Recent content by Thousand Okie

Thanks to Jack from NYC for the Mason Dossett post. I think I may have posted something on Dossett when he ran a windy 13.66 as a sophomore. Back then he looked like he had the potential to run a 13 flat in the future but always seemed to have a nagging injury or to clip a hurdle. He improved...

Tall, well built, blue-eyed, blond-haired Josh Mooney ran that 13.48 high hurdle time into a 0.9 headwind in a winning effort at the New Balance outdoor championships. The race is on Youtube. His alabaster skin is in sharp contrast to the skin-tone of his competitors. At the Connecticut state...

Thanks to FootballDad for the Ryver Peppers alert. I watched his junior year highlights and can't imagine that there are many 11th grade running backs as good. Peppers has great quickness, good speed, tremendous balance and field vision, and excellent cutting ability. Nearly every time he...

It's very difficult to compare sprinters from different eras. Yes, electronic timing adds two tenths to times in the 100. However, the new rubberized asphalt track surfaces are at least two tenths faster in the 100 and probably five tenths faster in the 200. Moreover, sprinters don't run a...

Ellie McCuskey-Hay is another hyphenated-surname girl sprinter to keep tabs on. Yesterday, she took second in the California state championships in the 100, running a wind-legal 11.52. She's only in the 9th grade! Her time makes her the fastest freshman in the United States. She also...

Mia Brahe-Pedersen ran wind legal times of 11.11 and 22.71 today in the Oregon state high school prelims. She's only a junior. Given good conditions and competition I think she could break 11 flat this year. Since she's young and improving, she may have a shot at the Olympics next year.

Now that it seems we are losing Gatlin Bair to an early graduation a young sprinter to keep an eye on is Peyton Sommers of Cherokee Trail High School in Colorado. Although only a sophomore, at the Colorado state 5A championships last Saturday he took second in 100 in 10.62, first in the 200 in...

The best example of white kids being allowed to develop into top sprinters right now comes from Legacy High School in Bismarck, North Dakota. Although the school has but 1200 students, there are four boys on the track team who run sub-11 flat in the 100. Dylan McGlothlin has run 10.59 (and...

Gatlin Bair had an impressive double yesterday at the BYU Invitational, running 10.25 and 20.47, both into a slight headwind.

Edelman's father was only 1/4 Jewish and his mother was purely gentile. By blood Edelman is 1/8 Jewish.

For New York births Benny Leonard is a good choice but I'll take Gene Tunney over him.

Jimmy Chitwood is absolutely right about the many obstacles put in the way of whites becoming sprinters, especially in areas with significant black populations. I'd like to add one additional point I know has been discussed here before: As a general rule blacks mature physically earlier than...

There could be no better example of the white athlete coming into his prime two or three years later than the black athlete than Trevor Bassitt. In high school Bassitt's best time in the 100 was 11.10 and in college 10.54. His HS best in the 200 was 22.29 and in college 20.40 indoors and 20.52...

In recent years BYU has been recruiting a lot of black players and now has a record 19 on the roster. I suspect not more than one or two of them are Mormons. Jaren Hall looks only a little more black than white. His wife is white. Most of the other blacks are blue-black. The number of...

Tyler Floyd, a junior sprinter out of Seattle Prep HS in Washington, is one to keep an eye on. Yesterday, he won the state 3A championship in the 100, 200, and 400 in wind legal times of 10.52, 21.01, and 47.13. His 100 and 200 times were personal records but earlier in the season he ran the...