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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter ran a 4:58 as a freshman. 5 minutes is not that fast for a boy.[/quote]

OK pal. Now run along.

OP-

It is true that 5, while a good time, even better than a majority maybe, is nothing unusual for a boy and not indicative of being a college athlete. Especially if he has run 5min while following a solid training regimen.  A kid with sub 4:20 (let's say) potential can often run 5 on basic non-running specific fitness. A guy I know that was a HS star ran a 5k some years later off no recent running training and ran mid 17s. Normal people can't do that.

How much your kid can improve is a very individual question. Could be a lot, could be a little. There is no way to know really but on average and not knowing anything else about him, I'd say high 430s would be very solid progression. Just the fact that there are many 5-ish minute 9th grade boys and few 4:20 is boys of any HS grade should tell you something. Response to training is just highly variable. Your kid may be a high responder, he may not.

There are also many D3 schools that take basically anyone on the team.  But if you're looking for admission help to a fancy D3school you need D1 adjacent times. And if you want to run D1, you usually need faster times than you think.

Finally, if he enjoys it, that is the most important part.[/quote]

Thank you PP. I'm surprised my post got so many responses. My son is the one driving it. I'm the newbie who's just asking questions. He will be academically well qualified for the top schools so I'm hesitant to put all his eggs in the running basket. I mentioned his mile time of 5 to say I think (as a non-runner) that his time is already pretty fast and that it's hard to believe that he can improve much more... not that I think his time is the best of all 9th graders. lol.  I prefer him to enjoy college life as a regular student.

Our state champion girl ran a 4:51 mile, so for the PP, your daughter should be state champion![/quote]

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