance and permanence of basic speed. As a result, many runners are given distances they’ll never master, and running soon sours on them.” (Take note of the fact that Lydiard’s book was published in 1978, more than 30 years ago.)
Having foot speed (quicker leg turnover) will do more than anything else to put you on top faster. And the faster, the better.
Bill White’s 14-year-old grandson clearly has the potential to grow into even faster speed as he matures, and with good coaching to develop stamina training, he would have a future in running worth watching.
You need to have twenty to thirty colleges competing for your services to have a great shot at winning the track and field recruiting game and making it to the next level
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