Fast Professional Runners with Slow Times in High School | Best Running Progression Ever

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Runners To You, the channel dedicated to runners of all levels. Today we'll be looking at the top professional runners with the slowest personal best times while in high school. In a world where some athletes are sent to the professional level straight out of high school, it's easy to forget about other pro runners whose progression took a bit longer. We will explore how these runners managed to reach the professional level despite having slower times as a youth and how they achieved success through determination. We'll also learn about their stories, struggles, and the secrets behind their success. Hopefully you can pull some sort of inspiration from this video after hearing how far these athletes have come since their humble running beginnings and sub-hard times in high school. Thank you for watching and stay tuned. Starting off with the now professional 10-man elite, Reed Fisher. The Minnesota Hopkins High School 2013 graduate began his running career with a 5k time of 23 minutes and 54 seconds as a freshman, eventually setting a personal record of 21.01 by the end of the same year. He continued to excel while training in high school, entering Drake University with a 4.29 mile and 9.30 200 meter time, which aren't extreme times for a high schooler of today by any means. Fisher pushed himself further in college, showed up at practice and made the right decisions, eventually hitting a 5,000 meter race time of 13.48 and ultimately placing fourth in the 2018 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships 10,000 meter, qualifying him to represent Team USA at the NACAC Championships. Not long after, he joined the professional running team of 10-man elite with Drew Hunter and Sam Parsons, and soon built himself into a formidable force in the longer distance events such as the half and full marathons. Fisher has participated in the USA 10 mile road running championships, placing fifth with a time of 46.40. He's also made appearances at the Olympic trials where he made his marathon debut, as well as the Chicago and New York City marathons, placing ninth and tenth respectively with a fastest time of 2.14.41 at Chicago. Most recently, Fisher has achieved a personal best time of 2.10.54 with his first run at the Boston Marathon, placing a fifth American and 16th overall. Reed Fisher went from a 4.29 all-out mile in high school to a five-minute flat per mile pace for the full marathon, 26.2 miles, all made possible through relentless running and a strong mindset for progress. Coming in at second, we have Kim Conley, the professional athlete who developed into an outstanding runner from humble beginnings. Starting out running for Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, California, Conley was not even the best on her team, with that position being held by Sarah Bai, who now goes by Sarah Hall, the CIF California state meet champion at 3,200 meters during her freshman year. Conley wasn't even the top runner when starting out, however, she worked hard and by her senior year she managed to qualify for the state meet in both the 3,200 and 1,600 meter events. Even though she chose to make the final the 1,600 meters, she ended up being only the 19th best qualifier. Conley's success continued into college as she attended UC Davis and became the 2004 Division I independent cross-country champion in 17.07 as a freshman, followed by a second all-Division I independent honor by placing seventh the following year as a sophomore. She set the school record in the 5k at the 2008 NCAA track and field west regional in 16.17 and her mark of 4.22 in the 1,500 meter ranks her number five on UC Davis's all-time ledger. When Conley graduated in 2008 with a 16.17 PR in the 5k, she had yet to make it to the NCAA nationals. Unfortunately, one year she had food poisoning and another she lost her shoe during the regional meet. Despite these setbacks, Conley continued to train and eventually joined the coaching staff of UC Davis. Following this and as a result of years of dedication to the sport, she was able to drop her 5,000 meter PR time by nearly a minute from 2008 up until 2012. This set the stage for Conley to deliver a big kick at the perfect time which could have easily been a part of our recently released video on the top 10 sprint finishes. Link will be in the description if you want to go ahead and check that out. Although Conley didn't win the race, she bested the Olympic A standard by two-tenths of a second and placed third to earn her a spot on Team USA for the London Olympics. Conley continued her improvement in 2013 finishing as the runner-up at the USA cross-country championships. At the 2014 U.S. outdoor championships, after pushing the pace for the last eight laps, Conley was passed in the last 200 meters by Jordan Hasse, only to come back and out sprinter in the last 100 meters to win the 10k title in 32 minutes and two seconds. This victory is followed by two Olympic appearances, 2012 London and 2016 Rio in the 5,000 meter event where she ran a personal best time of 15.34 in the latter of the two. In between these events, Kim Conley also ran the 2015 USA track and field half marathon championships where she came out on top with first place at an hour and nine minutes. From starting her running career as someone not ranked at the top of her team to dueling it out at a championship race with an Olympian to becoming an Olympian herself, Conley is the epitome of average runners going professional. Coming up next we have another individual whose running career started as a surprise and ended up becoming a professional runner in the sport, James Kearney, who began his illustrious track and field career in high school where he was a 103 pound wrestler as well as a part-time runner. James Kearney was not a standout runner during high school with a 5.15 mile PR in his junior year, however by senior year he began to take running seriously and his times dramatically improved. Although his running career had a lackluster start, his senior year saw a dramatic turn for the better when he realized he was a better runner than a wrestler and ran a 4.27 in the mile. A notable time for the sport but nothing indicating professional by any means as top performers at the time were near sub 4 or below the 4 minute mark. When asked about his biggest mistake in running, Conley said it was not fully believing in himself and not committing to the sport until late in his career. This sentiment is echoed in many similar stories of athletes finding success after initially not taking their sport seriously. This can become a relatable story to anyone watching who is willing to take the leap onto the next level. Kearney continued to run in college at Millersville University. The progression of his freshman to senior personal best is a little difficult to find online but by the end Kearney overtook his school's record in the 10k with 29 minutes and 15 seconds and set marks in the mile as well as the 3k and 5,000 meter events as shown on screen now. He also achieved all-american status at the NCAA championships and earned a bachelor's degree from Millersville University. Following graduate school at Penn State, Kearney became a professional runner with New Balance and was a member of Team USA Arizona and Flagstaff coached by Greg McMillan. He went on to compete in the 2008 Olympic trials and became the 2008 USA half marathon champion in an hour and two minutes. In the end, Kearney's career highlights of 2.12 in the marathon and 8.01 in the 3k are a testament to the mental tenacity and range he's developed over the many years of hard work and training. Following James Kearney, we have Courtney Frerichs who had an impressive track record in high school with personal bests including a 2.24 800 meter and 34 feet five and a half inches in the triple jump. Despite this, her introduction to running began much earlier at 10 years old with a 5.32 mile as a fifth grader. Now I know what you're thinking, she probably shouldn't have made this list with this sort of achievement as a fifth grade child, but it wasn't until her senior year of high school that Frerichs rediscovered her passion for long distance running and began to truly grow into a world champion. She pursued running after high school by joining the University of Missouri Kansas City's cross country and track and field teams. This is where she was able to truly excel becoming the successful runner we now know as today. Courtney Frerichs had a successful running career setting six school records at the University of Missouri Kansas across indoor and outdoor track events ranging from the 1500 to the 5k events. She went on to play six in the nation at the NCAA championships 3000 meter steeplechase event with a school record time of 9.55 and fourth at the NCAA west regionals in a time of 9.59. Following her undergraduate degree Frerichs transferred to the University of New Mexico to compete for the Lobos and pursue her graduate program. There she led the Lobos to a national championship in cross country and secured an individual NCAA title in the steeplechase while also setting the NCAA record at the same time of the event with a 9.24 race which has now been overtaken by Courtney Wayment of BYU with 9.16 in mid 2022. After graduating she signed with Nike and the Bowerman track club and in July 2016 she achieved her childhood dreams of becoming an Olympian by finishing second in the 2016 US Olympic trials in the 3000 meter steeplechase. At the Olympics in Rio Frerichs ended up making the final and placed 11th in 9 minutes and 22 seconds. Courtney Frerichs is now the holder of the American steeplechase record becoming the first American woman to run sub 9 in the steeplechase with a time of 8.57. Following a slow start to her running dedication Frerichs now leads all American women in the steeple and sets the standard for runners who want to become world class who aren't at the top of their level at a young age. Near the end of this list is Noah Jroddy, a renowned distance runner hailing from the Roots running professional team. If you don't remember the name you'll probably recognize his unique style featuring a prefontaine s mustache, long black hair, and a backwards cap making a great first impression for anyone seeing him while racing. Jroddy's running career began back in 2009 when he was a senior at the International School of Indiana High School where he had a two mile time of 9.55 and a mile time of 4.36. These times are certainly no joke but they won't even crack a smirk out of many USA varsity coaches of today. Following high school he went on to attend DePaul University where he became a two-time All-American in cross country in his two final seasons, 2011 and 2012. During his college career Jroddy showed his commitment to bettering himself and achieved a 10k time of 32.37 in 2011 and a 10k time of 29.41 in 2013, an improvement of nearly three minutes in two years. He even made an championships and placed 8th with 24.44. In 2015 Jroddy then moved to Boulder and joined the Roots running project led by coach Richard Hansen and influenced from training under the iconic Joe Vigil. Since then he has achieved great success on the racing circuit including 7th overall and 2nd American at the New York City half marathon in 2017, 2nd at the US 10 mile road championships in 2016, and he's also qualified for the Olympic trials twice in the half and then full marathon events. Jroddy currently has personal bests of 13.46 for the 5k, 28.07 for the 10k, and 61.48 for the half marathon leading up to his 2.09 for the marathon in 2020. Jroddy has developed into a prime example of what it means when someone gives a sport their all to become a faster and better version of themselves through hard work and dedication. Coming in second to last on our list for today's video we have Dick Beardsley, a professional runner who achieved subpar times in his youth reported to have run a 4.35 personal best in the mile during high school. Beardsley is best known for his close finishes tying for first place with N. Gay Simonson at the inaugural 1981 London Olympics as well as his close finish with Alberto Salazar at the 1982 Boston Marathon, which we will cover here shortly in this video. His running career began in a small farming community near the Twin Cities, Minnesota. After being rejected from the football team he decided to try out for track and despite coming in dead last for his first 3.2 mile workout he was determined to never give up on himself. After more growth in his high school running career he began to become a top dog on the cross country team. Following his cross country career in high school he ran at a junior college in Minnesota and then at South Dakota State. Succeeding college he returned to working on the farm and as a fishing guide before deciding to try and become a pro runner. His first marathon was the 1977 Pavo Nurmi Marathon in Hurley, Wisconsin where he ran a time of 2.47.14. He steadily lowered his times with each subsequent marathon and eventually hit a 2.08.53 at the 1982 Boston Marathon where he nearly tied with Alberto Salazar for the win, finishing second place in the duel between the two legends. It was in this marathon that his name rose in the ranks and even more so following the release of the paperback book titled, Duel in the Sun, Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon. It's hard to follow up a runner who was a part of the proclaimed America's Greatest Marathon, but our final runner, Pat Porter, nicknamed the King of Cross, just may be able to stand up to the challenge. He started from humble beginnings with a near average track career starting in high school where he ran a 4.29 in the mile and 9.51 in the two mile while attending Evergreen High School in Colorado. But he became a 1982 alumni of Adam States College in Alamosa, Colorado and flourished under the training of coach Joe Vigil, a man whose training moved on to impact Noah Jotty who we previously mentioned here in this video. By his second year as a sophomore he became the second place man on the collegiate team, ending by winning six RMAC championships and three national NAIA championships. This progress allowed him to compete in two Olympic Games in the 10,000 meter running times of 28.34 and 28.45 at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games respectively. However, his best event wasn't even on the Olympic program. Nicknamed the King of Cross, Porter won the USA Cross Country Championships in eight consecutive cross country races and represented the United States at the International Cross Country Championship a number of times, achieving five top ten finishes including a fourth in 1984. His hard work and determination paid off as he dropped his times across the board to attain a 13.33 5k time and a 27.46 10k time in 1985 and 1988 respectively. Thank you all for following along with today's episode as we covered the top professional runners with the slowest personal best times in high school. If there's anyone you think should be included to the list next time around, please let me know with a comment of who you have in mind. See you all the next time we bring runners to you.