#90 - Runner Breaks HS PR!

Plus, ranting about Grand Slam Track & Nike's "Sub-4" Attempt

Author

Jeff Hollobaugh
July 09, 2025

Inside This Issue

Runner Breaks High School PR From 10 Years Ago

Fisher (at left) ended up nipping Kessler (second from right).

Yes, it finally happened. We can stop making fun of Grant Fisher’s mile PR. Despite setting World and American Records, despite winning NCAA championships and Olympic medals, the young man from Grand Blanc still had his high school mile PR of 3:59.38 attached to his resume. Last year he told us that his training partners would regularly make fun of him for not improving since high school.

So he lined up for the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic, intent on sending that mark into oblivion. Among the star-studded field was Hobbs Kessler, who succeeded Fisher as the fastest miler in Michigan prep history. (Quick reminder, Kessler ran a 3:34.36 for 1500 as a high school senior, worth a 3:51.51 mile).

Up front, the race provided a big surprise, with Niels Laros snatching the win from Yared Nuguse in the final inch. Farther back in the pack, while Kessler was surely disappointed with his 3:48.32 in 10th, it was Fisher who caught him at the line, running 3:48.29 for 9th.

Some stat folks are trying to figure out if that’s the biggest PR improvement for a world-class miler in history (actually, that would be tough to figure out, as there are thousands of men who have broken 4:00). A better question might be, is there any other sub-4 guy out there who might be able to slash as much from his best? We can think of one, a 3:59.30 miler named Donavan Brazier. These days, with fancy shoes and bicarb and perhaps another year of basework, a sub-3:50 for the man from Kenowa Hills doesn’t sound far-fetched at all.

Another note for Fisher: he is now the second man in world history to break 3:50 for the mile, 13:00 for the 5000 and 27:00 for 10,000.

Grand Sham or Grand Scam?

So far, the wags are divided on what label will be slapped on Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track venture when the dust settles. The organization is reportedly some $12 million behind on its payments to athletes. This started out as whispers and red flags, talk which sped up when they cancelled their season finale, Johnson saying “we’ve proven everything that we needed to this year."

Now the athletes are coming forward about being burned. GST’s social media accounts are still active. Recently they put out a feel-good video about Olympic 200 champion Gabby Thomas. She responded, “So dope! Pls pay me.”

My opinion of Michael Johnson’s honesty was shaped a long time ago, when he was an athlete. I watched him at a press conference attack USATF for not publicizing athletes like him and failing to promote the sport. He went on to say that he would gladly work with USATF to do so. I couldn’t help but groan. That year USATF had hired me to interview its top 100 Olympic prospects and write articles promoting them. Johnson was the one athlete who refused to cooperate, despite the fact that I had reached out to him and his agent, Brad Hunt, many times. A great athlete, no doubt. A BS artist, most definitely.

For the sake of the athletes, I’d love to see GST magically come up with the money and pay their debts. I wouldn’t bet money on it. I’d also be surprised if we see much of MJ or the man who was negotiating with athletes, Kyle Merber, around the sport after this. Athletes don’t like getting stiffed.

Nike’s Sub-4:00 Misstep

At first, we saw a lot of glowing commentary about how amazing it was that Nike was investing in Faith Kipyegon becoming the first-ever sub-4:00 mile woman. Some folks even used the phrase “empowering for women.” Gee, I don’t know. How is it empowering for women to run fast with a bunch of men holding her hand the whole way to help her along?

The actual event got even weirder. It was clear from the start that Kipyegon was not even close to being in that kind of shape, and that all of Nike’s science wasn’t going to make it happen. So either the Nike scientists made a massive miscalculation and should be fired, or the corporation’s marketing branch had another agenda entirely. A report from Reuters indicated the effort was a bid to “recapture the attention of women consumers who have been looking elsewhere for running shoes and clothes.”

Then came the timing weirdness. The screen time read 4:06.91. Usually, that will be adjusted up or down just a few hundredths of a second. But Nike immediately sliced a massive 0.49 from that number. When prodded by journalists, they came up with the story that 4:06.42 was her “moving time.” We all know about chip times in road races, but in the context of claiming something as faster than the world record on the track, this was absolutely bizarre and dishonest. And the speed with which the Nike marketing people fudged the number indicated they would have done the same thing had Kipyegon run 4:00.10—they would have found a way to call it the first sub-4:00.

Faith Kipyegon is one of the heroes of the sport; the greatest female miler who ever lived. She and the sport deserve better than this.

Someday—I think a very long time from now, if ever—a woman may break the sub-4:00 mile. Will her name be as remembered and treasured as that of Roger Bannister? Or will she be deprived of her place in history because some company on an ill-advised marketing binge manufactured a downhill mile race with dozens of male pacers, pacing lights, trampoline shoes and maybe a jetpack just so they could create a long-form advertisement claiming that they were the first under 4:00?

Summer Track Sizzles

Obviously not a summer track shot, but it’s a great pic of Nevaeh Burns celebrating.

There are an awful lot of track people in the state who shift gears after high school nationals (or even before) and go into cross country mode. They are having pancake runs and team camps and all kinds of distance traditions while others are still out here running track.

The distance folks don’t quite get it, and that’s probably fine. For distance runners, this is a time for training. For sprinters, however, summer track is where it’s at. The more I’ve watched it closely, the more I have appreciated that it is an important laboratory where lessons are learned and speed is honed. It is no surprise that the vast majority of top collegiate and pro sprinters sharpened their skills running summer track.

The big meet in Michigan was the AAU Junior Olympic Regionals, held in Ypsilanti on the last weekend in June. The 400s stood out. Nevaeh Burns of Motor City ripped her fourth race under 54-seconds, winning in 53.76 to 8th-grader Cayla Hawkins’ 55.16. Rondre Austion blitzed a 47.02 to stay ahead of Rodney Endsley (47.22) and Dennis Jackson (47.90).

The short sprinters also put on a show. Chance McNeill hit 10.46 into a 1.4 headwind to beat Jeremy Dixon’s 10.60. Make that a 2.0 perfect tailwind, and that performance might have been a 10.29, according to the charts! Then in the 200, Dixon struck back with a 20.94 (into a -0.4), with McNeill at 21.10. Dixon is only the fifth person in state history to break 21.00.

Kamryn Tatum won the 100 in 12.00. The 200 was a real showdown, with Malise Brown winning in 24.03 ahead of Mauriel Seeberger (24.10), Tatum (24.22) and Willow Mason (24.25). The 15-16 200 went to Hawkins (24.36) over Burns (24.63). Carrie VanNoy won a hurdle double in 14.22 / 61.02.

What’s next? Many of these athletes will be at AAU JO Nationals in Humble, Texas (ie. Houston), July 26-August 2.

HS Highlights

  • The vaulters are still going strong. At the Tiki Vault competition (6/28) at the Vault Barn (thanks to Jerry & Arla Sessions), Reece Emeott improved his state lead with a PR 16-1. Miranda Smith won the women’s competion with a 12-6 (at age 41!) with Evie Mathis 2nd at the same height.

  • At the SC Amicus Throws meet on 6/28 at Calvin, Shelbie Choponis threw a state leader in the hammer at 139-4. She’s now No. 6 in state history.

College/Pro Highlights

  • At the Prefontaine Classic, Andrew Evans (Portage Northern) placed 6th in the discus at 209-10, his first loss of the year.

  • At London, Ontario, last weekend, Kristen Leland (Chippewa Hills) vaulted 15-1 for the win.

  • Aasia Laurencin (Oak Park) ran 12.82w (3.1) in the hurdles for 4th.

  • Shamar Heard, our state record holder in the 400 at 46.02, has transferred from Tennessee to Norfolk State.

  • Amanda Eccleston, a great miler in her competitive days (4th in the ‘16 Trials 1500), also had a great impact as a coach at Central Michigan. Now we hear she has moved on and is expecting. Congratulations!

  • On Friday is the Monaco Diamond League. Among Michiganders competing are Anna Cockrell (400H) and Grace Stark (100H).

  • At the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis, discus throwers Andrew Evans and Erika Beistle will compete.

  • At the Sunset Tour in LA, Hobbs Kessler will race the 800, and we’ll also see Morgan Beadlescomb (1500). Earlier heats feature Nick Foster (1500), Corey Gorgas (1500)

On Foreign Athletes in the NCAA

Rita Gary is the head coach at South Carolina’s Furman University. Some of you may remember her better as the former Rita Arndt of Saline, who in the mid-90s made the top 10 at the state XC finals three years straight. At South Florida she was a 6-time NCAA qualifier. Now she is considered one of the nation’s top coaches.

Gary recently tweeted about the changing D1 landscape, and the reality that with tightened budgets, more and more schools are bringing in ready-made foreign talent instead of investing the time it takes to develop American athletes:

“Let me be clear: I fully support coaches who personally recruit international athletes with integrity: invest in them, develop them & help build a better long-term future. Diversity makes our sport better. But buying wins isn’t coaching, and costing us. NCAA coaches are paying $60K+ to agents for athletes from economically vulnerable countries flagged by @wada_ama for systemic doping - these transactions are PARTLY funded by US tax $ Athletes like Ngao/TCU & Jeptanui/Tulane competed in the NCAA despite active doping suspensions.

“It’s not development. It’s athlete trafficking. These athletes are treated like short-term investments Meanwhile, clean athletes lose out. And scarce scholarships/roster opportunities are pulled from U.S. high schoolers. I believe we can do better.”

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